“All that may be the case, Mrs. LaViere, but we here at Kendrick find this highly offensive and certainly don’t want our children exposed to such images.”
I laughed again. “Not only is it anatomically correct, actually pretty well drawn, but I venture to guess that at least a quarter of the children have seen this before and aren’t the least bit, shall we say, uptight, about it?”
He grew quite flushed and I could only imagine what his bedroom was like at night. “We can’t have it, Mrs. LaViere. I really don’t know how else to make this clear, but we cannot have it. Your son will not do this again.”
“Or, what?” I challenged him, my ire sparked by his controlling attitude.
“Are you planning to encourage him to continue this sort of… of pornography, Mrs. LaViere?”
“Pornography? Mr. Beacham, if this is what you look at in order to get it up to mount your wife, then I pity you. Grow up!”
I stood up and made it out into the hallway before I started laughing. I giggled all the way to the car and couldn’t wait to call Worth and tell him all about it.
He was in Chicago, arranging for a new clinic opening. “You said what?” He couldn’t believe his ears. “Auggie, honey, for you and Ford and even me, that’s normal life, but not everyone lives on a horse farm. You have to respect the man’s job. He can’t have children running around drawing pictures of copulating animals. That’s one step away from drawing human pornography and who is going to draw that line? Most of all, you have to respect the job he has to do. I’m sorry, honey, I know you find it funny, but this is what the establishment is all about and they’ll take it out on Ford.”
“Worth! My god, we’re talking about an anatomical drawing. When does he get to climb out from under that puritanical rock and deal with life as it is.”
“Sweetheart, it’s not a matter of how you and I want to raise him. It’s a matter of what will be tolerated in the schools. We don’t control that, sweetheart. Once he climbs on that bus, he’s no longer under our supervision. You can’t expect them to take care of all those kids without having some kind of rules!”
I gaped at my phone. “Worth, I never realized you were such a cog in the system. I have to say I’m a little disappointed.” He was challenging my opinion and I never did handle that well.
“Auggie, please, sweetheart. Calm down and then call the principal and apologize. Tell him you’ll speak to Ford. You’re making this a bigger deal than it is.”
“I will not!”
“Auuuuugie…?”
“No! Worth, this is what’s wrong with kids. They don’t understand consequences. We keep their heads under wraps until they’re so old they don’t listen any more. Ford knows where colts come from. He’s watched them foaled!”
“Auggie, really. Is all this necessary?”
“Sorry, I bothered you!” I said and hung up.
I paced around the house, looking out the windows into the cool rain, wishing I hadn’t gotten angry with Worth. It had become rare that we even talked and I’d just wasted a golden opportunity. I texted him. Sorry. He texted in return. I love you my little hothead.
Ford came in from the bus and I decided not to talk about it just then. I wanted to sleep on it. We made a casual dinner and ate on TV trays in front of a nature series we both enjoyed. He was really involved in the show but my mind was reeling. I realized that his childhood years were coming to an end. I could no longer be the influence that determined who he would become. I suddenly saw myself in the role of my mother. She’d controlled my life, well beyond the years when she should be letting me make mistakes — and I’d hated it. I also knew that I carried her genes and even though I monitored my behavior, what I’d done to the principal showed me that I really couldn’t control it. Pair that with the controlling genes that Worth had, and I could see our child was doomed.
Ford went to school the next day as usual but then came the next phone call. I found myself across the desk from Principal Beacham one more time.
“Believe me, Mrs. LaViere, I did not wish to have you return.” Although I knew he wanted me to think that it was an inconvenience to me, in truth, I bet he felt childish after our conversation and would have preferred to stay away from me. “Your son had an incident today.”
“Just tell me.” I was curt.
“I’m sure you noticed that the drawings the children did of horses have been removed from the walls. We planned to send them home in advance of Derby. Ford didn’t receive his drawing, for obvious reasons, and he did not take it well. He made quite a fuss, as a matter of fact. His teacher sent him down here to talk to me.”
“Well, what did you expect? You singled him out and made him look as though he’d done something wrong. Do you raise children to not stand up for themselves as well, Mr. Beacham?
“Mrs. LaViere… really, there’s no need for us to go into that again. I have the drawing here in my drawer and I’m prepared to release it to you. I’m asking that you explain to your son the nature of the school’s policy on this matter and ask him to respect those guidelines. I expect you to respect them as well, Mrs. LaViere. Good day.” With that, he opened a folder on his desk that was obviously placed there strategically for this sort of dismissal. I didn’t budge.
“Is there something else, Mrs. LaViere?”
“If you don’t mind, Mr. Beacham, before you run and hide in your folder of old paperwork, perhaps you could hand over my son’s drawing?” I stared at him and he flushed.
“Oh, yes, of course.” He wasn’t quite done yet. “Mrs. LaViere, if there’s another situation of this nature in the future, I will have to bring it to the attention of the school board and it could result in your son being expelled.”
“Really, Mr. Beacham?” I took the drawing. “If another situation of this nature should occur in the future and you find it necessary to make such a big deal out of something you should be adult enough to handle, I will be forced to bring the matter before the school board as well as the editor of the Courier. I’m sure you know them? The big newspaper in town? I believe this is an issue of free speech, which you might remember is a constitutional right. There is nothing pornographic here, Principal Beacham. This is nature. You might tune in to a bit of National Geographic from time to time and see how it’s done.” I left.
I was shaken as I got into the car; not by the principal, but by my lack of ability to restrain myself. Now Ford was displaying the same characteristics even though I’d said nothing to him about the incident. That meant his natural tendencies were surfacing.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Worth
“Auggie, I know you don’t want to talk about this, but we have to be objective. He’s our son, honey. He’s like us. Like your mother and my father.”
“But he’s also part of Dad and your mom,” she countered.