Schools are always more or less the same, aren't they? There's always the smell: a mixture of chalk, school lunches, floor wax, books. The echo of children's voices, the louder voices of teachers. The "art" on the walls and the decorations on each room's door. The little Red Ditch kindergarten was no different.
I held Hunter's hand while Remy trailed behind us. Every time I saw Hunter, he seemed to look a bit more like my cousin Hadley, his dead mother. He had her dark eyes and hair, and his face was losing its baby roundness and growing more oval, like hers.
Poor Hadley. She'd had a tough life, mostly of her own making. In the end she'd found true love, become a vampire, and been killed for jealousy's sake. Hadley's life had been eventful, but short. That was why I was standing in for her, and for a moment I wondered how she'd have felt about that. This should be her job, taking her son to his first school, the kindergarten he'd be attending in the fall. The purpose of the visit was to help the incoming kindergartners become a little familiar with the idea of school, with the look of the rooms and the desks and the teachers.
Some of the little people going through the building were looking around with curiosity, not fear. Some of them were silent and wide-eyed. That was the way my "nephew" Hunter would look to other people--but in my head Hunter was chattering away. Hunter was telepathic, as I was. This was the most closely guarded secret I held. I wanted Hunter to grow up as normally as possible. The more supes who knew about Hunter, the higher the likelihood someone would snatch him away because telepaths were useful. There was sure to be someone ruthless enough to take such a terrible action. I don't think Remy, his father, had even considered that yet. Remy was worried about Hunter's acceptance among the humans around him. And that was a big deal, too. Kids could be incredibly cruel when they sensed you were different. I knew that all too well.
It's kind of obvious when people are having a mind-to-mind conversation, if you know the cues. Their faces change expression when they look at other, much as they would if the conversation were out loud. So I was looking away from the child frequently and keeping my smile steady. Hunter was too little to learn how to conceal our communication, so I'd have to do it.
Will all these kids fit in one room? he asked.
"Out loud," I reminded him quietly. "No, you'll be divided into groups, and then you'll hang out with one group all day, Hunter." I didn't know if the Red Ditch kindergarten had the same schedule as the higher grades, but I was sure it would last past lunch, anyway. "Your dad will bring you in the morning, and someone will come get you in the afternoon." Who? I wondered, and then remembered Hunter was listening to me. "Your dad will fix that," I said. "Look. This room is the Seal Room. See the big picture of the seal? And that room is the Pony Room."
"Is there a pony?" Hunter was an optimist.
"I don't think so, but I bet there are lots of pictures of ponies in the room." All the doors were open, and the teachers were inside, smiling at the children and their parents, doing their best to seem welcoming and warm. Some of them, of course, had more of a struggle doing this than others.
The Pony Room teacher, Mrs. Gristede, was a nice enough woman, or at least that was what my quick look told me. Hunter nodded.
We ventured into the Puppy Room and met with Miss O'Fallon. We were back in the hall after three minutes.
"Not the Puppy Room," I told Remy, speaking very quietly. "You can designate, right?"
"Yeah, we can. Once. I can say one room I definitely don't want my kid to be in," he said. "Most people use that option in case the teacher is too close to the family, like a relative, or if the families have had some quarrel."
"Not the Puppy Room," Hunter said, looking scared.
Miss O'Fallon looked pretty on the outside, but she was rotten on the inside.
"What's wrong?" Remy asked, his voice also on a confidential level.
"Tell you later," I murmured. "Let's go see something else."
Trailed by Remy, we made visits to the other three rooms. All the other teachers seemed okay, though Mrs. Boyle seemed a little burned-out. Her thoughts were brisk and had an edge of impatience, and her smile was just a bit brittle. I didn't say anything to Remy. If he could turn down only one teacher, Miss O'Fallon was the most dangerous.
We went back to Mrs. Gristede's room because Hunter definitely liked the ponies. There were two other parents there, both towing little girls. I squeezed Hunter's hand gently to remind him of the rules. He looked up at me, and I nodded, trying to encourage the boy. He let go of my hand and went over to a reading area, picking up one of the books and turning the pages.
"Do you like to read, Hunter?" Mrs. Gristede asked.
"I like books. I can't read yet." Hunter put the book back where it belonged, and I gave him a mental pat on the back. He smiled to himself and picked up another book, this one a Dr. Seuss about dogs.
"I can tell Hunter's been read to," the teacher said, smiling at Remy and me.
Remy introduced himself. "I'm Hunter's dad, and this is Hunter's cousin," he said, inclining his head toward me. "Sookie's standing in for Hunter's mom tonight, since she's passed away."
Mrs. Gristede absorbed that. "Well, I'm glad to see both of you," she said. "Hunter seems like a bright little boy."
I noticed the girls were approaching him. They were longtime friends, I could tell, and their parents went to church together. I made a mental note to advise Remy to pick a church and start attending. Hunter was going to need all the backup he could get. The girls began picking up books, too. Hunter smiled at the girl with the dark Dutchboy bob, giving her that sideways look shy children use to evaluate potential playmates.
She said, "I like this one," and pointed to Where the Wild Things Are.
"I never read it," Hunter said doubtfully. It looked a little scary to him.
"Do you play with blocks?" the girl with the light brown ponytail asked.
"Yeah." Hunter walked over to the carpeted play area that was for construction, I decided, because there were all sizes of blocks and puzzles around it. In a minute the three were building something that took on life in their minds.
Remy smiled. He was hoping this was the way every day would go. Of course, it wouldn't. Even now, Hunter was glancing dubiously at the ponytail girl because she was getting angry about the brunette's grabbing all the alphabet blocks.
The other parents looked at me with some curiosity, and one of the mothers said, "You don't live here?"
"No," I said. "I live over in Bon Temps. But Hunter wanted me to go around with him today, and he's my favorite little cousin." I'd almost called him my nephew, because he called me "Aunt Sookie."
"Remy," the same woman said. "You're Hank Savoy's great-nephew, right?"
Remy nodded. "Yeah, we came up here after Katrina, and we stayed," he said. He shrugged. Nothing you could do about losing everything to Katrina. She was a bitch.
There was a lot of headshaking, and I felt the sympathy roll over Remy. Maybe that goodwill would extend to Hunter. While they were all bonding, I drifted back to Miss O'Fallon's door.
The young woman was smiling at two children who were wandering around her brightly decorated classroom. One set of parents was staying right beside their little one. Maybe they were picking up on the vibe, or maybe they were just protective.
I drifted close to Miss O'Fallon, and I opened my mouth to speak. I would have said, "You keep those fantasies to yourself. Don't even think of such things when you're in the same room with kids." But I had a second thought. She knew I'd come with Hunter. Would he become a target for her evil imagination if I threatened her? I couldn't be around to protect him. I couldn't stop her. I couldn't think of a way to take her out of the equation. She hadn't yet done anything wrong in the eyes of the law or morality . . . yet. So what if she imagined taping children's mouths shut? She hadn't done it. Haven't all of us fantasized about awful things we haven't done? she asked herself, because the answer made her feel that she was still . . . okay. She didn't know I could hear her.
Was I any better than Miss O'Fallon? That awful question ran through my mind more quickly than it takes to write the sentences. I thought, Yeah, I'm not as scary because I'm not in charge of kids. The people I want to hurt are adults and they're killers themselves. That didn't make me any better--but it made O'Fallon a lot worse.
I'd been staring at her long enough to spook her. "Did you want to ask something about the curriculum?" she asked finally, a little edge to her voice.
"Why did you become a teacher?" I asked.
"I thought it would be a wonderful thing to teach little ones the first things they needed to know to get along in the world," she said, as if she'd pressed the button on a recording. She meant, I had a teacher who tortured me when no one was looking, and I like the small and helpless.
"Hmmm," I murmured. The other visitors left the room, and we were alone.
"You need therapy," I said, quietly and quickly. "If you act on what you see in your head, you'll hate yourself. And you'll ruin the lives of other people just the same way yours was ruined. Don't let her win. Get help."
She gaped at me. "I don't know . . . What on earth . . ."
"I'm so serious," I said, answering her next unspoken question. "I'm so serious."
"I'll do it," she said, as if the words were ripped from her mouth. "I swear, I'll do it."
"You'd be better off," I said. I gave her some more eye-to-eye. Then I left the Puppy Room.
Maybe I'd frightened her enough, or jolted her enough, that she'd actually do what she'd promised. If not, well, I'd have to think of another tactic.
"My job here is done, Grasshopper," I said to myself, earning a nervous look from a very young father. I smiled at him, and after a bit of hesitation, he smiled back. I rejoined Remy and Hunter, and we completed our kindergarten tour without any further incident. Hunter gave me a questioning look, a very anxious look, and I nodded. I took care of her, I said, and I prayed that was true.
It was really too early for supper, but Remy suggested we go to Dairy Queen and treat Hunter to some ice cream, and I agreed. Hunter was half- anxious, half-excited after the school expedition. I tried calming him with a little head-to-head conversation. Can you take me to school the first day, Aunt Sookie? he asked, and I had to steel myself to answer.
No, Hunter, that's your daddy's job, I told him. But when that day comes, you call me when you get home and tell me all about it, okay?
Hunter gave me a big-eyed soulful look. But I'm scared.
I gave him Skeptical. You may be nervous, but everyone else will feel the same way. This is your chance to make friends, so remember to keep your mouth closed until you've gotten everything straight in your head.
Or they won't like me?
No! I said, wanting to be absolutely clear. They won't understand you. There's a big difference.
You like me?
"You little rascal, you know I like you," I said, smiling at him and brushing his hair back. I glanced over at Remy, standing in line at the counter to order our Blizzards. He waved to me and made a face at Hunter. Remy was making a huge effort to take all this in stride. He was growing into his role as father of an exceptional child.
I figured he might get to relax in twelve years, give or take a few.
You know your dad loves you, and you know he wants what's best for you, I said.
He wants me to be like all the other kids, Hunter said, half-sad, halfresentful.
He wants you to be happy. And he knows that the more people who know about this gift you have, the chances are you won't be happy. I know it's not fair to tell you that you have to keep a secret. But this is the only secret you have to keep. If anyone talks to you about it, tell your dad or call me. If you think someone's weird, you tell your dad. If someone tries to bad-touch you, you tell.
I'd just scared him now. But he swallowed and said, I know about bad touching.
You're a smart boy, and you're going to have lots of friends. This is just a thing about you they don't need to know.
Because it's bad? Hunter's face looked pinched and desperate.
Heck, no! I said, outraged. Nothing wrong with you, buddy. But you know what we are is different, and people don't always understand different. End of lecture. I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hunter, you get us some napkins," I said in the regular way, as Remy picked up the plastic tray with our Blizzards. I'd gotten a chocolate chip one, and my mouth was watering when we'd distributed the napkins and dug into our separate cups of sinful goodness.
A young woman with chin-length black hair came into the restaurant, spotted us, and waved in an uncertain way.
"Look, Sport, it's Erin," Remy said.
"Hey, Erin!" Hunter waved back enthusiastically, his hand moving like a little metronome.
Erin came over, still looking as though she weren't sure of her welcome.
"Hi," she said, looking around the table. "Mr. Hunter, sir, it's good to see you this fine afternoon!" Hunter beamed back at her. He liked being called "Mr. Hunter." Erin had cute round cheeks, and her almond eyes were a rich brown.
"This is my Aunt Sookie!" Hunter said with pride.
"Sookie, this is Erin," Remy said. I could tell from his thoughts that he liked the young woman more than a little.
"Erin, I've heard so much about you," I said. "It's nice to put a face with the name. Hunter wanted me to come over to go around the kindergarten rooms with him."
"How did that go?" Erin asked, genuinely interested.
Hunter started to tell her all about it, and Remy jumped up to pull over a chair for Erin.
We had a good time after that. Hunter seemed to be really fond of Erin, and Erin returned the feeling. Erin was also quite interested in Hunter's dad, and Remy was on the verge of being nuts about her. All in all, it wasn't a bad afternoon to be able to read minds, I figured.
Hunter said, "Miss Erin, Aunt Sookie says she can't go with me to the first day of school. Would you?" Erin was both startled and pleased. "If your dad says it's okay, and if I can get off work," she said, careful to put some conditions on it in case Remy had some objection . . . or they'd quit dating by late August. "You're so sweet to ask me."
While Remy took Hunter to the men's room, Erin and I were left to regard each other with curiosity.
"How long have you and Remy been seeing each other?" I asked. That seemed safe enough.
"Just a month," she said. "I like Remy, and I think we might have something, but it's too soon to tell. I don't want Hunter to start depending on me in case it doesn't work out. Plus . . ." She hesitated for a long minute. "I understand that Kristen Duchesne thought there was something wrong with Hunter. She told everyone that. But I really care about that little boy." The question was clear in her eyes.
"He's different," I said, "but there's nothing wrong with him. He's not mentally ill, he doesn't have a learning disability, and he's not possessed by the devil." I was smiling, just a little, when I got to the end of the sentence.
"I'd never seen any signs of that," she agreed. She was smiling, too. "I don't think I've seen the whole picture, though."
I wasn't about to tell Hunter's secret. "He needs special love and care," I said. "He's never really had a mom, and I'm sure having someone stable in his life, filling that role, would help."
"And that's not going to be you." She said that as if she were half asking a question.
"No," I said, relieved to get a chance to set the record straight. "That's not going to be me. Remy seems like a nice guy, but I'm seeing someone else." I scraped up one more spoonful of chocolate and sugar.