Dorsai - Jan

Kelly reached up and put a hand on my face, and when I looked down at her, mouthed "Thank you!", her face as happy as I'd seen it in a long time.

The next day, Paul and crew came over at our invitation. We exchanged presents, and while Paul and I were talking, Kelly and Jan went back to the bedroom – not only so Kelly could show off her dress and jewelry, but to pass along the things I'd gotten for Jan. When they came back, Jan leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek, and whisper in my ear "Thanks, Uncle Dan – I'll model them for you soon!"

Jan and the kids loved the kitten, and played with it for hours before it finally tired out, and climbed into Kelly's lap for a nap. Even Paul seemed to find it amusing – and he was most definitely a dog man. Lunch was roast beef sandwiches and fries; I didn't figure any of them were in any frame of mind to enjoy anything too similar to Christmas dinner.

Afterwards, Paul and I watched a couple of games on TV while Jan and Kelly talked in the bedroom and the boys had fun playing with the cat.

As evening approached, Paul rounded all of them up, and with goodbyes all around, headed home.

Over the next several weeks, each of the girls that had been at the sleepover stopped by at various times and for various purposes – sometimes to simply stay with us for a while, other times because they wanted to make love; either with me, or Kelly, or Jan, or even each other. For whatever reason they chose to come over, they were always welcomed, unreservedly. And they always left more content and happy than when they'd arrived.

In March, she came home to tell me that she'd been selected as Valedictorian for her class, and been told she could give a ten minute speech. I congratulated her, and hugged her. Over the next few weeks, she wrote, then honed, the speech she wanted to make. Since she didn't solicit any suggestions or advice from me, I simply left her to it.

It was in April that I got a call from Kelly, in school, while I was in the office. I could tell she'd been crying, and when she told me that she needed me to come to the administrators office at the school -"right now!" – I went. Right now.

When I got there, I was quickly directed to the offices, and then quickly past his secretary, and on in to see the Administrator.

When I went in, I could easily see that Kelly had been crying – but not out of sadness but pure anger and frustration. After I saw how upset she was – and must have been – I looked at the man behind the desk; he visibly drew back from the expression on my face.

"My name is Dan Marshall. Why am I here?"

He spoke, saying "I'm Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Marshall. I am the administrator of the school, and it was Kelly that called you, not I. We were having a bit of a problem with her, and asked her to call someone that was responsible for her."

I looked at Kelly, and saw the outrage she was feeling, before I spoke to him again, telling him "What would be the problem that you would have to make such a request?"

"She had been selected as Valedictorian for her graduating class, and we had asked her to submit a copy of her proposed speech. We found the speech to be unacceptable, and asked her in here to explain what her purpose was for wishing to make it. We found those reasons to be unacceptable, and requested that she come up with a different one. She flatly refused, and I'm afraid that things deteriorated to the point where either she agrees to give a different speech, or I must select a different Valedictorian. Uh, might I ask what your relationship is to her? I know that you aren't one of her parents, since I've met them before."

This pompous little despot had managed to aggravate me with his attitude, so I told him "It is my privilege to be Kelly's lover."

That threw him, a LOT, and before he could start up again, I continued "Kelly does not need to contact anyone – by law, she is an adult, and responsible for herself."

"Yes, she said something about manumission, but that could only apply to slaves, and slavery does not exist any longer.", he proclaimed.

"I would suggest that you contact your legal counsel – this state does, in fact, have a manumission statute that allows an otherwise minor child to be granted the status of full adulthood. So your demand that she contact someone 'responsible for her' was most likely a violation of her civil rights as an adult. I may be wrong on that; it would be a matter for the courts to decide, should she decide to seek legal redress of the matter."

At the mention of it going to court, he paled slightly, and said "Now, I really don't see how the courts would have anything to do with this."

"Then I would suggest that you contact your lawyers. In fact, I demand it – right here, and right now – so that we can at least get that part of this nonsense out of the way. So long as you insist on treating her as you are, you're only making the situation worse."

With that, I stood up and told Kelly "I would suggest that we wait outside while this twit finds out what kind of hole he's dug himself into." She grinned at me, and stood up; he tried to bluster that we couldn't leave – I just turned and looked at him, saying "Unless you're prepared to use force, which I doubt even you are stupid enough to try, you cannot stop us. Make your call – we'll be outside when you're done."

We went out, and took seats in the anteroom to his office. His secretary looked at us as though we'd declared ourselves to be Wiccans.

A few minutes later, a very pale, very shaken administrator invited us back into his office. We took seats in front of his desk, and he opened the conversation.

"It seems that there's been a mistake made."

"Yes, and you made it.", I replied.

"Er, ah, yes, well, the schools lawyers have informed me that what you said is correct – and I've found that there is a copy of the appropriate paperwork in Kelly's file."

"So you were too stupid to even check what she was telling you. Hardly a surprise." It was fun putting the spurs to this toad.

"Yes, well, with Kelly being responsible for herself, I don't believe that there is any reason for you to inconvenience yourself here any longer, Mr. Marshall."

"Oh, it's not an inconvenience. Besides, I've been around longer, as you can see, and I already have a reason to stay, whether it was convenient, or not."

"And what would that be?"

"To ensure that you don't bully her into doing something she doesn't want to do, for starters. And to ensure that she has adequate counsel available to her, for another – if you think I'd leave her alone in this room with you, you're grossly mistaken."

"Surely, you aren't suggesting that I would have any kind of improper contact with a student of this school!", he said, puffing himself up.

"Not at all – Frankly, I doubt you've got the balls to even think it, much less try it. No, I simply wouldn't trust you not to use your position and ostensible authority to either bully her into something, or deny her a right or privilege – or perhaps even both."

Realizing that I didn't intimidate worth a damn, he gave up that tack, and demanded "Then why do you remain?"

"As counsel to Kelly, or if she wishes, to act and speak on her behalf – independent of any legal or civil actions she may elect to pursue regarding your previous efforts to deny her her civil and legal rights."

"Now, now, there's no need for any legal action; that was just a misunderstanding."

"No, it was your stupidity and arrogance.", I told him. I don't tolerate bullshit well. "Now, what is the basis for your demand that she change her speech?"

"I did not find it to be appropriate for our school." He turned to Kelly, and asked "Are you sure you don't want to talk to me?"

Kelly just told him "Not a chance, pipsqueak. Talk to him about the speech, while I decide if I want to sue your ass, or not!".