The 'Cousins'

Part 102 (Delta) - Armstrong's Plan.

A/N:  Community College and High School Principal Chuck Armstrong's smug conceit after forcing Jess to admit to a carnal relationship with Greg Mitchell was dashed by Sheriff Donovan's warning of legal repercussions for him from Greg should he and Jess not have been doing anything illegal. This fear dominated Armstrong's day. Now read on:

This chapter is dedicated to bayaBLUE, a salt of the earth working mum of the kind that makes the world go around!

CHAPTER 102 (DELTA) - Armstrong's Plan

(Closing out Friday, 20th April 2007.)

Herb Ekston took on the job of janitor at the Bamptonville Community College when his service in the US Coastguard came to an abrupt end following an accident fifteen years ago that left him with one leg.

Few changes had occurred in the college routine in that time; each day was much as the one before and the rigid regime suited his disposition. Herb liked things to be regular. 'Too often these days they make changes for the sole purpose of making a change. You know where you stand when things are regular.'

The single light burning late in the principal's office disrupted his habitual schedule of the years past. Herb waited outside in the secretary's office, tapping the glass of his wristwatch with increasing irritation every few seconds as the minutes became hours, however, a thread of concern for the principal's well being tempered his annoyance.

'What's keeping him tonight, it's already long past lock up time. Something must have come up to be keeping him back. ...Hope he's okay? ...Should I go in and check on him, in case he's ill or something?'

Chuck Armstrong was not ill, but in a high state of perturbation. He sat alone in the room, behind his desk with an album of British Commonwealth commemorative postage stamps open at the Jamaica page in front of him. A newly broached bottle of White Horse whisky also stood on the desk to his right side. Armstrong's fist tightened on a half filled tumbler of the raw spirit to control the trembling of his hand.

Beads of cold sweat dampened the principal's neck and forehead as he sat with closed eyes, running his mind yet again over the words spoken by Flik Donovan during their earlier telephone conversation, when he had given the sheriff a detailed report of his interview with Jesse White. The lawman's blunt warning of possible legal repercussions against him had dominated his day, spooling through his head on an endless reel. Its presence lay in the back of his mind when he spoke to students or staff throughout the working day.

'But you're not acting on behalf of the White boy's parents Chuck; you're acting for the College, and mostly for yourself.'

Unnerving.

Frightening

Flik Donovan's adverse summary of the interview with the threat of possible consequences for him sapped his self-confidence, prompting a trip into town to buy whisky courage from Pettigrew's drugstore.

Armstrong mopped cold sweat from his brow and the collar of his neckline with a large, flowered handkerchief; shaking his head in understanding as the truth of those words burned into his consciousness. It needed the sheriff to spell out the underlying concerns for his personal position after arbitrarily applying sanctions on the White boy for Armstrong to realise his motivations were not in the young person's best interests; but in the security of his own situation.

In near panic, he pushed back the chair to stand and pace behind the desk, murmuring his fears as he walked.

"I shouldn't have been so hard on the boy. Maybe I should have done what Flik said and just warned him off about the dangers of sodomy and left it at that. If Mitchell comes after me with a team of lawyers, there's no way I can afford to take him on in a court of law. Justice is only available for rich men. I'll be ruined. And from the tone of Flik's voice, I doubt I'd get any support from the county if Mitchell mounted a legal action against me."