A Sadly Common Scandal

It was a crisp fall afternoon at Chalmer University. He was at his favorite bookstore/ coffee shop and was sitting at one of the tables that hugged the expansive wall of windows at the front of the store. Expertly drawn cartoons of books and famous literary characters filled the majority of the glass. Through a gap between Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter, he watched as multicolored leaves swooped and swirled through the air. A young woman crossed his field of view, and the wind was strong enough to make her long inky black hair flick behind her like a lashing whip. He took a sip of his hazelnut blend and watched the leaves swirl in an almost cyclonic vortex. After they settled back on the paved walkway, he turned back to the guttering cursor on his laptop screen. The blank page before him was the most annoying thing he’s dealt with in a couple of days. It was supposed to be an incisive and biting paper on the problems with capitalism, but it refused to be unearthed from his blocked mind. He sighed and rolled his eyes, placing down his ceramic mug a bit too harshly on the wobbly table. The cursor was still blinking ceaselessly; seeming to mock him in its own version of morse code. It looked like his Global Economies paper was going to have to wait. He was about to pack his stuff away, and head back to his apartment, when someone crowded his peripheral vision.

“Um, hi it’s Sebastian, right?” a young woman asked, sounding hesitant. It was the same woman that had crossed his path; her hair was still windswept under her gray beanie. She had thick framed glasses mounted onto her nose that gave her a bookish look, and it only added to her attractiveness. His brain blinked off for a moment as he stared at her, not fully processing that she was talking to him. Finally it started rebooting.

“Oh, yup, that’s me,” Sebastian said, with what he hoped was a charming smile plastered onto his face. “How can I help you?”

She looked around the bookstore nervously, but quickly realized that they were mostly alone, save for a defeated looking employee manning the coffee station. “Y-you run that blog about the school, right?” she said, taking the seat in front of him. She was huddled into herself, like the chill of the day was still festering in her bones. Although, the bookstore was wonderfully heated and the cold shouldn't be lingering that much.

He nodded. “Yeah I am. It’s a small thing, but the Chalmer Herald didn’t really need me. Besides, they aren’t hard hitting enough for my tastes…. I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name? Or how you knew me or where I was, for that matter.”

She trapped her plump bottom lip between her teeth, looking very uncomfortable. A strong gust of wind rattled the windows and she flinched like a startled puppy. Now, Sebastian was getting concerned; he was about to repeat his questions when she spoke. Her voice had grown softer and even more timid.

“Um, my name isn’t really important, and one of my friends follows your blog and sees you here sometimes. It was pure coincidence that she offhandedly mentioned she spotted you here…. She actually has a bit of a crush on you, in case you were worried you had a stalker…. You just said that the herald wasn’t hard hitting enough for you; would you be willing to stick your neck out?” she said, voice almost a whisper and her gaze settled on the intermittent passing cars.

That caught his attention. “Are you talking about a story you want to run on my blog?”

“I don’t want any part of it, alright? It has to be anonymous if you do it.” she implored.

“Well as an aspiring journalist, I need to be able to keep my sources confidential when they want to remain anonymous. It’ll be no problem, but what is this scoop exactly?” Sebastian asked. He slid his laptop a little closer to the edge of the table, and almost scoffed when he realized he could use the blank page from his nonexistent essay.

“Do you have to write it down?” she asked, eyes goggling in worry behind her glasses.

“I assure you it's completely confidential, but I don’t have an eidetic memory… It’s best for everyone involved if I jot some things down, so the story isn’t lost in my unreliable brain.” Sebastian said, but reeled his hands back from the keypad.

She sighed and shook her head slightly. “I’m sorry, I know I’m being ridiculous, but-”

“Hey, there’s no explanation needed. This is obviously important and a sensitive subject for you; I’m not going to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“Thank you, but you can type.”

“That’s fine, but before we begin, can I buy you a coffee, water, anything like that?” Sebastian asked.

She shook her head and her elongated raven hair danced around her angelic face once more. “No, I’m fine. Are you familiar with Dr.Edmonton?” Sebastian frowned slightly and shook his head, not recalling the name. He poised his fingers over the keypad, ready to type up the salient details.  “Well he’s the head of the Finance department, and well connected in the business field. If he takes you under his wing, then you can bet that a damn good job will be waiting for you after you graduate….. He’s also drinking buddies with the Dean.”

“Why do I get the feeling that this isn’t a mash note about how wonderful he is with his students.” Sebastian said. A twitch of a smile emerged on her countenance, before she reverted back to her dour disposition. 

“One of my friends was getting bad grades in his class, but she's not a bad student… She was getting so frustrated; it seemed nothing she wrote could satiate the man. Finally, she reached the end of her tether, she was in real danger of failing his class, and went up to him.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but why did she wait so long? If she was in danger of failing, then why didn’t she reach out before this?” Sebastian asked.

“She was scared, I guess. Dr.Edmonton is known to be prickly if he thinks you’re wasting his time. She’s a shy person, and didn’t want to stand out from the crowd.” she said. Sebastian nodded, typing away. “Anyway, she went to see him during office hours, and when she asked what she could do……” When Sebastian looked up to see why she had stopped talking, he saw her eyes tightly closed and a slightly trembling frame.

“Do you want to take a break? I could grab a refill real quick.” Sebastian said. He wasn’t the best with open displays of emotion, and wanted to step away from the tense environment for a second. She dabbed at the tears that had slipped down her face.

“No, I just want to finish. When she asked him, Dr.Edmonton said that ‘maybe she could use some one on one interaction’ and he…. he….. he slid his hand up and…. well…. in.” Sebastian paused his typing, but didn’t look up. All of a sudden he felt foggy and fuzzy, and his throat felt tight around his esophagus. He grabbed his mug and took a quick pull of lukewarm coffee. It settled like thick radioactive waste in his stomach.

“Before you go farther, you are aware that you could go to the pol-”

“I’m not a fucking idiot, Sebastian! I understand what he did perfectly fine….. To my friend, I mean.” she said.

“Of course, I didn’t mean anything discourteous. But is there anything else that happened or was that it?” Sebastian asked, putting his head back in his laptop.

“No, she ran off and cried in the bathroom. But, she told me, another woman found her there and consoled her… Apparently, it was an open secret that Dr.Edmonton would pressure his female students into giving….. sexual favors for better grades and career prospects.” she said, with vitriolic rancor surging through each word.

“You said this was an open secret, is there anyone else that would be willing to talk? They could remain as anonymous as you if they’d want.”

“I-I could ask around, I guess.” she said. Sebastian pulled a pen and pad out of his backpack.

“Good, it would be better for the post if we can get as much testimonial as possible. I’ll give you my number, and you can call when you know if some others would also want to tell their stories.” Sebastian said, ripping off a corner of notebook paper and scrawling his number across the ruled lines. He handed the scrap of paper to her, and she shot up and left the bookstore. Sebastian leaned back in the chair and stretched out his back, a series of pops fired off and he sighed as the tension flowed away. But it would be a long while before he stopped seeing her sorrowful face and feeling dark swirls of pain corrode his chest.

It was three weeks later, and Sebastian was hurrying through the pouring rain as he ran to the Edmonton building. It was new, and had been named in honor of Dr.Edmonton; a figurehead of Chalmer’s business department. Through the research he had conducted, he learned that Paul Edmonton came from gobs of money, and was only a tenured professor for the fun of it. His family’s money could keep him fat and happy without his teaching salary until the end of time.

Sebastian finally escaped the deluge and made it into Edmonton Hall. Paul’s office was on the fourth floor, and he adequately navigated the winding hallways. He had the best office, and it was in a corner of the building, so it had sunlight at almost any time of day. Although that wasn’t very useful today. Sebastian feared he wouldn’t be able to speak when the time came. His hoodie was clinging to him like spandex, and his building anxiety was ensnaring his throat. As he got closer to Edmonton’s office, his hands started to tremble. The entrance was the only office door that wasn’t on either side of the hall, but instead at the very end of the hall; he rolled his eyes when he noticed that it was also the only office with two doors. Sebastian made it to the end of the hall and rapped his knuckles across the solid oak before he could psych himself out.

“Enter,” a deep baritone rumbled. Sebastian licked his lips and took one last deep breath before he turned the handle and pushed through. The room was paneled in wood and looked like it would be more suited for a historical school like Harvard or Princeton. Chalmer University was trying for a modern look, and this was the only place in the entirety of campus that was the subversion of that theme. Sebastian had been in a few professors’ offices, but they were nothing compared to this. There were two couches staring each other down in the center of the room, and a bar cart off to one side. Past the couches was a regal wooden desk and two upholstered wingback chairs that were slightly angled, so people could slide in and out without having to move them. And behind them was Dr.Edmonton, reading a Wall Street Journal, with his polished loafers kicked up on the corner of his desk.

“Hello, Dr.Edmonton?” Sebastian asked, voice cracking. He cleared his throat and walked across the lengthy room.

Edmonton yanked the paper from his face and glared imperiously at him. His reading glasses were at the very tip of his nose, he pulled them off and stuffed them in the breast pocket of his vest. “What do you need? Are you in one of my classes? I’m usually brilliant with faces, but I can’t place yours.”

Sebastian took a seat. “Um, no, I’m not in any of your classes. I need to speak to you for a different matter entirely.”

Edmonton chuckled and slipped his loafers off the desk. “You sound very serious, son. Well hurry up, when you get to my age, each hour wasted on the trivial is an indictment on my decision to remain an educator. Students are getting dumber every year, I swear.”

Edmonton’s haughty tones tormented Sebastian’s ears brutally, but he kept a facsimile of a smile on his face. “I’m actually here for a comment on a story I’m going to run in my blog, Dr.Edmonton.”

Paul’s sagging face scrunched up in disgust, making the seams grooving his face even more apparent, and his jowls jiggled as he shook his head in dismay. “I think that’s a little below my weight class there, son. Maybe if you email me the questions, I’ll take a glance at them. However,” Edmonton turned around, watching the rain splatter onto his windows. From Sebastian’s perspective all he could see was the desolate gray of the storm clouds through the rain slicked windows. “It seems that the rain is letting up, and I should really be taking my leave.” Dr.Edmonton stood up, running his arthritic and gnarled hands over the fabric of his vest; he pulled his blazer off the back of his desk chair and flung it over his shoulders in a surprisingly agile motion.

“Dr.Edmonton, if you’d please take a seat this wouldn’t take long. You still have an hour left in your allocated office hours.” Sebastian said.

Edmonton looked at him with a smug smile that uplifted the flab in his cheeks. “When your name’s on the building, you can get away with leaving early sometimes, son. Now, if you’d please rise, I really must be heading off.” Paul paid him no mind as he removed his trench coat from the coat rack next to his desk, and put on a newsboy cap that covered his sparsely thatched head. 

Sebastian was warring with himself as he tried to conjure up the correct words to say to this dismissive jackass, but all he could do was watch as Dr.Edmonton packed up his briefcase, paying no mind to the student still sitting stupefied in front of him. He clenched his jaw as he felt ire surge through him; this seemingly untouchable colossus of Chalmer University that thought the laws of human decency were beneath him. Someone who harassed people he saw as vulnerable targets; people who would allow this ancient being to touch them because it was prudent to allow him to do so. He held their futures in his geriatric hands and wouldn’t help until they put something else in those hands. Suddenly, Sebastian knew exactly what to say.

“Sit your enfeebled old ass down you loathsome ogre.” Sebastian spat out.

Edmonton’s head whipped up from where he was packing his briefcase on his desk. “What did you just say?” he asked, dangerously calm.

“Unless your hearing is going, you heard me perfectly fine. I came here to ask you if you wanted to comment on a story that I’m releasing on my blog tomorrow.” 

“I don’t know just who the hell you think you are, you scurrilous little-”

Sebastian ignored his blustering. “I have several sources that claim you have coerced them into having sex for better grades and future careers. Would you like to comment on the record?” Edmonton stopped talking, and became eerily silent. The only sound in the room was the rataplan of the rain batting against the window. The storm had picked up again and it was now pounding against the paned glass. “Dr.Edmonton did you hear me?”

Slowly, Edmonton sat back down and stared at Sebastian. “I don’t know what kind of ‘sources’ you think you have, but if you were to publish this story, you’d be putting your name on the line.” He stood back up forcefully, his desk chair rolled into the windows. “I’m an establishment here. My name’s on the building, and my influence can make or break careers. I won’t be bullied by an infantile wannabe journalist with a coarse and uncouth demeanor, or some female students that are mad that they couldn’t hack it in my class or in the business world.”

“You seem to be lashing out because you feel the walls closing in on you…. If you’re capable of any introspection, I’d recommend that you think about this feeling of entrapment, and wonder how those women felt being groped and harassed by you. I’m also going to just write that ‘he couldn’t be reached for comment’.” Sebastian said as he stood up. 

Edmonton was hunched over his desk and breathing heavily; he looked like a bull ready to charge, but behind the false bravado was fear. And he relished in it. Sebastian tried to walk out, but Paul’s deep baritone made him turn around. “How much?”

“Excuse me?... I don’t know why I’m so surprised that someone as repugnant as you would try and bribe your way out of this, but I’m not for sale.” Sebastian said.

“I’ll END YOU BOY!” Edmonton screamed; spittle burst from his folded mouth and a cluster of veins pulsed in one hollow of his temples. “You don’t know who you’re messing with. I’ll drown you in legal bills. Your time will be so consumed with court dates that you won’t be able to focus on school. Grades will slip, then freefall, and before you know it, you won’t graduate on time. Maybe at all. Is that what you really want?”

Sebastian rolled his eyes as he opened one of the stately office doors. “What I really want is a time machine to stop you from hurting these women. But I’ll settle for ruining you, even if it turns into a pyrrhic victory.” He stepped out, slammed the door, and walked away.