"So how do we handle it?" he asked. "How do we keep the board of education and the newspapers, God forbid, from picking it up?"
His question elated me. It meant that he had bought the idea of the two of us, that he had at least accepted it, whether he approved or disapproved. "It's almost the beginning of March," I said. "Graduation is the second week in June. It's only a matter of ninety days. And one thing for sure, John, we're through sneaking around, both of us."
"What are you trying to say?" Right now he was interested only in getting the problem solved, the true bureaucrat. He hadn't lasted all of these years in a political school system for nothing. He wanted to sweep the whole thing under the carpet even more than I did. He wanted to avoid the inquiries, the board meetings, the investigations, and the notoriety. A black mark against one of his faculty, or even one of his students, was a black mark against him. He who was least noticed survived best. So here was Mr. Oaks, the principal, actually asking me, the student, how to avoid a scandal that might escape the boundaries of the school and bring discredit upon himself.
"I mean," I said, "that there's never a scandal about people who behave normally and in good taste. So when Susan comes hobbling back in three weeks I'm going to take her whole Queen Victoria wardrobe and burn it. She's going to wear the same clothes as the girls her age wear. I'm going to be seen with her all over the place. We'll be at rallies and dances and sports affairs together and we'll eat in the teachers' lunch room together. But everything will be discreet. We'll act like an old married couple, no kissing or hand holding or anything like that, and I'll make you a bet that within a week we're part of the scenery around here. The gossips will get tired of it all and look for somebody else to pick on. What do you think?"
Oaks chuckled; he was back in good spirits. "I think it stinks, that's what I think. But, on the other hand, I can't come up with anything better, so we'll just do it as you suggested, hope for the best and pray for time to pass, so we can graduate you out of here."
We shook hands and on the way out I gave Mrs. Dante a big kiss on the forehead. She gave me a dirty look, but couldn't hold it and broke into a grin.
I had won.
Susan was so tremendously relieved when I told her about it that she cried. I realized how deeply concerned she had been, and now, certain that her position was safe, she took her recuperation in good spirits. She never complained about being left alone all day or on the many nights when I had gigs to play, or about having to keep a smelly bedpan on the chair by her bed, or about the lousy Sandwiches I made her for lunch and placed on the bed-stand before I left, or about my awful cooking and mediocre housecleaning or about the too-wet baths I gave her.
But the evenings were good. I would stay in bed with her, and we would talk for hours and plan our summer trip to Israel, using maps from an old atlas. Like two children, we argued whether we should work on a kibbutz or just hitchhike around the country and see everything we could, whether to stay in hotels or sleep in sacks on the ground.
If her closeness in bed got to me I rubbed unashamedly against her and came over her thigh. She would place my hand between her legs to show me how my rubbing had excited her, and with my hand on top of hers she would relieve herself, and then we would sleep, her head cradled in the hollow of my shoulder.
In school, Ken Johnson pulled me aside and asked me what the situation was with Susan. He said that everybody in the school was whispering about it, so I casually told him that Susan was my fiancйe and that we would be married during the summer. When I left him he was still gawking at me in disbelief. Dave and some of the other teachers also pumped me for information. I told them the same thing I had told Ken, and asked their cooperation in killing malicious gossip and to please not make a big deal out of it, which got Susan and I the support of the younger faculty. Then I had a long conversation about maturity and love with Mrs. Wiggins. When she hugged me and said, "God bless you both," I knew that she would support us with the older faculty members.
The only trouble came when one of the kids in my gym class asked me how it felt to fuck my teacher. I got him alone on. the back side of the track field, and it was all over before anybody was aware of what had happened. He was out of school for two weeks and never squealed. I'm glad he believed me when I told him what I'd do to him if he talked, because I meant it. I would have killed the little bastard.
Susan was nervous about going back, but the day of her return was long-overdue retribution for us both. She had a light walking cast from her toes to her knee and, because of it, was barelegged. She wore a white, print dress with a scoop neck and short, puffy sleeves. Her hair flowed long, and she tied it in back with a blue ribbon to match the design of her dress. I made her take a light cardigan sweater to guard against the chill in the classroom, and with her gazing proudly at a bright new engagement ring, we left for school. Gone forever were the funny shoes and clothes, the plain-glass spectacles and the old-fashioned hairdo. Susan was beautiful, radiant and scared. We went to the TLR for early morning coffee and donuts. When we walked in conversation stopped, abruptly.
"Good morning, everybody," Susan said brightly. She hobbled over to pour coffee and get do-nuts for us while I pulled out two chairs at the table.
Ken finally broke the silence. "Well, I'll be goddamned."
Woody did a little better. He said, "Good Lord!"
Dave and the others just stared, incredulous at what they were seeing as Susan Lawrence compared to what they remembered as Susan Lawrence. Susan brought over our tray and served me, making a show by putting in my cream and sugar and lighting a cigarette for me. And as we looked around the room at those beautiful, astonished expressions, our apprehensions turned to confidence.
We were home free. One look at her cute innocence and they all were charmed out of their skulls.
I raised my coffee cup like a champagne glass. "Gentlemen," I said loudly, "the Queen is dead. Long live the Queen."
There was a moment's silence, and then Ken, bless him, lifted his coffee mug and dutifully repeated, "Long live the Queen."
And we all laughed.
Chapter 8
Graduation and summer vacation finally came, to the relief of us all. Mr. Oaks presented my diploma and as I shook his big hand he whispered that it had never given him such pleasure to graduate anybody. I told him that I knew how he felt and thanked him for his kindness. When he returned to his car he would find a case of good scotch on his front seat and a note saying only, "Thanks from the two of us." Ken, Woody, and Dave each received a bottle of their favorite, with the same note, and we sent Mrs. Wiggins a box of lovely, embroidered hankies. Mrs. Gilchrist had decided to retire, and Susan was chosen by Mr. Oaks to take her place, as permanent faculty. We were truly grateful to these understanding people who could have made our life hell, and chose instead to give us a chance for happiness.
The excitement and anticipation of our trip to Israel began to dominate our lives. It wasn't so much the fact that it was Israel as that it was somewhere out of the country, and neither of us had ever been abroad. We got passports, shots, plane tickets, and reservations at a small guest hotel 'called a pension near Tel Aviv. We lay nightly in each other's arms, going over our itinerary for the thousandth time. We were to fly to New York and leave from there on June twenty-eighth, returning on August first to- be married before the following semester began. All of the arrangements we could think of had been made, and we counted off the days.
Then, on June twenty-sixth, my mother became ill. Susan wanted to postpone the trip, but, being trained in common sense and logic, I told her that that was silly. If we didn't go as scheduled we'd lose our hotel reservations, and who knew, with Israel's limited tourist capacity at the time, if we'd be able to get them later? I absolutely insisted that she go on alone to Tel Aviv, to use our reservations, and that I would Join her in a few days, when I was assured that my morn was okay. Reluctantly she agreed.