Little "Abby Gabby" was just finishing her breakfast when her father came walking into the kitchen with the morning newspaper. He took one look at the headlines and threw the paper on the table next to her. He had a disgusted look on his face.
"Your mother and I are going to work now. You have the house all to yourself."
"What's wrong Dad? You look upset."
"You would be in school right now if it wasn't for that."
He pointed to the newspaper and, without waiting for her response, walked out.
She read the headlines: "Swensen Medical Clinic Director arrested for administering illegal drug to patients."
At first she didn't know what to make of it. But as her eyes quickly scanned the text she came across a familiar name. 'So that's it!' she said to herself. 'That's why Mr. Cardelli was arrested. It's all because of this drug!'
The article detailed the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Dr. Christiana Swensen, her brother-in-law Philip Olmstead, and his wife Bonnie. There was mention of a certain Luis Ramon Hernandez, a known drug lord, and, last but not least, her beloved teacher, John Cardelli, who was now out on bail awaiting arraignment. St. Bridget's was also mentioned, but the names of her classmates were conspicuously withheld. As she read the part that accused her former teacher of being a mean, lecherous, pervert, she felt a great weight suddenly placed upon her shoulders—a weight so ominous that it threatened to crush her tiny frame into nothingness.
Since the incident at St. Bridget's, she had wrestled with the idea that she and her girlfriends had not acted ethically in their refusal to confess the truth about their part in their teacher's sexual misconduct. She knew that such an admission of complicity would result in possible dismissal from the school for herself and her classmates, but she also knew that is was wrong to withhold the truth from the authorities. Going to the police would have been the proper course of action, but she was under great pressure from her less than honorable peers to conform, and that meant keeping her mouth shut.
Abigail Rylander had always been a highly inquisitive girl, her talkativeness belying a keen and analytical intellect within. Her lilting, high-pitched voice often led her teachers to believe that she would never make a great public speaker: a prerequisite of every pupil who had any aims toward serving in the public sector. But this did not deter her. And despite her occasional bouts of running off at the mouth, she nonetheless managed to maintain very high grades, much to the chagrin of her classmates. Even when they poked fun at her for being, as they so jealously put it, a "semen-clogged brain," she found it better to combat such narrow mindedness by achieving a high grade point average rather than resorting to verbal retaliation.
She had told no one about her misgivings, certainly not her parents, and certainly not her classmates, who would have ostracized her at the first sign of insubordination. But having to suppress the truth for so long was taking its toll on the girl's conscience. For above all things, Abby was honest, and this clandestine pact created by her friends to protect their own selfish interests was something she was finding difficult to abide.
The truth was that although John Cardelli had acted irresponsibly, he had been under the influence of the drug, which had compromised his otherwise previously staunch ethical behavior. In Abigail's mind, he was less to blame than the real culprits in this whole ugly affair—Bridget Veerhoft and Helga Nelson—both of whom had exacerbated matters by acting in a sexually wanton and provocative way and orchestrating the event to the point of acting as ringleaders for the rest of the class in helping to bring about Mr. Cardelli's downfall. But, because of their pact, none of this information had been revealed to the police.
She remembered how difficult it was for her to lie to the authorities when she had been questioned a week earlier at her home, her parents having to leave the room when the more gross details of the sexual escapade were divulged. She hated the fact that she had to keep the truth hidden, and she soon began to hate herself for being so weak. But the most pressing reason why Abby found it difficult to endure the silence was because she knew that her beloved teacher was suffering. Her desire to assuage her own conscience by telling the truth, coupled with her need to comfort him, made her want to speak out in his defense.
But it was already late.
Seeing that it was now well past 8:00 AM, she remembered that she had an appointment to keep with some friends. They were going to a local mall to do some clothes shopping, something she always found time for. And her friends were not the snotty, stuck-up kind like the girls in her class. It was going to be a fun day she thought, and, in spite of her father's remark, she wasn't missing school all that much either.
"Poor Mr. Cardelli!" she said aloud as she put on her coat.
The weight continued to bear down upon her unmercifully.
************
The interim of time following my arrest and subsequent release was a matter of only a few hours, yet it felt like an eternity. Philip's lawyer had arrived at the police station soon after we did, and made arrangements with the judge for the setting of bail. The three of us were summarily discharged after paying a sizeable amount of money to the bailiff, but were scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing, which was to be held on Wednesday morning of the following week. I learned Luis was to remain in custody until the hearing, and I was glad to hear it.
Rebecca had invited me to stay with her until the media circus subsided and to keep me safe from any negative repercussions from those who had been less than satisfied about the claims I had made for my drug. Her three-bedroom chalet was located several miles north of the city in a quiet, rural area well off the beaten track. Bonnie and Philip, however, decided to take their chances by returning to their house, but they had to wait until the early morning hours to make it past the hordes of paparazzi that swarmed over their estate like flies on honey.
The Clinic had been shut down on orders from the judge. From what Rebecca had told me, Lynette had been deprived of the sperm and blood samples taken during the last experiment, and was questioned and then released. She told me that Maria had called her late the previous evening to see if I was all right, but she hadn't heard a word from Cheryl. Michelle had also called to let her know that she was actively preparing witnesses and evidence in my defense, and would be in touch with me soon. She had heard from no one else.
"This sucks Chris," she said, stretching out her long legs onto the hassock in front of her. "Are you getting the feeling that your friends are abandoning you?"
"Like rats on a sinking ship?"
"Exactly."
I took a sip of tea and drew a pillow behind my head.
"Well, let's see. Michelle called right? And Maria? And..."
"And that's it. I don't know what the fuck happened to Cheryl."
"Probably screwing her brains out with that young stud Mr. Lundquist," I said, chuckling. "She's in love with him you know."
"I think she's in love with his big nineteen-inch dick!" she laughed. "God, you created a monster with that thing!"
"I don't know how the hell he managed to get it into his pants!"
We both laughed for a few moments but quickly became serious once again.
"I've got to do something, Rebecca. He can't go around like that for who knows how long. And what's going to happen with those other men? How can they live normal lives with their genitals being compromised like that?"
"If you're asking me for advice, I have none," she said gloomily. "All the answers lied in those samples, but now they're gone."
"Yes," I said, staring into my cup, "they're gone. And with the Clinic closed my hands are completely tied."
We sat quietly for a while, ruminating on this unfortunate event.
"How's Bonnie?" Rebecca asked suddenly.
"Holding up pretty well considering what she's going through. She and Philip stand to lose the better part of their fortune. And his career...that's in shambles."
"Philip is a fool. Allowing himself to get involved with that scumbag Luis and his greasy little fiends. That's the reason you're on the hot seat right now. It's because of him."
I could not disagree with her. If Philip had simply come to me with his intentions all this could have been avoided. But he knew that I would have had to refuse him, and knowing this is what forced him to resort to subterfuge to achieve his goal.
"I'm sorry Chris," she said, trying to comfort me. "Philip is a good man but he just became too greedy. You have to admit, that drug of yours is every man's dream, sexual dysfunction or not."
"I'll be honest with you Rebecca. There are times when I wish I had never invented the thing. It's caused too much pain. Too much."
Just then the doorbell rang.
"You expecting someone?" I asked.
