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Autumn Love

By Ann Bell

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Chapter 1


Biting March winds howled around the one-story high school building in central Montana. Yet the brick walls of Rocky Bluff High offered little protection from a more sinister threat as a loud, sharp report echoed down the lonely corridors. Edith Harkness ran from the teachers’ lounge toward the principal’s office as fast as her sixty-four-year-old legs could carry her. Montana born and bred, Edith was no stranger to guns and was an excellent shot herself. From the quickness of the resounding noise, she believed the offending weapon was a small-caliber handgun.
As she flung the office door open, the scene that greeted her filled her heart with terror. Her principal, Grady Walker, lay on the floor bleeding from a head wound. Viola Tomkins, his secretary, huddled in a corner crying hysterically. Edith instantly recognized the young man holding the .38 police special as Larry Reynolds, a tall, husky member of the senior class.
Edith felt her heart pound and blood rush to her face as though someone had slapped her on the cheek. She had to act quickly. Grady might survive if he could get to a hospital immediately.
First, however, she transferred her attention to Larry. He seemed detached from himself. Even though he was looking directly at her, he didn’t show any recognition. He’s in a catatonic state, she thought thankfully.
“Give me the gun, Larry.” The confidence in her voice surprised her, and she hoped Larry wouldn’t see how frightened she was. The six-foot, two-inch quar-terback of the Rocky Bluff football team, Larry was also the greatest center its basketball team had ever produced.
He pointed the gun at her chest.
“Larry,” she said, taking a few steps toward him, “give me the gun and no one else will get hurt.”
The young man’s arm went limp. Gradually he re-laxed his grip until the weapon fell into Edith’s trembling hand. Within seconds, she became aware of the crowd milling in the hallway outside the office door. Basketball coach Todd Watson pushed his way into the room.
“Todd, take Larry to your office. Hold him there until the police arrive.”
“Come with me, Larry. Everything will be all right,” the coach said soothingly as he led his player away. The crowd parted in shocked silence.
“Get the school nurse up here,” Edith yelled to no one in particular. Yanking the telephone from its cradle, she dialed 911. “There has been a shooting at Rocky Bluff High School. We need an ambulance and the police immediately.”
As Edith hung up the telephone, Amy Wallace, the school nurse, ran into the room. She immediately began to apply pressure to the principal’s head in an effort to stop the bleeding.
Edith suddenly noticed she still had Larry’s gun in her hand. Fighting the urge to fling it away, she took a deep breath and laid the weapon on the principal’s desk. A boost of adrenaline seemed to surge through her as she pulled the trembling secretary to her feet. Still sobbing, Viola laid her head on Edith’s shoulder.
“Amy, can you handle Grady by yourself?” Edith questioned anxiously as she supported most of Viola’s weight against her body.
“Yes. Get Viola out of here.”
Edith turned Viola over to the physical education teacher, who took her to the teachers’ lounge. She then quietly made her way to her own classroom past a curious crowd of on looking faculty and students. She fell into her chair, buried her head into her hands, and cried. Her heart continued to pound uncontrollably and she was having trouble breathing. As the ambulance sirens became louder, she fought to compose herself. Help was on the way!
A short time later Amy burst into the room ac-companied by two police officers. “Edith, are you all right?”
“Yes, I think so. How is Grady?”
“He’s one lucky man. The bullet grazed his temple and caused a lot of bleeding, but he’ll be fine in a few days. They’re taking him to the hospital for observation. Edith, this is Officer Phil Mooney and Officer Scott Packwood. They would like to ask you some questions and afterward I want to check you over.”
Edith spoke into Officer Mooney’s pocket-sized tape recorder, trying to describe exactly what hap-pened. She agonized over every detail of those terri-fying moments. In retelling the story, she was surprised at how fast it had happened. She was in the office no more than two minutes, but those moments had seemed like an eternity.
After the officers left, Edith walked down the cor-ridor to the nurse’s office where Amy waited. “Lie down on the cot,” Amy directed as Edith nearly collapsed onto the clean sheets. “I want to check your pulse and blood pressure.”
A worried frown spread across Amy’s face. “Do you have a history of heart trouble, Edith?”
“No, I rarely even have a cold.”
“Any member of your family ever had heart trouble?”
“Not that I know of. I lost my husband to a heart attack ten years ago, but there was no history of heart trouble in his family, either. Why do you ask?”
“Well, your pulse rate is sky high and your blood pressure is almost off the charts. This is most likely a reaction to the horrible experience you had today, but to be on the safe side, I’d like a doctor to examine you.”
“I’m sure I’ll be okay, but if you think it’s necessary, I’ll go.”
“I’ll call Dr. Brewer and tell him it’s an emergency. Classes are dismissed for the rest of the day. See the doctor and then go straight home. Better yet, take several days off work. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Edith returned to her classroom and mechanically took her purse from the top left-hand drawer and her coat from the closet. The bitter cold wind didn’t bother her as she walked across the parking lot. She was already numb with shock.
Cautiously she steered the car down Grove Street to Dr. Brewer’s office. The nurse quickly ushered her into an examining room, bypassing patients already waiting in the reception area.
“Edith, you have the heart of a twenty year old,” the dark-haired, middle-aged doctor assured her after he completed a few minutes of routine examination. “Your elevated blood pressure is merely due to the crisis you experienced. I’ll write a prescription for a tranquilizer to help you rest tonight.”
“Dr. Brewer, I’ve never taken a tranquilizer in my life and I’m not about to start now,” Edith stated firmly. “If it is all right with you, I’d just as soon take a couple aspirin and have a cup of herbal tea to help me relax. It has worked for me before; I don’t know why it wouldn’t work tonight.”
The doctor considered a moment. “Go ahead, try the aspirin and tea, but be sure and call me if you have any problems. I do want you to take a few days off work, though.”
That evening Edith’s daughter-in-law Nancy came to visit. The two women relaxed in the living room. Nancy curled her long, slender legs under her on the sofa while Edith leaned back in her recliner by the window.
“Bob would be here, but he’s in Billings buying in-ventory for the store,” Nancy said. “Jay and Dawn send their love. They wanted to come, but I didn’t want them out late on a school night.”
“I can’t erase those few horrible moments from my mind,” Edith confessed with her hand still trembling as she took a sip of tea. “I keep asking myself why. Why Larry Reynolds? Why here in Rocky Bluff?”
“Mom, the Reynoldses are good customers at the store, but all I know about Larry is that he’s the com-munity sports hero.”
Edith lifted her shoulders helplessly. “Larry is more than a good athlete. As the kids say, he’s a megastar. He was quarterback of the football team, but his greatest talent was on the basketball floor. Everybody admired him. Larry has had more press coverage than anyone else in the history of Rocky Bluff.”
“Sounds like he earned it.”
“Yes, he has,” Edith explained. “For two years running he was named center on the all-state basketball team. To top off his outstanding high school career, last month he received a basketball scholarship to Montana A & M.”
“He had everything going for him. Why would he throw it all away now?”
“Actually he threw it away two weeks ago. Re-member when half the town went to Billings to see the class A state basketball championship? I yelled myself hoarse. I was proud of our school and even prouder of our basketball team, especially Larry. He did an out-standing job.”
“Bob listened to the game on the radio,” Nancy recalled with an amused grin. “I’ve never heard him get that excited over a simple ball game. The next day there were rumors around town that some of the team got in trouble after the game. What happened?”
“As I understand it, after the game the team went out to celebrate, and a few of the boys had a little too much to drink, Larry among them. On the way back to the motel, Larry was stopped by the Billings police for running a red light and was given a breathalyzer test. He was well over the legal limit. To make matters worse, at his booking the police found three marijuana cigarettes in his shirt pocket.”
Nancy’s mouth dropped open with surprise. “I’ve heard of drug problems in Great Falls and Billings but not here in Rocky Bluff.”
“We’ve been fortunate until now,” Edith explained. “As far as I know this was the first time any of our stu-dents were involved with drugs. Rocky Bluff could have forgiven him for the DUI, but not for the marijuana. Grady had no choice but to suspend him for the re-mainder of the school year.”
“But isn’t Larry a senior? Wouldn’t that affect his graduation in June?”
“Worse than that, he not only won’t graduate in June, but Montana A & M cancelled his basketball scholarship. His parents can’t afford to send him to college without that scholarship. Larry blamed Grady for all his problems and vowed revenge.”
“It sounds like he just snapped under the pressure,” Nancy observed.
Edith hesitated a moment. “That is the sad com-mentary on small town athletics. We put too much pressure on our young people to perform well and entertain us. Larry simply could not handle it.”
“The ones I feel sorry for are Larry’s parents. They are in the store nearly every week picking up supplies for their ranch. They appear to be such hard-working people who would sacrifice anything for their children. They also have a son in the third grade with Jay. All he can talk about is his big brother.”
“Bob gave me cause for many sleepless nights during his high school days. But he outgrew his rebel-lious nature,” Edith confessed to her daughter-in-law. “During his school days alcohol was the biggest temp-tation to the students, and that was generally limited to an occasional Saturday night beer party.”
“Oh, look at the time,” Nancy groaned, glancing at her watch. “If I don’t do a load of laundry tonight the family won’t have any clothes to wear tomorrow. I’ll stop by in the morning and see how you’re doing. Have a good night’s sleep.”
Nancy leaned over and kissed her mother-in-law on the forehead before slipping out the door into the late winter evening.
Edith sat in silence for a few minutes trying to calm her racing heart. She reached for her Bible on the coffee table beside her and turned to her favorite passage, the Twenty-third Psalm.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Edith tried to pray but words escaped her. Surely the Lord heard her heartfelt cry, for Grady. . .for Larry. . .for herself. She laid her Bible on the coffee table and walked slowly to the kitchen phone. If ever she needed a human voice to talk to it was now.
She dialed the familiar number in Chamberland, Idaho, and waited for her daughter Jean to answer. Upon hearing the familiar “Hello,” Edith broke down and sobbed.
“Mother, what’s wrong?”
Edith regained her composure. “Honey, the most terrible thing happened today. One of our students shot the principal, and I happened to be the one to take the loaded gun away from him. I was absolutely terrified and I still haven’t stopped shaking.”
“Mother! Tell me exactly what happened.”
Edith retold the story. As the words tumbled out, her heart raced.
“I wish I could be there with you tonight,” Jean moaned. “You shouldn’t be alone after such an expe-rience.”
“I’ll be fine,” Edith tried to assure her with false sincerity. “I’ve already decided what I am going to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Tomorrow I’m going to turn in my resignation ef-fective at the end of this school year. I will be sixty-five in a few weeks and I have an ample income from the store. I need to get away from the school, away from Rocky Bluff. What kind of world is it where school-children try to kill their principals or even their teachers? I survived a terrible ordeal and I don’t ever want another experience like that.”
“Mom, why don’t you wait a few days before de-ciding something so important? Things may look better in a few days.”
“No, Jean, my mind is made up. I want to retire to Arizona, where many of my friends are. I can still main-tain controlling interest in the hardware store from there. Bob is doing a good job managing its daily affairs. In fact, he appears to resent anything I do regarding the store. He seems to have forgotten that his father and I ran that store successfully for over thirty years.”
“I know you’ve worked hard all your life and deserve a rest, but I wish you would wait awhile before you make definite plans.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I know what I have to do.” Edith was too tired to argue and steered the conversation to the antics of Jay and Dawn. They chatted aimlessly for a full ten minutes before hanging up.
Extremely tired now, Edith went into her bedroom and laid out her nightgown. She then went to the bathroom and filled the tub. As she was undressing, the telephone rang.
“Oh, no!” she groaned. “Who could that be at this hour?”
“Mom!” Bob’s rapid-fire delivery followed the trademark of this consummate business professional. “I’m still in Billings. Nancy called and told me what happened. Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine. Just very tired. I’m getting ready to take a bath and go to bed.”
“It must have been a frightening day. You don’t need any more experiences like that.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” Edith sighed as she sank into the chair beside the phone.
“You know, Mom, you’ve worked hard all your life. Why not think about retiring? The Millers and several of your other friends have moved to Arizona. Why don’t you join them?”
“I’ve been thinking about doing that very thing. In fact, I’m going to turn in my resignation to the assistant principal tomorrow. If I move to Sun City, I can still be in telephone contact with you as to the operation of the store.”
“Mom, I don’t think you even need the worry of the store. Why don’t you turn the operation completely over to Nancy and me and save yourself the worries?”
“The business arrangement we have right now is working very well. You run the day-to-day routine and I’ll make the major decisions. Your father and I started that store from scratch thirty years ago, and it wouldn’t be what it is today if it hadn’t been for your father’s hard work.”
“But things are changing so rapidly. It will be hard for you to keep up from the sidelines. You deserve a rest.”
Edith’s irritation rose. “If I leave teaching, I’ll have even more time to devote to the store, not less.”
“Mother, why do you want that extra worry?” Bob persisted. “You will have enough income to live com-fortably wherever you choose. You deserve a break after all you’ve been through. You’re almost sixty-five. You don’t need to be working with deranged youth who run around using guns on their teachers. There are plenty of younger teachers to handle the misfits of today.”
“That was the conclusion I was coming to myself. I was very disappointed with the younger teachers today. They all just stood there frozen with fear. It seemed like none of them knew what to do. I was never so glad to see a familiar face over fifty as I was to see Coach Watson.”
“Today you were competent, but you’re getting too old to keep up with all the changes in the business world.”
Edith’s eyes fired with rage. “Bob, soon I may be too old to handle deranged young people, but I’m not too old to handle my own business affairs. That is not open for further discussion.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Mother,” Bob stated with an air of condescension. “You are tired and need to get some rest. I’ll see you in a couple days.”
Edith hung up the phone and took a deep breath. The crisis of the day had been more than she wanted to deal with. She didn’t want to end it with a conflict with her son. The tub of warm water filled with soothing bath oils was inviting.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, Edith recited to herself as she relaxed in the bath. As the tensions of the day began to leave her body, she was able to put her plans—and her disagreement with Bob—into perspec-tive. I want to retire from teaching . . . but I’m not too old to be a contributing member of society!

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