Dorsai: Jan

She pointed at me, and said "From him."

He made a face, and said "I was afraid you were going to say that." before looking at me and saying "Dan, I'm finding that the more I learn of you, and the more I get to know you, the more amazing you become.

Would you be interested in a job?"

"I have my own business, Kevin. Between it, and Kelly, and her friends, my time is pretty well occupied."

"No doubt. Still, I hope that you would consider becoming one of our teachers here – you seem to be just the kind of person that you described as being necessary for our success."

"With the offer coming from you, Sir, I would give it the appropriate consideration – but make no promises."

"Very well, then, I fear that I must return to my office with little to show for it but the faint glimmer of restoring our school to it's proper state. Thank you, both of you, for taking the time to sit with me, and discuss this matter. Dan, if you think of anything else, or have anything to add, please don't hesitate to contact me – my secretary knows who you are."

With that, he stood up – as did Kelly and I – and made his way around the desk, stopping to shake hands with both of us before taking his leave.

When he'd gone, Kelly and I were both surprised when Jenkins cleared his throat, and said "Mr. Marshall?"

We turned to him, and he said "Since your last visit to this office, I've had a lengthy discussion with the Bishop, and had more than enough time to consider the things that you said, and that Kelly wrote in her speech. I've realized that I was one of the causes of the problems here at this school – and that there is little that I could do under these circumstances to help correct it."

I nodded, and told him to continue.

"Accordingly, and with the Bishops blessing, my contract with this school is being cancelled, so that I can take a job at a smaller school, and try to get back to doing the kind of work that I should be doing.

I know of several of the problem teachers here, and have so advised the Bishop. I believe I know who you were referring to, Kelly, when you spoke of the one memorable teacher that proved to be a tyrant – and I can assure you that she was at the top of the list, with my strong recommendation that she be fired, with extreme prejudice. If she is -and I believe she will be – she will not be able to get a job teaching in any school in the country; she is being forcibly retired, in effect."

He went on "Mr. Marshall, your opinion of me, that day in this office, was entirely correct – I knew it, even then, but was unable or unwilling to admit to it. Kelly, I want to apologize to you for putting you through what I did – that I did it was proof enough of what you had to say in your speech. I can only hope that the two of you can forgive me, and that I have the chance to show you that I can be the kind of school administrator I should be. One of the reasons that the Bishop allowed me to stay in the room today was so that I could hear what you had to say – both of you. I want to assure you that I will take what you had to say, and apply it the best I possibly can to make any school I am at the best it can possibly be. Thank you."

Kelly and I looked at each other, then him, before I said "Mr. Jenkins, if you have come far enough to say what you just did, I have no doubt that you will do fine. If you wish my forgiveness, then you have it -and my best wishes."

Kelly simply said "And mine, as well."

He looked relieved, and hesitantly offered us his hand – Kelly pushed it aside to give him a kiss on the cheek; I shook it, and said "This time, Mr. Jenkins, it was a pleasure to meet you."

He looked relieved, and we wished him a good afternoon before heading back outside.

We hadn't any more than gotten out the main door before I saw Steve Moore, Susan's dad, coming toward us. When he got close enough, he stopped and looked me in the eye before saying "You're a son of a bitch, you know that, Dan?"

"Okay. Why?"

"Because you keep being right, dammit."

"Susan? And your wife?"

He nodded, saying "We sat down a couple nights after I talked to you. and I had a chance to tell my wife what you'd told me. I let Susan know that you and I had talked. She didn't say or do a damned thing, just looked at me like if I decided to ground her for life, it wouldn't really matter – she already had everything she needed. It definitely got my wife's attention, since she's always been worried that Susan was too fragile or delicate – so when Susan just sat there, calmly waiting to see what I had to say, well, it really startled the hell out of her."

I nodded, and he continued "I did what you suggested, and told Susan that I loved her, and even managed to tell it to her in a way that seemed to connect with her. I don't think I got it exactly right, but enough to see she understood what I was saying – it was like her whole face lit up, and it surprised the hell out of me. Then she turned to my wife, and told HER that she loved her, the same way she'd told me – and my wife absolutely turned white when she did it. But after a minute, she was able to tell Susan that she loved her, and it seemed to connect again. It was the scariest damn thing I've ever seen."

"But it worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, you son of a bitch, it worked. Since then, we've all been sitting down with each other, just two of us at a time, and just talking – about how we feel about each other, what we like and don't like, what we mean to each other, and all kinds of stuff. For me, it was damned hard at first, but after I did it a couple of times, I realized that they both still loved me, and didn't think any less of me about some of the things that I'd told them. A few times, Susan went over to see you and Kelly and all the rest, and when she came back, it was like she was rejuvenated, or something – and I finally figured out that we were somehow taking something out of her, and she was using all of you to kind of resupply herself so she could come back and give it to us. The only thing I can't get around is that it seems like there's something missing from her, or that she hasn't done yet."

"You are taking something from her, Steve, and there is something she hasn't done yet."

"What?"

"You're taking love from her – because she hasn't learned how to give it herself, yet."

"What do you mean? Every time we see her, or talk to her, we get love from her."

"That's just what I mean – you get love from her; she isn't able to give it to you herself, yet, so all she can do is let you have what you take."

"Well, what does she have to do to be able to do that – give love?", he asked, obviously concerned about her.

"She hasn't yet made love, so she hasn't learned to give it.", Kelly told him.

He looked at her, and then me, before saying "Yeah, you did tell me that you hadn't had sex with her."

"No, Steve. It's not about having sex, it's about making love", I corrected him.

He looked confused for a moment, then said "Same thing, isn't it?"

"Not even close.", Kelly told him, before turning to me and saying "I think I know why she only comes over to visit, and not to finish it."

Steve heard her, and asked "Not the same? What do you mean? And finish what?"

Kelly looked at him again, and told him "No, they're not the same, Mr.

Moore. Having sex is what you do when you lead with your genitals.

Making love is what you do when you lead with your heart."

"What?", he asked, obviously confused.

"Have you ever given your wife an orgasm, and not climaxed yourself?", she asked him.

Having an 18-year-old ask him something like that clearly threw him for a moment, but he finally answered "No, I don't think so."

"Have you ever had sex with her where the only thing on your mind was making her happy?", Kelly asked.