With Veronica gone, I was left alone in the Green House. As I lay there and thought about it, I was so touched by the way that she and Kimberly had been reacting to all this drama. They were both anxious and really dragged down by having the slog through the days under Principal Sten's rule. But they were genuinely optimistic and still so willing to embrace joy. Well, and embrace me, too. That counts for a lot in my book. I never said I wasn't a self-centered man. I hadn't seen much of Jennifer lately. I only hoped she was holding together well, too.
It was Thursday night, and as everyone in town readied for sleep, I was getting ready for a night of watching video of the campus to see if we could gain any helpful information. Tomorrow morning they would go to work and I would go to sleep, hopefully to meet with everyone on Friday after school. It was a bizarre life, no doubt about it.
The night owl lifestyle really didn't suit me at all, and I could only hope it wouldn't last too long.
With a portion of Kimberly's reheated lasagna on a plate with a bit of salad and a full pot of strong black tea, I awkwardly made my way down the ladder to the camera cave to set myself up for a night's worth of viewing.
I hadn't watched any video from Wednesday, so I had two days to look over, but with the ability to scrub through the timeline, I wasn't too worried that I would miss much of importance.
Wednesday's tapes started out fairly uneventful. The rain had come on heavily, so even if everyone hadn't been driven inside by Principal Sten's rules, there wouldn't be much to see anyway.
I did take the time to look for the piece of graffiti that some brave member of the Dionysian Club had put up on a wall not scanned by the regular security cameras. To my delight, it was still there and had actually been expanded.
As Veronica mentioned, Mr. Grant did come in to work, and he did look like hell. He checked in at the administration building, but only for a half hour or so. Then he went directly to the nurse's office.
He spent most of the day at his computer, typing furiously. I couldn't read what he was writing, but I could tell he was getting more agitated as he went on. After a good deal of typing, he stopped suddenly and slammed his hand down on his desk. He jumped up from his chair. It looked like he was going to storm over toward the door, but his legs just gave out. He yelped out, obviously in pain, as he crumpled to the ground.
He cradled his side and hip and rocked back and forth on the ground. Pained noises turned into angry mumbles. He reached up to the chair and pulled himself up to a crouch, then to a standing position. His face was twisted in an angry grimace.
Then in a flash, he grabbed the chair with his other hand and heaved it across the room, slamming it into the wall, which was already scarred from top to bottom with long scratches and holes in the drywall.
Those weren't there before, were they? What the hell is going on with him?
The effort of throwing the chair seemed to cause him even more pain, but he remained standing, slightly hunched over and heaving with effort, his eyes darting wildly.
I watched further and saw him move to the medicine cabinet. He opened it to get a pill bottle. He hesitated, staring at the bottle for a few minutes, then he popped the lid and shook out a couple of small brown pills. He gulped them down without water and flung the bottle back in the cabinet.
Then he took a deep breath, picked the bottle back up and arranged it carefully among the others. With a little more control, he closed the door and locked it. He walked over and picked up the chair then placed it back upright in front of the computer. Then he sat down.
For the next several minutes, he just seemed to sit there, breathing deeply and staring at the wall.
There was a knock on the door and he jerked out of his reverie.
At the door was Lynn, the girl who had brought him the two students. And seeing her there, I finally remembered where I had seen her before. She was the president of the swimming club. She was the lanky girl wearing that god-awful ancient swimsuit. It was obvious why I didn't recognize her, not just because of the swimsuit and uniform, but because when I saw her at the pool, she was full of energy, almost comically dancing from foot to foot and gesticulating wildly as she talked.
Now all of that fun was gone. She was still seemed to be in a dreamy trance as Mr. Grant greeted her, but before she seemed more worshipful. Now she just seemed kind of numbed.
"Ah... Lynn. What is it?"
"Principal Sten told me to bring you this." She stayed in the doorway.
"Well? Bring it in."
She paused for a second, but then walked inside, but only a few steps. She placed a duffle bag on the ground and then started to leave.
Grant reached out and shut the door, blocking her escape.
"Mr. Grant? I need to get to class. I'll get demerits."
"I have a couple questions for you, Lynn."
She sighed visibly and turned to him.
"And don't you look at me like that, you piece of... Respect, girl. Show it."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Grant. I don't mean anything by it. I'm just so tired." She tried to lift her head and smile.
"That's better. Now my questions. What is in the bag?"
"I don't know, sir."
"What do you think of Principal Sten?"
"Principal Sten is good for the school. She is..."
"Yes?"
"She is... helping students understand propriety and deference."
"Very good. Nearly word for word."
"Thank you, sir."
"And what do you think about me?"
"Mr. Grant? Uh... You're the nurse."
Mr. Grant was visibly agitated by this answer. "Yes. What do you think about me?"
"You are... my boss? You give me jobs... I'm sorry Mr. Grant. I really need to get to class."
