by Rachel Burns
“You don’t have the right,” Jennifer protested.
The Dean moved over to her and grabbed her by the sides of her mouth. “Don’t tell me what I have the right to do, or what I don’t have the right to do. Do you want me to call the police? They will arrest you and lock you up.” He let go knowing she would say something to get herself in trouble again.
“I’m eighteen. I have the right to leave.” She worded it as carefully as she could.
“Yes, you are eighteen, but your parents have given you up to my care.”
“I want to call the police.” She raised her chin and looked at him.
“I see, you want to get out of this situation so badly that you are willing to jump out of the frying pan and right into the fire. I think not. You are under my watch. I am responsible for you, and I will take care of you. I will protect you from yourself. Besides, the police would question Brianna and find out about your boyfriend too. I wonder how he would feel about being named to the police?”
The nurse came in with her hands full. The Dean went back to sit down at his desk. “Call me if she gives you any problems.”
The nurse stepped forward to her. Jennifer could see that she had a dress, a towel, soap and hair dye with her.
“Those aren’t my things. I won’t wear them.” Jennifer gave them each a defiant look.
The Dean slowly stood up and laid a marking in the book that he was working on. He walked over to Jenny and grabbed her behind her neck and pushed her over to the birching bank. He gave her several whips with the branches she had cut last night.
She screamed out right from the start. Someone had to hear her and help her, she thought. She looked at the nurse. “Why aren’t you helping me?”
“Why, should I? You didn’t help that girl yesterday. You can’t even help yourself. If the tables were turned, you wouldn’t help me.” The nurse hated the girl already. Being partly Jewish made it hard for her to feel sorry for the girl who kept begging.
The Dean birched her until she was a sobbing mess. The nurse came forward and picked her and brought her to her room. She washed the girl’s face and treated the new wounds. Then she poured the chemical over her head that would bring back her original hair color.
The girl was too weak to fight her. Her natural color was a plain brown, but it was so much nicer than the black that it had been.
The nurse helped her to undress and gave her a dress in place of her own black clothes. She looked like a girl at least.
The nurse left. She wanted to go to her real patient now.
When she entered the right floor, she heard Brianna discussing the idea of going to church with her floor monitor.
She shook her head at the girl who was always so good and polite. She waited for him to leave before she went in.
“Hello, Brianna. I’m here to check on you.” She smiled at Melissa, “So you live on this floor too?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Melissa smiled back. She had talked to the school nurse about becoming a doctor, and she had let her help before.
“Brianna, will you please change for me.”
Brianna sighed. It was out of her control. She wouldn’t be going to church today.
Brianna had often promised God that if he let her live through the pain or the next operation, that she would go every Sunday she could. She obviously couldn’t.
Brianna turned her back on the others and started to undress. She would rather them see her redden backside than her scars. She stepped into her pajama bottoms, and then she removed her sweater, blouse and quickly slipped out of her bra and then into her pajama top.
Brianna turned back to the others and went back to bed.
The nurse asked what Brianna had eaten for breakfast today. Melissa answered, that the tray hadn’t arrived yet.
The nurse took her pulse and shook her head. She explained what was wrong with it to Melissa who also got to have a turn taking her pulse.
“If you had gone to church, you would have passed out. Brianna, I will never be able to trust your good sense again,” the nurse scolded her.
The nurse listened to her heart and then let Melissa do it. “You may not leave this bed today except when you come over to me with your mother later. I’ll hook you up to the monitor. Your mother and I will decide when you will be going back to classes.”
“Wait no. I can’t be missing any classes. Finals are coming up and everything. I have to go. Please, or I will never be able to catch up.”
“Brianna, I believe your floor monitor is in his room. Do I need to get him?” She was bluffing, but apparently the girl didn’t understand the concept. She would even stop off and talk to Scott and forbid it for at least a week or until further notice.
“No, ma’am. I’ll stay in bed.” Brianna didn’t want another round with Scott if she could avoid it. She felt that she could avoid it now, so she would, even if she felt just fine. Her pride hurt worse than anything else.
“I want you to go back to sleep, now. Your mother will be here in a couple of hours, and I want her to find you well rested. Melissa, I see you are doing your homework here. So you will be staying with her until her mother comes?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m glad to help.”
“Very good. Limit her visitors.” The nurse had to go back to Jenny. She had to babysit while the Dean picked up Brianna’s mother. That would take a couple of hours. She wasn’t looking forward to it.
She stopped by Scott’s room first. He offered her a chair and listened to what she had to say.
“Brianna isn’t feeling well. Her pulse rate is a mess. I have told her very clearly that she has to stay in bed all day except for at four o’clock when she has an appointment in my office. Her mother will bring her over. But no punishments for at least a week. Better yet, I will inform you when she gets back on track.”
“Of course.” He wanted Brianna to be her normal, healthy, happy self again. It had broken his heart to see her crying.
“She is very worried about missing class, naturally, but I’m guessing Wednesday at the earliest. Her mother will be staying with her until she is feeling better. I can hardly wait to meet the woman. The Dean speaks very highly of her.”
Scott checked on her every hour. She was sleeping. She looked so little and tiny. Brianna just seemed so much younger than the other girls. He remembered her in that amazing olive green dress. She had looked older and more mature that day. This girl was somehow mysterious.
His guilt was eating him that she was so sick. He knew that it was only partly due to the punishment that she had endured, but still. She had worried herself sick under his watch, and he was also responsible for the girls’ emotional health. He had really let Brianna down.
He was on his way to check on her again when an extremely elegant woman carrying a huge bouquet stepped onto the floor. The Dean held the door for her. He was grinning at the beautiful woman.
Scott stepped forward and greeted them.
Brianna’s mother shook his hand and introduced herself.
Scott heard the accent. It made her sound more elegant. He softly knocked on Brianna’s door. Melissa opened the door, and Brianna’s mother walked right in. Her hand moved along the side of Brianna’s face very lovingly. She was the exact opposite of what her husband had been.
Eva set the vase down and took Brianna’s pulse. She shook her head and gave the Dean a worried look. “It’s not good, Martin.”
“I’ll send the nurse right over, Eva. Call me if you need anything.” The Dean looked at Scott who was surprised by this amazing woman. He pulled Scott out as Melissa started telling her everything the nurse had said before.
The Dean closed the door and raised his eyebrows at Scott and whispered, “Uh la la.” He waved goodbye to him and left.
Scott felt a little dumbstruck. He had never seen anyone like her before, except on TV. He thought about how Brianna had looked in that olive green dress again. Now he knew where she had gotten those green eyes.
He h
eard the knock and looked up. It was Brianna’s mother. He jumped to his feet and offered her a chair.
“No, I won’t be staying long. I just wanted to ask if you needed anything from town. I’m going there, and the others have given me a list of things to get for them. The girls all seem to be very hungry.” She smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat.
“No, ma’am. I’m fine. I can go when the girls are at their classes. So I’m good but thank you.” He was blabbering, he thought to himself. He was trying to picture her parents together, but he couldn’t.
“Your welcome.” She turned and knocked on the door across from his. Hannah opened it, and her mouth dropped in surprise.
“Hello, I’m Brianna’s mother, and I am going into town. Is there anything I can get you?”
“Umm –” Hannah was speechless, a first for her. He had done better than she was.
“The other girls want cookies, sweets, and things from the cosmetic section.”
Hannah wanted Milk Duds and strawberry smelling shampoo. She thanked her. Brianna’s mother wrote it down and moved on to the next girl.
Scott checked on Brianna again while her mother was gone. She was still sleeping, and Melissa was back. “She sure is sleeping a lot,” Scott commented.
“The nurse came back and gave her something. She doesn’t even know that her mother is here yet. She is still weak.”
Scott sat down on her bed and looked at her wrist. It was starting to bruise. He looked at Melissa.
“The nurse took her pulse for a long time. It isn’t good, but it isn’t bad enough that she would have to go to the hospital or anything. She’ll be fine.”
Eva sat on her daughter’s bed as she read her psychology paper on her laptop. Brianna had written about depression in long term hospital patients. Eva hadn’t realized that she had suffered so under the isolation. She had never complained. Eva thought about how brave her daughter was.
“Flowers. I can smell flowers.” Brianna smiled and opened her eyes. “That can only mean that my mama is here. Oh, Mama.” She flew into her mother’s arms. They spoke to each other as only they could. Her mother was so relieved that her daughter looked so well and talked so normally with her.
She helped her change for their appointment. She was sad when she saw her daughters pink backside.
“What did Daddy say, when he found out?” Brianna asked.
“Well, he ranted and raved for a bit, but then he thought that you were very brave for taking a paddling and spanking that you didn’t deserve, but I’m not suppose to tell you that,” she laughed. “I’m supposed to tell you to just tattle next time. Anyone who would put you into that position isn’t your friend. Your father wanted to come, but he is gone on business. He is looking forward to seeing you at home for Christmas. He is so pleased with how well you are doing here.”
She linked her arm with Brianna’s and slowly walked her child to the nurse’s office after she had given her all of her pills.
Brianna missed school on Monday and Tuesday. Her mother left Tuesday evening, and the whole floor met in the lounge to say goodbye to her. Everyone would sorely miss her. The girls had liked having a woman on the floor to talk to and most did. They were jealous of Brianna’s good luck.
Even Scott had been glad to have her here. The girls had been on their best behavior with her around. The words please and thank you fell more often. Brianna’s mother was the model of what a southern woman could be like with the proper raising, even if she wasn’t from the south.
Chapter 10 – Christmastime
Christmas was coming closer and closer so were finals. Scott took the time to get the girls a Christmas tree and set it up in the lounge. The girls often did their homework in there just to be by the tree. Brianna seemed to be humming constantly. Carols seemed to burst out of the girls spontaneously.
Jennifer had yet to return. Brianna was the only one to ask Scott about her. She had asked the Dean too, but the Dean just said that she had partaken in a proper brainwashing, and something like that would take awhile to get rid of.
The girls wanted to play Secret Santa so Scott took them all into town. He felt like a mother duck with her ducklings. The girls all walked behind him chattering away.
Hannah had insisted that his name get thrown in the pot too.
Scott had said no, but then the other girls all said yes.
He had pulled out Melissa’s name. He had already gotten her a gift, a medical book for students who were starting out. Scott figured she would like that. He sure hoped that he wouldn’t have to cane whoever had pulled his name out. This is something that they should have left him out of.
“Okay girls, we meet back here in four hours. No exceptions and no excuses. Off you go.” His ducklings scattered. He went into the coffee shop and read the paper.
Brianna had never been to town before. She was afraid of walking into town and being too tired to walk back.
She went into the shops with the other girls, but she wasn’t sure what she should get for her person. This was so difficult. She found something at the book store that might be of interest, but she was so unsure. She looked all day, but she still hadn’t found it.
Brianna went back to the bookstore and bought the book, and then she went to the cafe with the other girls. They drank hot chocolate. It just didn’t get that cold in Texas, but it was a Christmassy thing to do.
They gathered around Scott when it was time to go home. He counted through them a couple of times. Two were missing, but he spotted Paris and Gretchen running towards them.
“You’re cutting it very close, ladies.” Scott shook his head at them.
They had each had an appointment at the hairdresser’s.
Brianna thought that it would be fun to do that with a friend. The other girls were all nice to her, but it was only Jennifer who had actually talked to her without treating her like a patient. She longed to have a best friend too.
She was falling behind. This had been a lot for her. She was so terribly out of condition. Scott noticed and yelled back at her to hurry up.
All the other girls slowed down to her pace. She whispered her thanks to them.
Finals were over with, and the teachers were correcting away. Scott was constantly running back and forth to get their grades. He reported that everything was going well. That meant that no one needed to be caned yet. Brianna had already gotten her grade for German. She had gotten an ‘A.’
Scott made visits. They had discussed raising expectations next trimester. She begged him not to. The extra stress would do her in, she told him. He nodded and told her he would think about it. He had already decided not too. She wasn’t good with stress, but this way he didn’t have to worry about her thinking that he thought she was stupid again. That clearly wasn’t the case.
The last of the grades arrived. Scott was still shaking the rain off as he stepped on the floor. All the girls were gathered in the lounge.
He made a sad face and sent them all to their rooms. He started with Brianna. She had been crying again. He pulled out her chair and sat down and sighed.
Brianna hung her head. She often got nervous when she took tests. She had a bad feeling and guessed that she hadn’t made it. It would have been better if she hadn’t missed those two days of classes. “I’m sorry, Sir. I’ll do better next trimester. I promise.”
He had to bite his tongue. “I really doubt that, Brianna.”
“Was I that bad?”
“I doubt that you can top your scores. Straight A’s really can’t be topped.”
“Really?” Her head snapped up. She jumped up and hugged him and took the paper right out of his hand.
He had to laugh then. She was behaving completely inappropriately, but that was just how she was, as cute as a button. “I knew you could do it.”
“Thank you, sir.” Her eyes were still on her report card. “My parents are going to be so happy with me.”
“Yes, they will be.” He played his game the whole
time, with all the girls. They had all met his goals for them.
He called out that it was time for the Christmas party. All the girls came out of their rooms with their presents and laid them under the tree. He stood up and called them to attention. “All of you met your requirements this trimester.”
The girls cheered.
He smiled and stopped them. “At my house, we all have to do a performance before we get to open presents. I’ll start.” He read the girls a poem about the importance of family at Christmastime. He told them that he hoped that they wouldn’t be bitter with their parents for sending them here. They had meant well.
A couple of girls volunteered to sing a song or do whatever.
Brianna racked her brain about what she could sing, something traditional, or something funny or maybe something that didn’t have to do with Christmas at all. There was a lull, and Brianna raised her hand. Scott called on her. She remained sitting. She had decided on Old Little Town of Bethlehem.
Scott smiled as he looked at the girls stare at her, amazed. Just like he had been when he had heard her.
“Is that what you do in music room?” Hannah asked her.
“Well, I practice the piano too.” Brianna blushed prettily.
Scott looked away when he realized that he was staring at her. “Anyone else?”
“What after that, no way. Brianna sing Silent Night,” Gretchen pleaded.
The girls kept picking out songs, and Brianna sang them all. He had to wonder about her condition. She could sing one song after the other, but she couldn’t walk to town and back again without getting winded.
He decided to give her a break and told them they could open their presents. They were as happy as little kids then.