The Great Thirst Boxed Set

by Mary C. Findley

  “Holy crap,” somebody whispered.

  The bell rang. Nobody moved. Talia looked around, bewildered, used to students stampeding out of her classes, especially since this was the last period of the day on a Friday.

  Keith said, “It’s a do-over. They wasted ten minutes of class time acting like a bunch of jackasses. You get ten minutes of their time in exchange.”

  “Oh! Well, I need to give out your assignment sheets,” Talia said.

  Gretchen raised her hand. “May I pass them out, please, Ms. Ramin?”

  “Yes, thank you, Gretchen.”

  “Can I help?” Tom asked, and then hastily stuck his hand up. “Sorry. Sorry. Please, Ms. Ramin, may I help?”

  After the sheets went around, Talia dismissed the class. Several students, including Tom, lingered.

  “Don’t we have a textbook for this class?” one of them asked.

  “We’ll be handing out some reading material about ancient literature from other cultures, as we get to it,” Talia said.

  “Otherwise, it’s just the Bible, Richie,” Keith replied.

  “Oh, OK.” Richie vanished.

  “I don’t have one.” Tom said in a low voice. “My mom can maybe get me one when she gets paid.”

  “You don’t have a Bible? We’ll get you one, Tom,” Talia said.

  “You have that job at Lowe’s, don’t you, Tom?” Keith asked.

  “Well, yeah, but …”

  “Yeah, but, you can dial back on the video games and buy one yourself,” Keith said.

  “But the school gives us all our other textbooks,” someone protested.

  “Right, Leo, and look at yours already, on the third day of school,” Keith scoffed. This was the boy whose books had crashed to the floor when he had knocked his desk over. “People don’t value what’s free. This one you get yourself. Figure out a way. If you need a job, you know my grandma’s apartment manager hires kids to rake the leaves or pick up trash.”

  “What about these assignment due dates?” Peter asked. “How long do we have to get a Bible? Are you going to change these?”

  “The assignments are due when they’re due,” Keith replied. “Get yourself a Bible and get them done.”

  Chapter Six –Missed the Bus

  Talia watched as the kids gradually departed, but two of them lingered, Tom and a girl Talia knew was named Jayna. The students eyed each other uncertainly.

  “Come to the teachers' lounge with me, Jayna,” Talia said.

  “C’mon, Tom. Over here.” Keith pulled Tom aside.

  “Ms. Ramin, I don’t want to be withered and dead like the grass,” Jayna said as soon as they were inside the lounge. “How do I get Jesus to save me?”

  Talia’s jaw dropped, but she managed to pray with the girl and keep from crying. Jayna bawled without restraint and then got the hiccups. Talia hugged her until she calmed down a little.

  “I missed the bus,” Jayna said between hics.

  “What? Where do you live?”

  “It’s far. I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t be. I’ll take you home.”

  “You mean I get to ride in that awesome car?” Jayna hiccupped again.

  “Come here,” Talia said, taking her over to the sink and getting a cup of water. “Drink this upside-down.”

  “Do what?”

  “Lean over. Drink from the other side of the cup, like this.” Talia demonstrated.

  “How’m I gonna do that?”

  “It will get rid of the hiccups. I promise.” Talia thought Jayna probably spilled more water than she drank, but she came up smiling.

  “It worked! I usually keep hiccupping for hours. Thanks, Ms. Ramin.”

  “Get your things and meet me out at the parking lot, sweetie,” Talia rubbed the girl’s shoulder. She hurried back to the Bible as Lit classroom to grab her duffelbag.

  Keith stood in the doorway giving Tom a manly sort of hug.

  “Now I will live forever.” Tom grinned shyly at Talia. “But I missed the bus.”

  “Today I’m the bus. I’m taking Jayna home too.”

  “You mean in that awesome car?” Tom’s eyes widened. Talia saw a fleeting look of longing in Keith’s eyes.

  “Mr. Bradley, you want to chaperone this field trip?”

  “I don’t know … ”

  Talia wanted to understand his expression right now.

  “Mr. Bradley, how could you not want to ride in Ms. Ramin’s car?” Tom demanded. “And you live right by me.”

  “Okay,” Keith sighed. “Let me grab my stuff and I’ll be down. I’ll let my dad know I’m leaving early.”

  “I call shotgun!” Tom crowed as they crossed the parking lot.

  “I think we better let Mr. Bradley ride shotgun,” Talia smirked. “His legs are pretty long for the back seat.”

  “Aw, OK,” grumbled Tom. Talia let the two students into her car. She looked back toward the school and saw both Mr. Bradleys exit the building and walk toward them. They seemed to be having a very intense discussion but broke it off before she could hear anything.

  “I hear you had a little bit of a rocky start, but a stellar ending, to the first class.” Principal Bradley leaned down to take a look at Tom and Jayna. “Jayna, you live a long way from here. Does Ms. Ramin know what she’s getting herself into? I could drop you two off, if you can wait about half an hour.”

  “It’s no problem, Mr. Bradley,” Talia insisted. “I have no plans, and it’s my own fault. If I had gotten control of the class we wouldn’t have had a do-over.”

  “A do-over?” Principal Bradley repeated, eying his son, who stiffened.

  “Yeah, I figured once every five years, we can slip one in, right?” Keith forced a grin.

  Maybe we can, if I know what one is,” Mr. Bradley said.

  “We didn’t respect Ms. Ramin,” Tom said. “Me especially. Mr. Bradley tiptoed the crazy out of us and gave us a do-over so she could start the class like we should have.”

  “Tiptoed the – ” Principal Bradley cast a long, searching look at his son. “Well, I’m very glad things turned out so well. God bless the two of you, and Ms. Ramin, thank you for taking this on yourself. I will see you later at home, I suppose, Mr. Bradley?”

  “Yes, of course,” Keith replied. “Should I bring anything?”

  “I’ll have dinner ready about six,” Principal Bradley answered. “That should give you enough time to make the turnaround from Jayna’s house. I assume Tom wants to get as much Tesla time as he can, even in the back seat.”

  Tom gave him a huge grin. Keith folded himself into the passenger seat and Talia slid in behind the wheel. They all waved at Mr. Bradley. He stood watching until they drove out of the parking lot, then headed back into the building.

  “So where do you live, Jayna?” Talia asked, forcing a bright tone into her voice. I am so tired! She tapped on the GPS.

  “1635 Harker Lane, Banksville,” Jayna said in a little, squeaky voice. Talia poked in the address and looked at the readout. “Oh, my – !”

  “I’m really sorry. I said it was far.”

  Talia rubbed her already-gritty eyes. “It’s okay. No problem. I’m just … Still figuring out where things are.”

  “Turn left in 500 feet,” the GPS said.

  “Whoa! After you stop for the stop sign!” Keith exclaimed as she spun the wheel.

  “What?” Talia looked in the rear-view mirror at the receding sign, and then caught a glimpse of flashing lights. “Oh, no!” she groaned. She slid over to the side of the road and stopped the car.

  “Hi there,” the police officer said as Talia lowered the window. “Pretty fancy car. We don’t get many fancy cars in our little town. Especially such fast ones. Hey, Keith!” The short, wiry man bent down to look into the car. Talia saw Keith cringe. “Wow, I had no idea you were in here.”

  “Hey, Clark.” Keith gave a feeble wave.

  “License, registration, and proof of insurance, please, Miss … ?”

&n
bsp; “Ramin. Natalia. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even see that stop sign.”

  “Well, that’s no excuse, now, is it? I hope Mr. Safety here wasn’t distracting you.”

  Talia handed over her items. “No, of course he wasn’t. I was taking some students home. They missed the bus.”

  “Oh, really?” the officer peered into the back seat. “Well, then that makes it extra important to be careful, doesn’t it? Precious cargo. Have you notified their parents that you’re transporting them?”

  “Oh … I didn’t think about that!” Talia blushed.

  “Clark, my dad called their parents before we left and let them know,” Keith said. “And they’ll be home before the bus could get them there. That is, unless you decide to keep us here messing around longer than you need to. You could give her a warning. She’s new in town.”

  “Messing around?” The pitch of Clark’s voice rose several octaves. “Is that what you call trying to enforce the law, Keith? Do you mean the law doesn’t apply to new people, or people in a hurry?”

  “You’re perfectly correct, Officer Johnson,” Talia said, taking a deep breath. “I ran that stop sign. I was wrong.”

  “Yes, you did.” Clark pulled out his ticket book. “But it looks like we’ve let the bushes grow up over there a little bit, so it’s possible that a new person in town might miss seeing it. So I will just write you a warning, since you acknowledged your responsibility. You can go. Be more careful next time.” He returned to his car, shut off the lights, and roared away.

  Talia sighed. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Bradley.”

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Keith soothed. “You handled Clark better than I did. Do you … Would you like me to drive?”

  “Oh, would you? It’s a little different from a gas engine, but you’ll catch on, and then you won’t want to stop.”

  They switched places and Talia talked him through the basics of operating the car. Keith pulled out and his grin kept getting bigger.

  “This is like floating,” he said.

  “Exactly.”

  The two in the back seat giggled. “Can I drive a little while, too, Ms. Ramin?” Jayna pleaded. “I have my learner’s permit.”

  “Me too!” Tom chimed in.

  “Not a chance,” Keith grinned. “I’m not giving this baby up to anybody except Ms. Ramin.”

  “Isn’t this car electric?” Tom asked. “How do you charge it up? We don’t have any charge stations around here.”

  “I have solar converters,” Talia explained. “And I have … I have a lot of batteries.”

  “How many is a lot?” Tom asked.

  “Are you in the car care club?” Talia asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll be bringing it in next Tuesday. You can see the batteries and pretty much anything else you want to.”

  “Sweet!” Tom crowed. Talia saw Keith’s expression change.

  “What’s wrong, Mr. Bradley?”

  “Oh, nothing. I have science club on Tuesday, so I won’t get to see it.”

  “Mr. Bradley, wouldn’t looking at a Tesla be a pretty cool science experience?” Jayna suggested. “You could bring your club over to Mr. Lawrence’s club, right?”

  “That’s a wonderful idea, Jayna!” Talia exclaimed.

  “Yeah, that is a good idea,” Keith conceded.

  “Look out!” Tom screamed. Keith swerved, knuckles white on the steering wheel. A black Sprinter van roared past.

  “They tried to run us off the road!” Jayna shrieked.

  “Calm down!” Keith exclaimed, all the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. “It’s only a speeder.”

  They saw the van turn up ahead. It swerved around the next corner and start a U-turn as if it was headed back toward them.

  “No way! It’s coming at us again!” Tom wailed.

  “Put your heads in your laps, kids. Do it now!” Talia snapped. “Keith, take that right turn. That one! Now!”

  Keith swung the car off the main road and the Sprinter seemed to him to snarl in frustration as it passed, barely missing their bumper. A second later they saw Clark Johnson’s squad car, lights flashing and siren blasting, streak by in pursuit.

  “Who was that?” Tom quavered.

  “Were they trying to hit us?” Jayna asked.

  “”Don’t worry about it, baby,” Talia said. “We’re safe, and maybe Officer Johnson will catch them. I’m so glad he was close by.”

  “Yeah, good thing he was,” Keith said, drawing a ragged breath. He turned around in a driveway and got back on the main road. They went on in silence for several miles.

  “The car has twelve battery cells,” Talia blurted out finally. “They call them battery packs, and there are normally only six for a five-door like this. But this one has some … modifications, and can go almost 600 miles without recharging.”

  Everyone started to breathe again after that, and normal small talk filled the rest of the trip.

  “There’s my house!” Jayna squealed. “Look, Ms. Ramin. All my brothers are watching for your car.”

  Keith pulled up in front of the faded double-wide. Five boys of various sizes spilled out of the yard to surround the car as Jayna mugged through the window.

  “Come on, Jayna, Ms. Ramin needs to get home,” Keith reminded her.

  “Oh, OK.” Jayna reluctantly pushed the door open. “Thank you so much, Ms. Ramin, for everything. I can’t wait for the next class.”

  “Next stop, Tom’s house,” Keith announced as they pulled away. They kept the light conversation going until they arrived at Tom’s house.

  Tom got out with a grin. “I get paid at Lowe's tomorrow, so I can get my Bible then. Thanks, Ms. Ramin. Thanks, Mr. Bradley. Thanks a lot.”

  Keith started to get out of the car as well.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Talia asked.

  Chapter Seven –Dinner with the Principal

  “My dad and I live right across the street,” Keith answered. “That’s his car.” He pointed out an older Taurus sedan parked opposite the Tesla. “Thanks for the ride, and the chance to drive the Tesla. That is such a great car.”

  “Oh!” Talia got out of the passenger seat but hesitated on the sidewalk. “I see.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “I just ... I had hoped we could talk … about the class we didn’t have today, because I screwed up.”

  “You didn’t screw up. Two kids accepted the Lord. How is that screwing up?”

  “God did that.”

  “Of course He did. He does everything good, and the other stuff … well, we’re sinners living in a world of sin. Things can’t go good all the time, can they?”

  “No, I guess not. But how do you – I’ve never known how to – I never expected kids to sit up with their hands folded in my classes, you know?”

  “Well, they don’t always do that in my classes, either,” Keith chuckled, “but it’s no service to them if they think you’re their friend, or some annoying noise they don’t have to listen to. Scare them a little bit. The Bible is full of commands to discipline children, make them fear those in authority. Good, clean fear – not scary ‘I don’t know when you’re going to crack my skull’ kind of fear. My grandma says you have to ‘make ’em mind’.”

  “Can you teach me how?”

  “I could try, but, for starters, you can’t be so cute,” Keith said.

  “Cute?”

  “I just meant that – umm – Wear something less – less – ” Keith’s arms flailed. A car went by and he hurried over to join her on the sidewalk.

  “Cute?” Talia looked down at herself. “Okay, okay. So, maybe a dark, tailored suit, and a white blouse, and flats, or something? And put my hair in a bun?”

  “It doesn’t have to be extreme, but if you look serious, you’ll be taken more seriously. And you can’t be asking the kids for help with your contacts.”

  Principal Bradley came out of the house across the street, hands in his pockets, strolling down th
e sidewalk toward them.

  “I see the bus has made its deliveries,” he commented. “Ms. Ramin, how would you like to join us for dinner? Keith’s sister is anxious to meet you.”

  “You have a sister? What grade is she in?” Talia whipped her head around and stared at Keith.

  “Yeah, come on, please, have dinner with us. Sorry, dad, I didn’t mean to make you two wait so long.”

  “It’s no problem. Joana saw you through the window and wanted me to invite you in. She does get a little demanding around dinnertime.”

  Talia walked between the two men until they got to the house. Principal Bradley ushered her in and Keith brought up the rear.

  “Hey, sis!”

  “You finally made it home!” Talia froze. She couldn’t help it as the too-thin woman with yellow parchment skin and strings of dark hair rolled into the hallway in a motorized wheelchair. A sort of laptop device produced an electronic voice as she moved her head against a specially-designed headrest. Keith planted a kiss on the woman’s cheek. “Joana, this is Talia Ramin, the new English teacher at the school.”

  “Hey, Ms. Ramin,” Joana responded. “Heard a lot about you.” Her facial muscles didn’t seem to be quite under her control, but it looked like a smile that twitched across from one ear to another.

  Talia’s mind crowded full of thoughts. What do I do? How should I look at her? Can I touch her? Will I hurt her? She looks like her bones would crack if I hug her. She rubbed her hands on her thighs to get rid of the sweat. “Hey, Joana, it’s nice to meet you! Please call me Talia.”

  “Dinner’s on the table,” Mr. Bradley invited, gesturing toward the dining room. “Our hostess can lead the way.”

  Joana rolled into the dining room and moved up to the end of the table.

  Mr. Bradley led Talia to a seat beside him and he and Keith sat on either side of Joana.

  “Father, thank you so much for the food you have provided for us,” Mr. Bradley said. “Thank you for this Bible as Literature class, and for the two souls saved today because of it. Bless Ms. Ramin, and thank You for bringing her to us. In Jesus’ Name, amen.”