Page 6 of Jeremiah

“He would have loved all this room here. When I was growing up, I was told all the stories about his time there. A couple of shifter lions, too, were a part of the troupe. I think, too, there might have been some wolves that, while not a part of the circus, they were there to protect the people present at night.” Shaking her head, she thought of that story. “Grandma, she didn’t much care for the people that were around at the time. I think that it broke my grandda’s heart when he had to choose either her or the circus. We don’t have mates, not like Joel does, so they divorced sometime later, and grandda disappeared.”

“Did he join the circus? Wouldn’t that be romantic?” Lexy didn’t have the heart to tell the faerie about how it was difficult to get food and water when traveling. That most of the animals would end up nearly starved by the time they were to the next town. The advantage of being a shifter, they could work at jobs to bring in money for them to use over the animals that were caged up nightly. She told Butter some of the things that they had to endure. “That’s so sad, don’t you think? And to not know where your next meal is coming from would have been frightening, too. As faeries we can make sure that the ground is giving and fruitful for all the creatures around here. I’m glad that you told me of the story, my lady. I will remember it often when I see the animals that are trapped at the zoos. I shall make sure that they have a bit extra in their enclosures from now on.”

If nothing else came of her telling the stories of her kind, she was happy to know that some of the elephants would have a little extra in their bellies that night. Smiling, she wondered if that was the reason she’d seen so many flowers around the enclosures around the places where animals were kept. It was a wonderful thought and one that she was going to look into to make sure that they were well taken care of.

When she was headed up to bed that night, having stayed with Joel and his family one more night, she sat in the window seat and looked around the back yard. She’d been told that there were lions about, that they were part of the leap that was nearby. Today, she’d met and enjoyed talking to not just the leap leader but also the man who was in charge of the few of her kind that were around.

He’d spoken to her dad about taking over the parade, what a group of elephants were called, and Dad seemed excited about it. But in the end, he didn’t take the position because he wanted to be able to come and go as he pleased while the parade would need him daily to sort out the differences that were on going around the area. Mostly to do with being unable to shift when they wanted and to wander around.

~*~

Jeremiah was having a good time being the principal. He thought perhaps he should have spent a bit more time in his offices, getting work done, but he was learning a great deal about the students and the teachers that had been hired. The two newest teachers, Ms. Jamestown and Ms. Lenord, weren’t as friendly as the others, but he thought they’d come around sooner rather than later. At least, he hoped so.

“Mr. Jeremiah? Do you have a moment?” He smiled at Ms. Wentworth, the new secretary that he hadn’t had a hand in hiring. He asked her what he could do for her, forcing a smile on his face nearly every time that he had to deal with her. And that’s what it felt like, dealing with her. “Well, we need some volunteers to come in and make our job just a little easier. The other school that I was at, we had a dozen of them working in the office all the time, and they simply made my job much easier. I would like to propose to you that you put it out there that we need some help and see what you can get.”

“And what is it that these people would be doing? I’m assuming that they would help out the teachers and such.” She looked at him like he’d just been caught in the cookie jar and then told him that they would have to get their own volunteers to do that sort of stuff. That she couldn’t go it all. “All right. I will need some help, I guess, in determining why we would need a dozen volunteers in this office. I mean, there are four of you working in here now, correct? I don’t see the need for all those extra people when I’ve noticed that you and the others seem to have a great deal of free time. Enough, I’ve been told to do some shopping online.”

“That’s not anything you need to concern yourself with right now. And we need that many so that they can answer the phone and deliver things to the teachers. Running around so that we have free time to answer any questions that the students, or even yourself, have.” He asked about the teachers. “What about them? I mean, I suppose they might have a question or two at the beginning, but we’re not going to be able to be running around doing their job for them. No, these women would be just for the office.”

“I still don’t understand why you would need a dozen of them. And you might want to realize too that men would want to come in too that—” She put her arms over her ample bosom and told him that men would mess things up. They had no place in the school anyway. “Are you telling me that you think that I’m going to be messing things up?”

“Well, to be honest, Mr. J., You are right now, and I’ve asked you a single thing. Just put it out there that we need some women to come in and help out around the office. I’ll take charge of them; that way, they won’t be doing things wrong from the start.” She huffed at him. “You see right now? You’re making things difficult when all you needed to do was say that’s fine. I’ll get right on it.”

“How about I say no? I’m not going to go out and find you a dozen women to come in here and take over the office when I’m paying you to do your job. I can, however, find a replacement for you and the others who believe that you are going to sit around and shop. Not on my watch.” He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “Now, I like that better anyway. Which is it going to be? You or the others?”

“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing that I’ve already put the word out that we’re going to need help in here. And you should realize too that the office is the place. Without me here and the others that I’ve brought in with me, you wouldn’t know anything that’s going on. I would really hate to have to have you replaced because you don’t know what’s going on.” He asked her if she’d just threatened him. “You take it the way that you wish. I’m just saying that I have the ear of more than one board member, and they agree that having you in here, a newbie to this area, has no more sense than that father of yours running around town fixing things for the downtrodden. If he wants to help out someone, he should be taking over the fire department and making sure that they do what they’re told too.”

“You’re fired.” He didn’t wait around for her to say anything back to him but went to his office and called his dad. Not only that, but he also called the school board and told them that he’d just fired his secretary. Come to find out, Ms. Wentworth hadn’t been hired at all and was right now trespassing. He reached out to his father, telling him to bring the police, and sat at his desk.

Watching the monitors he watched as Wentworth sat back at her desk like nothing had happened. Within a few minutes, the police showed up, and she wouldn’t buzz them in. Getting up, his anger right there on the edge had him going to the front of the offices and opening the door for them.

“He’s no right to have me arrested.” Joe, chief of police, now said that the school board was pressing charges. “They’ll hear from me. You just…why is he even bothering with the things that are going on in this office anyway? He’s being out of line, is what he’s doing. I want you to take him away.”

“You know what I’m sick of? I’m sick of people just thinking that if they want to work here, they can tell me that they are. It doesn’t work that way. I’d like to say that I’m thrilled to be firing you, but since you were never hired in the first place, I can’t. And don’t think that I’m not going to press charges either since you threatened me, but I’m going to do it right now.” He was nearly to his office when he realized that he had no idea if any of the staff that was in the office actually worked for him. Getting the list emailed to him, wishing that he’d done it sooner, he had the other seven women taken out in cuffs and then taken to jail. This was getting—

“Take a deep breath.” He glared at his father-in-law and then thought better of it. When he laughed, Jeremiah wanted to stretch out his wolf and tear up the office, he was that angry. “You’re just fine, son. I’m going to answer the phones in here as I’m on my break right now. We’ll juggle things around like that for today then have the other people coming in on Monday morning. I have the list that you were sent.”

“Why do people think that I’m so stupid that they can just walk all over me? They can’t keep doing this. I can’t be treated this way. I’m a grown assed man that knows that I can be a little sappy but this? This is beyond stupid acting.” Larry said he didn’t think anyone else would once it got out that he was pressing charges. “This is a nightmare if you ask me. I would like to have…do you think that this will ever be a normal job? I don’t. I just want to have a normal school day and get the children what they need.”

By noon, the desks were manned and he had four people working the office. There was a need for the four of them, too, he’d found out. With them making copies and delivering them to the teachers when they needed things, it started to flow right. But tomorrow was a brand-new day, and he was expecting nothing to go right then.

When the school buses pulled into the circular drive to pick up and deliver the kids, he was feeling less stressed. He was still having some moments where he would have to go to his office and just stand there, but for the most part, things were going better. When the last teacher was out of the building, having gone home rather than stick around, he sat in his office playing a game on his computer. It was that, or he thought that he’d go insane. A knock at his door had him telling the person on the other end to come in. But he was tense and prepared for everything when the door moved open. It was Lexy and her dad standing there, telling him he was going to dinner with them.

Arriving at the pizza joint, his favorite music was playing through the speakers. His niece brought him his drink and told him that she loved him. Thinking that was the best way to end his terrible day, he drank down his tea and leaned back. His family, showing up a few at a time and leaving, told him that he’d handled things well today, and they were proud of him. Lexy sat down next to him when he was alone again.

“I’m not so proud of myself, just so you know.” She asked him why not that no one had been killed nor did they have to close down their doors because something terrible had happened. “All true, but I think I might have handled things a little differently with Wentworth. She told the police that she figured I’d have my head so far up your bottom that I’d not notice for several months that the place was being run by her. She even told the officer who arrested her that she was going to replace the teachers too that weren’t part of her ideal classroom. That would have been the five males that we have working. She has a thing about male teachers, I guess. She thinks that they should just do the jobs they were given since the beginning of time. While I have no idea what that means, she also has a thing against married women teachers. I believe she was born in the wrong time frame.”

“I have some things to tell you.” He asked her if it was going to be upsetting. “I hope not. I’ve been making inquiries myself about a couple of things, not about the school or the house that we’re getting. I’d like to take a nice long trip, during next summer. A cruise.”

“Sure.” She asked him if he was serious. “Yes. I am. We’ll call it a honeymoon. Speaking of which, I’ve not asked you to marry me. I know that your kind doesn’t have mates, but I’m going to tell you right now that I’m so in love with you that I can…the only thing that kept me from shifting and tearing up my nice new office was that you’d make fun of me and I didn’t think that I could handle that. Not today, anyway.”

“You’re right. I would have been upset with you.” She smiled at him. “I have fallen in love with you, by the way. I think it was a done deal when you came to my office after talking to the police, pulled me into the hall, and kissed me. Perks like that can make a girl swoon if you ask me.”

“It was Joel’s idea. He said that I looked like I was going not explode, and he didn’t want to have to explain to you how I’d died in the line of duty. So I thought, what the hell, I’m going to do that.” She hugged him tightly to her, and he thought it was the best feeling. “Also, you’ll be happy to know that all the people, four men, and one woman, that work in the office are not doing a thing until they clear it with me. I’m all right with that for now, but I hope they get more confident as the days go by.”

“I think that I’d be a little nervous around you myself. How many people have you fired over the last few weeks.” He told her. “Yes, eleven people is a great many people when we’ve only been teaching for two weeks. By the way, I love my classroom. And dad was telling me that he’s having the best time he’s ever had since coming here to teach. I think he was ready to give it all up when things started being messed up. I know that I was.”

The two of them spoke about the school and other things that were going on. Their home was finished, Butter had told him, and that if they wanted, they could stay there tonight. Since it was Friday, finally the end of the week, he thought that they’d have the entire weekend to hang out together without any interruptions. He wasn’t counting on that but was thinking it might be possible now that they had a handle on the employees who were working for him.

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