THE WAYS OF THE WICKED

THE WAYS OF THE WICKED

The staff room was almost empty, a few teachers were using their prep time to get some lesson planning finished.  Ivy Thornton crossed the threshold and let out a loud sigh.

“Hey there,” called out Mark McGuire,  “How's it going?” He took a closer look at Ivy. “You look… stressed.”

“Stressed isn't the word for it. Overwhelmed! Like I’m in a sinking ship. Like I’m going to have a nervous breakdown. Like I will be on stress leave by the end of the semester or maybe by the end of the month. Ivy gave a nervous laugh which had nothing to do with humour but everything to do with nerves.

“Oh yeah, you have that new student this week, how’s that going,” said Keisha Johnson as she closed the lid of her laptop.

“You do not want to know,” groaned  Ivy, as she plopped down in one of the comfy chairs in the staff room.

“Actually, I do, I hear he is a real hard case.”

“Now there is an understatement,” sighed Ivy.

“Yeah, I have him for science,” commented Mark.

“That is one very troubled young man. He’s got everything in life working against him. He’s been here five days and already makes enemies left, right, and centre. Both staff and students.

“ I think he got kicked out of his last school. He has tons of suspensions, he’s been expelled a few times, he’s also spent time in juvie, at least that is what I have heard,” said  Keisha.

“It must be awful living in juvenile hall, away from his family,” sympathized Ivy.

“In Dwayne's case, it was probably a step up,” stated Mark.

 Ivy had a shocked look on her face, “Seriously?”

“Yeah, his Father has been abusing the kid for years.  I heard the police have a rap sheet five pages long on Daddy Dearest. He finally pulled some kind of bank job and they put him away for years, so the kid got a bit of a break. That is until his mum hooked up with the next loser boyfriend and he was almost as bad. He lowered his voice, even the mother is a total douc… jerk. He inserted as several students passed the open door. 

Mark got up from his seat and closed the staff room door.

“I sorta know the family. I knew Dwayne's older brother a few years back, Kareem wasn't a student here but I used to volunteer at a kid's group in the inner city.  Kareem was another career criminal, a chip off the old block as they say. He was forced to go to the program I was involved with, sort of a court-mandated thing. You know the drill, community hours, check in with your probation officer every two minutes. Wear a nice steel or Kevlar ankle bracelet with GPS on your ankle so the cops know where you are every minute of the day and you can’t be in violation of your bond. Yada, yada, yada.  Kareem hated every minute of being in the program. He stole everything from the centre that wasn't literally nailed down. Backpacks, kid's lunches, and kid’s clothes, even the director's car.”

“No way!” gasped Ivy.

“Lucky for Luke, he got his car back before it made it as far as Kareem’s chop shop. Yeah, Kareem was a piece of work.  I think he's doing time in… he paused, “I can’t really remember where, but I think they gave him quite the stretch in the slammer. They sent him up the river for ten years. I’m surprised no one has shanked him yet. I figured someone would do him in when he was just  a fresh fish in the system,”

“Listen to you with all your gangsta talk,” said Keisha.  “Was It Milhaven?” 

“Yeah, that rings a bell. I was just getting on a roll there with the prison cant. I guess I have watched too many gangster or prison movies.”

“Man, youz always on a roll bro, said Keisha. We just gonna start calling you Shawshank.”

Mark sat back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his face.

“ Yeah, well getting back to Dwayne,” said Keisha. “What is he up to in your class Ivy?”

“He is making my life crazy, He lies, he is rude, and out of control, he actually tries flirting with me when he's not swearing at me or one of the other kids in the class. He is slamming books down on the desk, asking to go to the washroom, and then not coming back. He gets right up in your grill when he gets angry, he hasn’t actually come to blows with any of his classmates, but it has been close.”

“Why don't you send him to the office? Sanders will straighten him out,” said Keisha.”

“ But I want to help him, sending him to the principal every few hours is not going to help the boy. He’s only in grade eight now. What's going to happen to him when he hits high school? Maybe if someone offers him some support, gives him a caring attitude…

“ Oh, you naive little do-gooder,” broke in Mark. “ I’ve been a teacher for more years than I care to count,  and I’m due for retirement next year if I don't have a nervous breakdown and claim stress-leave myself.  Look! We all think that we can make a difference in some student's life, and sometimes we can, but those cases are few and far between. And not in the lives of kids like Dwayne, or his family. Yeah, that family is pure evil. Dark and depraved. They are all … just wicked.

“No!” insisted Ivy. “No child is pure evil, they are not wicked,” challenged Ivy.

“ Ivy, there are exceptions to every rule. Kareem used to drag his little brother to the program sometimes. I caught the two of them torturing stray cats in the alley behind the centre. Those boys are bent, warped, damaged. That's just the way of the wicked.”

 Ivy gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. 

Keisha leaned forward and stared into Ivy’s eyes. “You have to realize that you can't save everyone. I mean I have only worked in the school system for half, no, a quarter of the time that Mark has, but I learned long ago that you can't save everyone. And you can't fix everyone. Some kids are just  … unfixable. The sooner you realize that and the sooner you accept that, the better off you will be. You are just a newbie, a first-year teacher. I was just like you in my first year. Full of ideas and ideals.”

“I can try though, I have to, or I can't live with myself.  I have read Dwayne's file, and even spoken to his counselor. The system has failed Dwayne time and time again. His mother, his father, his stepfather, his brother, the legal system, juvenile hall, and case workers at the Children's Aid Society. All of them have failed Dwayne. I don't know who all of the people or systems are, but Dwayne is one of those kids who have just fallen through the cracks. He needs someone, to be on his side, to advocate for him.”

Mark slowly clapped his hands. “Well said, Ivy. I applaud your sentiment, I really do. This world needs more teachers like you. And in a perfect world…well, you know this is not a perfect world.”

“ Anyway,”  said Ivy standing, and draining her water bottle. “I have to run to the office, so I will catch up with you guys later. I am going to try to connect with Dwayne tonight after class.” With that, she was out the door.

 Keisha stared after her, “I remember when I was like that.  So Gung Ho, ready to take on the world. Now just getting through the day sometimes is a chore.”

“I don’t think I was ever that innocent and naive,” stated Mark.  “Oh, the hubris of youth, so dangerously self-confident,  so proud, so idealistic. So all-knowing, so overwhelming right in all you believe.  So cocksure of yourself. Grandiose goals, lofty ideals. Proud of your beliefs. So proud of your ideals. You know what they say … pride goeth before a fall.”

Keisha rose to her feet, tucking her laptop into her shoulder bag and placing her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing. “You know what I think Mark?”

“That it's time for me to shut up?” he quipped.

“Exactly,” said Keisha as she flounced out the door.

The bell rang and the students were hustling out the classroom doors. It was Friday and each and every one of them was eager to start their weekend.

“ Ivy hesitated and then spoke up, “Dwayne, can I see you for a moment?”

“What now?” sneered Dwayne. “Look, Ms. Thornton. I got places to be, schools out. I’m outta here.”

“I’ll only take a moment of your time.”

Dwayne cursed rudely, but Ivy totally ignored it. There was more on her agenda than quibbling over a few swear words.

“ I just wanted to know how your first week at school went. Are you making any new friends?”

“Look, I ain't here to make friends bro.”

“That's Ms. Thornton to you, Dwayne. I'm your teacher, not your bro.” Ivy always insisted on mutual respect in her classrooms, if you wanted to be respected you had to let people know it.  “But I would like to be your friend. We all need friends, especially when we are in a new situation like you are, in a new school.”

“I don't gotta be friends with anyone.” 

“We all need friends.” 

“Not me.”

“Surely you jest?”

“Say what?”

“You're kidding, right? About not needing friends.”

“No man, I do better with just me.” He thumped his chest, “Lone Wolf.”

“ Look Dwayne, I know that you have had some trouble in the past, I'd like to help you.”

“Look lady,” Dwayne swung around angrily, “I don't need no help, especially from some overprivileged rich teacher.  I seen your clothes, I seen your car. You all think you can …  make me a better person. The facts are you can't. I'm me. I like me. I like me the way I am and I don't need some do-gooder to try to make me into something I'm not. You are probably some princess who has lived her whole life in an ivory tower, with good food, and nice clothes. You don’t know what it’s like growing up in the hood. Each day you have to scrape and claw your way just to survive. You spend your days on the floor of your crib, just so you don’t get shot if there is a stray bullet coming through your window during a drive-by shooting, like my little sister Amari.”

  “Dwayne”, Ivy implored, she reached out her hand towards him. 

In a flash, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an object from his pocket. Pushing a button he revealed a long blade. A switchblade she definitely hadn't been expecting that.

 “I don’t need your help, yours or anyone else's.” Dwayne’s breath was coming in gasps now through teeth clenched, and the knife in his hand was shaking. “Now back off!”

Ivy took a step forward not back.”Dwayne, give me the knife.” Her voice was steady despite the sweat that started to trickle down her back.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment. From a foggy distance, she heard the classroom door slam closed and the sound of Dwayne's retreating footsteps running down the hall.  She stared down at the floor as the scarred linoleum steadily turned bright red. Mark’s words rang in her mind. The ways of the wicked…