Possibility

“Morgan Eschew?” the middle-aged man called out. Morgan raised his hand in response to the attendance call, having been broken out of a daydream. The man continued through the class, his deep voice a slight buzz in Morgan’s ear.

His regional high school had the capacity for two thousand students, though it was often well under that.

Morgan sat there, staring out at the clouds. A bright sunny day full of possibilities outside, and inside, he was finally in biology class.

Even though most of the kids found much of the class to be gross, he wasn’t bothered. He had always loved taking care of animals and plants. He’d seen various animals give birth and assisted in caring for injured animals; growing up on a farm provided a unique variety of experiences.

Morgan realized the room had gone quiet. Normally they would socialize in the time between attendance and the teacher beginning their lesson, but everyone had too much respect for Mr. Jormund to break the silence that ensued.

Everyone knew his grandfather and the role he played in leading racial reform in the area. It was only fitting this man was the first African American teacher the school had. His own father being the first African American student in the school.

“First I’d like to say welcome back from winter break. Today, we start chapter 7 in the text.” The students all flipped open their books to the appropriate page. “Cell structure, cell division, mitosis, meiosis, osmosis, and some other sisses.” He joked. Only a couple quiet chuckles from the students prompted him to quickly move on. “Before we get into a group overview of the first section, can anyone tell me a part of the cell?”

Students raised their hands and once called on they gave their various answers: mitochondria, ribosomes, cell membrane.

“Nucleus.” Morgan said when he was chosen for another.

“Very good everyone. Now, lets start with Amanda on this side,” he gestured to the seat closest to the door to the hall, “and we’ll go down each row then back to the front of the next one. Everyone will read two paragraphs,” some soft moans and groans from the students prompted an eyebrow raise from their teacher, “and after everyone has read once, we’ll look for volunteers. Go ahead Amanda.”

***

Today was a Monday. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and alternate weekends he got to apprentice at the vet clinic, directly under Dr. Poulson’s supervision.

When the final bell rang to let the kids out, Morgan was eager to make his way to the clinic just a few miles from the school, further into town. He was stopped by Wolfie, only his mother called him Wilfred.

“Hey Morg, can I walk with you there today?”

“Sure, of course.” He said cheerfully. Then he realized why his friend would be walking with him to the clinic. “Wait, is everything ok?”

“Yeah, I mean, Mouse got messed up by another stray. Mom took him there today to get checked out.”

“Mouse?”

“Yeah, our new cat.”

“A cat, named Mouse, that’s cute.” Morgan said, more bemused than amused.

“Well, his name was Mighty Mouse, we were hoping he’d be good for keeping the mice out of the house. But apparently he’s a big ol’ scaredy cat. So we dropped the Mighty part.” He chuckled.

“That makes sense.” Morgan laughed too.

They made their way down the old dirt road that led them to the main road. The school grounds were established a mile from the road to allow for the sports fields around it. There was also space where festivals and carnivals were held.

“How did you do on your math test?”

“Hopefully not too bad.” Wolfie said, devoid of confidence. “I’m not so great at math and science like you.”

“But you’re amazing with history.” Morgan retorted. “By the way, Latisha told me that you always aced your tests last year in World History. I knew you were good, but you never told me how well you did. I’m sure Civics this year has been a piece of cake for you. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Mom always focuses on what I can do better. She’s never outright said it, but I think she’s not happy with her life. I’ve seen pictures of mom and dad when they were young and she looked so happy. She’s from Oregon, I don’t even know how my parents met, actually. But it seems like she never really liked life here.” Wolfie admittedly hesitantly. “She always tells me to do well in school so that I’m not stuck in this place,” he dramatically squawked the words, embellishing the way his mother would say it, “but I’m happy just being myself for now. Though, her constantly being on me gets to be a lot sometimes.”

“Hey, I’m sorry. I’ve noticed she can be a bit…” Morgan was obviously at a loss for a kind word to say to describe Wolfie’s mother.

“Don’t worry, I know she loves me. I’ve never felt her upset about me, just, our life. She wants us to have better. I never really noticed before, but for a few weeks now, I’ll hear them at night discussing financial stuff. I recognized a few words from my Economics class, they weren’t good.”

Morgan didn’t know what to say to this. He was used to being Wolfie’s only real friend, but he felt like he’d failed him in not having been aware of these issues sooner.

“Hey, I’m sure my parents would be ok with you sleeping over this week. Ms. Bennet would be happy to not have to stop at both our houses.”

“Thanks.” Wolfie gave a small smile and looked appreciative. Morgan felt something odd. He hadn’t ever considered his friend could be going through such troubles while his own life had been exceptionally enjoyable. Little did he know these next few years would bring so much tragedy for him.

They walked and talked about more trivial things the rest of the way. What they thought the next episode of their favorite superhero show would bring. Each of their crushes at school. Wolfie had a thing for Latisha, that’s why he’d made sure to tell Wolfie she was the one who told him about his performance in history class. Meanwhile, Morgan liked this guy, Derek. Wolfie was the only one he’d told. He knew many people who weren’t so accepting of gays. He’d never heard anything bad about gays from his parents, but he still feared what their reaction may be.

The street abruptly went from an open area to the square mile block of stores and homes. The boys waved at Mr. Janich, the ancient owner and operator of the equally ancient gas station. Though they were few and the area was generally worn down, the businesses thrived. The population density worked out just perfectly for their area.

“Hey, I actually heard my dad say the other night that there is enough in the budget this year to replace the sheriff’s building and a few other town buildings.” Morgan said.

“How does he know?”

“He’s on town council. He represents the farmers in the county.”

“That’s pretty cool. My mom complains often about the town’s looks.” He said nonchalantly.

They’d arrived at the clinic; a worn-out hand painted sign with a cat, dog, horse, cow, bull, and chicken hung above the door. Morgan had learned it was made by Dr. Poulson’s grandfather when she first graduated from school with her degree.

Morgan pushed open the door, gesturing for Wolfie to go first.

“Thanks.”

“No prob.”

The bell chime above the door had alerted the receptionist and she was already excitedly walking around the counter from her chair.

“There he is!” the thirty-something woman embraced Morgan. “Mondays are made so much better when you get here kid.” He smiled at the compliment. “And, who’s this?” she looked beside Morgan at Wolfie like he was the oddest thing she’d seen that day.

“He’s my friend, Wolfie. Wolfie, meet Molly. She’s the receptionist and head technician. We walked here from school, we’re also neighbors. Would you mind driving us both home later?”

“Not at all. Any friend of yours is welcome.” She embraced the other boy. His nerves clearly relaxed having been accepted.

“Anything interesting today?” Morgan asked her as she quickly walked back to her seat. He brushed off the animal fur that had transferred from her work uniform. “And I’m glad to see they’re getting plenty of love today.”

Molly smirked and shrugged her shoulders coyly.

“What can I say, they just love me. But as for anything interesting, besides the puppies Becky Jackson brought in Saturday that she found in the alley by the pharmacy, and this sad little cat that got beat up by some stray, there’s nothing going on here today. Dr. Poulson had actually said she’d take you on a call later. Karl Tolson rang an hour ago. His bull, Porky, isn’t well. She said from the sound of it, it could wait for you to get here so you could get to go.”

“That’s actually my cat.” Wolfie said sheepishly.

“Oh! So you’re Dolly Baxter’s little boy. She talked you up, about how kind and compassionate you are. She said you were so sad about your new cat being hurt that you’d stop by after school. She didn’t tell me your name though.”

“Oh, um…” the boys shared a look of surprise at Molly’s tale on a pleasant meeting Ms. Baxter.

“Also, the doctor gave him a prescription for some antibiotic ointment, but she’ll be keeping him overnight to make sure the wounds don’t get infected. You’re Mighty Mouse will be back in the ring in no time.”

“We’re learning he’s not much of a mouse catcher, nor is he good at defending himself. I sure hope he won’t be in the ring with anyone else.” Wolfie chuckled. Morgan was impressed with his friend’s communication. He’d never been one to be so chatty with people he’d just met.

Molly gave a little laugh. “I’ll go let the doctor know you’re here Morgan.” Molly walked through the double doors and once they had swung shut behind her Morgan turned to Wolfie.

“Do you like her?” he asked incredulously.

Wolfie’s face went red.

“She’s so old.”

“She’s definitely younger than our parents.”

“Yeah, but our parents are old old. She’s regular old.”

“You don’t think I was too talkative, do you?”

“Too talkative?! Dude, for you, yeah, but in general, no. If you could muster up the nerve to talk to Latisha that plainly, she’d be all over you.” Wolfie’s face got even redder. Morgan prodded his friend in the side, teasing him. He flinched away and Morgan kept poking him. Soon they were each laughing.

Molly had come back into the room, unnoticed. Once they saw her, they were mortified. Morgan prided himself on his maturity while at the clinic.

“It’s nice to see you being an actual kid, kid.” Molly winked at him. Anyway, she’s waiting for you in the back. Wolfie, if you like you can hang out in here. There’s the TV in that corner. Or if you have anything else to do, go on ahead and just be back here by six. That’s when we close, and I’ll take you guys home.”

“Thank you. I’ll actually get started on some homework.”

Morgan walked through the doors and joined Dr. Poulson in the rear parking lot. She was already behind the wheel of her forest green, manual drive, Ford pickup truck.

“So, we’ve got a date with a bull named Porky?” he said as he got in and buckled up.

“We sure do.” She laughed. “Even better is the cat named Mouse we got today.”