Page 62 of Final Escape
She blinked as the enormity of his words hit her. “I feel as if you’re sentencing me without a trial, Mr. Grover. I haven’t even been charged with anything.”
“We have a responsibility to our students above all else, and the moral turpitude clause in our employment contracts makes our choice very clear. But,” he added when she began to protest, “we are trying to be fair. Hence, the unpaid leave status...which is more than generous given the situation. And when...” he cleared his throat “...when you are cleared of all suspicion and the case is solved, then of course you may come back.”
She sank back in her chair. Armed with a good lawyer, she could fight this and win. The district had no right to leap to such assumptions. There’d been no formal charges, much less a trial. But a lawyer would cost a lot, and her savings were slim. And with what might lay ahead, her far greater legal issues could just be over the horizon.
Grover had her cornered, and from the faint, satisfied gleam in his eyes, he knew it.
“If you’d like to gather your things, I can wait,” he prompted, waving an impatient hand toward her desk.
Humiliated, she scooped up her folders of research on Western American Art and her personal items from her desk, gathered her purse and walked to the door.
She paused, a hand on the door frame, and looked back, her throat tight. “You know I could fight this, but I won’t. Not now. But when the truth comes out, Iwillbe seeing you again, with a lawyer of my own.”
* * *
ON TUESDAY, WITH NOclass to teach, Carrie jumped at the chance to take a dozen scouts from an inner-city area of Chicago and two adult leaders on a four-hour trip. With one adult and six boys per raft, and the leaders actively providing local naturalist information to the scouts, she settled onto the center mainframe seat and concentrated on guiding the raft through the now-familiar channels of the Wolf River after letting the first raft go downstream until it disappeared around a bend.
Lord, thank You for this beautiful day,she said to herself as they bobbed through a rocky, narrow run in the river. This section was relatively calm, though ahead, there would be four exciting passages between the high granite walls of Bear Claw Ravine, and beyond that, a calmer stretch where side channels often offered glimpses of moose and bear before once again the river turned to Class III and, very briefly, Class IV rapids, and grew more exciting again.
Just being out here, concentrating on the river and away from her worries, made her feel free and renewed, and at peace in this beautiful place.
“Look up—eleven o’clock. The tallest pine, with the broken top. What do you see?” The leader in her raft was Joe, in his mid-fifties, fit, with a military haircut that belied the kind expression in his eyes. When the boys didn’t answer, he added, “Who sees that flash of white up there?”
The scouts, all encased in bulky orange life vests, twisted around to peer up into the trees and broke into excited chatter as they searched, until one shouted, “I see it! It’s aneagle!”
“Good eyes. Okay—does anyone recognize that next clearing on the right?”
A chorus of voices shouted, “Our campsite!”
She tuned out the conversation and laughter as she manned the oars to guide the raft through the currents, around some massive boulders and a snag of downed logs. She stood as they approached the faster, rushing currents to better read the river.
“Hold on,” she ordered, casting a quick glance at the passengers seated on the high, inflated perimeter of the raft.
The current bucked and swirled, sending waves of water over the scouts seated at the front, and they all shrieked with laughter.
All too soon, the river widened and slowed for several miles of quiet current. “So, boys, where have you been and what have you been doing on your trip?”
They all spoke at once, each trying to talk louder than the rest, until she laughed and shook her head. “One at a time. Okay, let’s go around the boat. Each of you, tell me your favorite part of your trip.”
“Earning high-adventure badges.”
“The bear and cub we saw yesterday.”
“Driving out here.” The smallest boy, with freckles across his nose and strawberry-blond hair ducked his head shyly. “’Cause of the crazy rocks at Vedauwoo.”
“Ahh...the campground close to Laramie, right?”
“Yeah—some of the huge rocks are like moon creatures or something. They’re cool.”
The leader chuckled. “We camped there one night on our way out here, and we didn’t think we’d ever get the boys rounded up. They would have stayed there the whole time, if we’d let them.”
“I know what they mean. Okay, who else has a favorite?”
S’mores and swimming in a pool at the base of a waterfall were the next favorites. The last boy, who was the biggest of the six, and had yet to say a word, was sitting opposite Carrie on the raft and remained silent.
He scowled when the boy next to him elbowed his ribs. “Camping, I guess,” he finally ground out.
“I know what Ian liked best,” taunted another boy. “But he isn’t gonna say.”
