The Student

            “You were best friends?” Calvin asked unsure if Gus was setting up a punchline for a joke.

            Gus merely nodded and squinted his eyes.  “Can you believe it?”

            Judging from the way the two had acted since their arrivals, Calvin could honestly say he did not.

            “Let’s just say,” Gus smiled, “there isn’t as much criteria for a ten-year old.” He folded his arms, “that comes later,” he thought about it, “with experience.”  He folded his arms and leaned back in the chair clearly proud at his wisdom.

            Calvin shrugged.  That sounded fairly logical.  He could hear Nurse Clementine’s voice from her post at the desk down the hall and leaned forward.  “So, what happened?” he asked wanting to get to the bottom of this feud before she discovered him doing what she referred to as “unnecessary hovering”.

            “As you may know, the idiot next door,” Gus nodded his head in contempt toward the shared wall, “was a school teacher.  He taught school for a lot of years at the high school.  Which means all of my kids ran the risk of him being their teacher at some point.”

            Calvin nodded.  He had moved here for work so he did not go to the town’s only high school and he had been here long enough to only be somewhat familiar with it.  His knowledge of the school was limited to knowing its location and catching a few home football games on occasion.  But, a school’s a school.  That much he understood.

            “My three girls managed to graduate unscathed by the particular teaching style of Mr. Idiot,” again Gus nodded at the wall and spat the words out.  “But my boy, my boy, Gus Junior wasn’t so lucky.” 

            Oh, the drama! Calvin thought as he suppressed a smile and managed to keep it to himself. 

            “When I saw Gus’s class schedule, I marched right into the school myself and went straight to the principal. I demanded he get another teacher but I was told it couldn’t be changed.” He mimicked a whining voice, “There were no other options available due to Gus’s less than stellar record.” He looked at Calvin, “If I wanted him to graduate with his class, he was going to have to take this particular class taught only by him,” again he glared at the shared wall.  He paused and shook his head.  “Of course, I wasn’t happy, but what else could I do? I made my feelings about the whole situation very clear.”

            That, Calvin had no trouble believing. “What class was it?”

            “Some kind of writing class,” Gus waved his hand at him like it was a silly question.  “I think it may have been,” he took a gulp as if the words were difficult to say, “a creative writing class.  Marty was always writing or telling stories.” He paused a moment as if in deep thought.

            Gus calling Marty by his name threw Calvin off.  That was the first time Calvin had ever heard Gus call his neighbor anything other than idiot. Or moron if he was in a good mood.   Calvin really thought that Gus had forgotten Marty’s actual name because he never said it.

            “I waited for the idiot…”

            And we’re back, Calvin thought.

            “To do something to Gus Junior, but he didn’t.  Probably didn’t want to get in trouble.” Gus continued.

            Or was too busy actually teaching, Calvin thought.

            “Until the end of the semester and the final project.  That’s when the true colors came out in full display.  Like a peacock.  A cocky idiotic peacock,” he enunciated every c sound in that description.

            Calvin nodded his head just to keep the story going and hopefully bring it to an end soon.

            “Well, Mr. Idiot,” Gus spat the title out. 

            Calvin had to hand it to him, Gus really doubled down on not uttering Marty’s name again.  That had obviously been a slip of the tongue or lapse in judgment.

            “That idiot next door refused to give Gus Junior a passing grade unless he got an A on the final project.  Despite the fact that Gussy Boy had several colleges vying for him and his arm,” he attempted to mimic a football throw but couldn’t do the full motion.  Instead, he brought his arm to his ear and placed his hand in a cupping position similar to throwing a football.

            “Your son was a football player?” Calvin asked.

            Gus looked at him and nodded.

            “A pretty good one?”

            Gus looked down and did a half nod.  “You could say that.”  Judging by the way he said it Calvin could tell he had, in fact, said that a lot.

            “So, Marty prevented Gus Junior from attending college?”

            “Oh, Gussy attended college.”

            Calvin looked at him.  “Did he lose his scholarship?”

            Gus snorted.  “No, no he had a full-ride.”

            Calvin waited a moment trying to piece the problem together.  “So,” he said slowly.  “Your son passed his final project?”

            “His mom and I passed his final project,” Gus said looking at the wall deep in thought.

            Calvin waited a moment for some big reveal to come.  But it seemed like Gus had reached the end of his story.

            “And that’s why you and Marty are in this feud?”

            Gus looked at him surprised.  “I didn’t say that was the reason for our feud.  That was just one of the many reasons the Idiot and I don’t get along.”

            Calvin looked at him.  “What about his peacock colors coming out?”

            Gus leaned forward.  “He was willing to flunk my boy if given the chance.  That tells you everything you need to know about his character.”

            That had told Calvin nothing.  If anything, it actually made him a little bit more team Marty.  He rubbed his eyes.  “Okay, all right.  I get it, I get it.”  He did not get it at all but at this point he was okay with walking away from this story not getting anything.  He looked down at his watch and noticed he was officially off the clock.  “All right,” he said standing up.  “The next shift is on now so I will see you tomorrow.”  He felt a bit annoyed that he had allowed himself to be suckered into the story.  Now he was going to have to quickly finish his paperwork and hear about staying too long from Nurse Clementine.

            Gus only nodded his head and gave a half wave.  He was already beginning to reassemble his rubber band gun.

            Calvin shook his head and walked out.  As he walked by the door to 1212 though, he heard Marty’s voice call out, “You should hear more of the story, you know.” 

            Calvin stopped and walked backward to the doorway.  “What?” he asked.  Surely, Marty could not have heard the conversation that had taken place in the room next door.  It would have been difficult for a person with good hearing let alone an older gentleman with significant hearing loss.

            “You should hear more of the story,” Marty said again.

            “How did you…” Calvin started to ask.

            “You were in there a long time.  He likes to tell the story about his punk kid to anyone that will listen.  But there is so much more to the story.”

            Calvin held up his hands.  “It just sounded like you were being a teacher,” he said trying to side step being in the middle of the feud.

            Marty grunted.  “Of course I was!  I was a good teacher.  A lot of my students would happily tell you that if you asked.”

            Calvin nodded.  “Well, good night.”

            “I bet he didn’t bring up the Avon story though, did he?”

            Calvin looked down the hall and thought about it.  He looked at his watch again and shrugged.  “I have no place I need to be,” he said walking in and sitting down.  “Why don’t you tell me about Avon?”

Chapter III: The Avon Incident

Previous: Chapter I