The Ridge: The Whisper of the Leaves - Chap. 34

Linda Neal had looked out the window toward the parking lot to see if, just maybe, Jackson had shown up yet. They both knew they couldn’t visit long but, she treasured any amount of time they could have together.

“Ya don’t need to get too hung up on that boy,” Her father had told her after he saw that the pair might be getting serious in their relationship. “Gonna be a war here ‘fore long and with that boy bein’ a Marine, ya know good and well that he’ll be one of the first ones ta go. Find ya somebody who’ll be around in ten years, who ain’t gonna get killed on ya.”

Her father was logical, but logic, as usual, had nothing to do with love. And she did genuinely love Jackson. She knew it was only a matter of time before they became engaged. But that was his move to make. So she waited.

“Miss Neal?” She heard a voice that seemed insistent. “Miss Neal?”

Suddenly Linda realized she was standing with her hand at the chalk board in the middle of a trinomial equation. The voice was Jackie Ann Parcher’s.

“Miss Neal,” She called to her again. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes,” She said, flustered. She felt her face redden as she realized that she had been daydreaming.

“Bet she’s thinkin’ ‘bout her soldier boy,” someone whispered from the back of the room. Linda knew it was Johnny Catt, who was never at a loss for words and who never missed an opportunity to be a smart aleck.

“As a matter of fact, Johnny,” Linda addressed the boy, having regained her composure. “My friend is not a soldier, he’s a marine.”

She turned back to the chalk board, but quickly turned back around.

“Johnny,” She said with raised eyebrows. “I can introduce you to him if you want me to and he can tell ya all about the marines.”

She finished the sentence with a broad smile which caused Johnny to hold up both hands and shake his head.

“No, ma’am,” He said. “I learned all about the marines in Mr. Hobson’s history class. Thank ya anyway.”

The whole class broke out laughing and Linda could not help but join in.

“Okay,” she finally said. “Let’s get back to work.”

She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 1:40 p.m. She had a free period from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

At the other end of the building in the shop class, Butler was in the process of showing the boys how to sand a chair rail. He was doing it by hand with a sanding block.

“Now when you come to the flat parts of the rail,” He said to class. “You can break out the electric sander and do it quicker and easier.”

He picked up the sander, pressed the switch and it screamed to life. He touched the board with the belt and the freshman boys marveled at the speed with which this tool plowed into the wood to smooth it out.

“See what I mean,” Butler yelled over the whine of the sander. He continued sanding for a minute or so more then turned the machine off.

“Okay,” He said.” I want ya’ll to pair up for the last fifteen minutes of class. Each of you sand the piece of chair rail I put at your workstation. Do just like I did. Start with the hand paper then use the electric sander for the flat areas.”

Butler had been amazed at the amount of money the school had spent on his shop equipment. He believed without a doubt that his was the best equipped shop class in the state and maybe in the whole south regardless of the size of the school.

He watched the clock and at 1:50 p.m. he called a halt to the sanding.

“Okay,” He said. “Everyone’s got five minutes till the bell. Get you work area cleaned up and the tools back in place for the next class. Hurry now.”

The class did as they were told and had just finished up when, five minutes later, the buzzer went off.

Butler walked back to his desk and sat for a moment’s peace and relative quiet. Two more classes and the day would be over. He did love teaching, but today and for the last couple of days he had felt especially sleepy and tired. That was definitely the case today and he couldn’t wait until the final bell.

She heard a falsetto voice saying, “Miss Neal, oh Miss Neal.”

Linda looked up from her desk, knowing full well who it was.

“Jackson,” she said in her most girlish voice, jumped up from her desk and ran into his arms. It had been over a month since they had seen each other.

“Hey, Babe,” Parker said then kissed her long and fully on the mouth.

“I missed you so much, honey,” she said once they broke the kiss.

“No more’n I missed you, Sunshine,” he whispered into her ear.

She loved his pet-name for her. It had been a bright sunny day when they me. So that was what he called her privately.

“Did you get Dallas like you thought you would?” Linda asked.

“Sure did,” he said and smiled broadly. “Gotta check in tomorrow and report for duty Monday morning.”

“Any idea how long you’ll be there?”

“No,” he said. “They never let you know. I would guess, though, probably a couple of years at least….maybe longer. Depends a lot on what happens in Europe.”

“I know.” Linda said and nodded gravely. The building problem and conflict overseas was constantly on her mind. And she prayed every day that the world’s leaders would all come to their senses. But, from the reports she saw in the papers and heard on the radio it seemed like no one was doing anything sensible.

And hardly anyone she talked to seemed concerned about it. It seemed like the economy was all that was on their minds. And granted, that was crucial to a family without a roof over their heads. But she just could not see how anyone could miss the powder keg being built by men like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini and others. That keg was not just going to go away. Sooner or later, it was going to explode.

“Sergeant Parker.”

“Oh,” Parker said and turned around. Marshall was standing in the center of the hall, a few feet from the door. “Come on in, Marshall. I’m sorry. When I saw my Linda here, ya know, I forgot all about you.”

“I can see why.” Marshall smiled as he walked toward the still embracing couple.

“Linda,” Parker said. “This is Marshall. He needed a ride plus he wanted to see a little of the country, so he’s been keeping me company for the last four or five days.”

“Nice to meet you, Marshall,” Linda said and held out her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ma’am,” Marshall answered and took her hand, shaking it gently.

“Told you she was pretty didn’t I, Marshall?”

Marshall just grinned, his face slightly reddening. Nothing was said for a moment, then Marshall decided he might be a hindrance to their meeting so he backed toward the door.

“Well,” he said. “I know ya’ll just have a few minutes to see each other so I’m gonna go on back to the car and wait for ya.”

“Okay,” Parker said, and looked at the wall clock. It was 2:45 “I’ll be out there in fifteen minutes or so. Linda has another class at 3:00”

“Take ya time. Nice meeting you, Ma’am.”

“Nice to meet you, Marshall. Thank you for keeping Sergeant Parker out of trouble.”

“Actually, Mam,” Marshall said, grinning. “It was probably the other way around. Goodbye.”

“Good, bye.”

Marshall walked out into and down the long hall of the huge building. It was, in fact, the biggest building he had ever been in. It did not remind him in any way of the one-room Fortner School where he had last gone. Still, though, just being inside a school made him feel a little sad.

He thought about how maybe, if he had stayed in school, just maybe, he would not have been with Gerald that Friday night some two weeks ago. If he hadn’t, just maybe the chain of events that had led him to this Texas town would never have occurred. And just maybe he would not be in the mess he was now in.

Marshall knew one thing, though, even at his young age, he had learned that looking back usually accomplished little. So, he knew there was no need dwelling on it.

It was a nice sunny day, about 70 degrees, so Marshall decided to just sit outside on the car’s bumper until Parker showed up.

In the shop classroom, Butler went through the same instructions about cleaning up after themselves and his 2:00 class of juniors proceeded to do so. The next and last class for the day would be the sophomores.

They were learning how to build kitchen cabinets and the sanders which were already out, would be part of that instruction. Once more the buzzer went off and Butler looked at his wall clock. It was 2:55.

Joseph Loman had a strange feeling about the gas leak. He was far from an expert on gas, but there was just something that made him uneasy. The “expert” had said there was no problem, but Loman just could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

There was nothing he could do, probably, but he decided to walk back over to the leak area again. He put on his cap and walked toward the building some two hundred yards from his office in the maintenance building.

Parker gave Linda a final peck on the cheek since a few of her “3:00” students had already entered the room.

“I’ll be back tomorrow night,” he said.

“I’ll be waiting,” she gave him a little wave as he went out the door just as the bell went off.

Marshall had gotten bored and had remembered the newspaper he had tossed in the back seat of the car the day before. He got it out and was looking at some of the things he had missed the day before.

He read till he got bored with that then folded the paper back up and was about to throw it in a nearby garbage can when the word “Wynne” jumped out at him from just beside his thumb.

Marshall put the paper in his other hand and then saw the full headline, “Six-year Old Wynne Girl Missing.....Feared Kidnapped.”

In the shop room, Butler had brought out his sander again.

“Today, we’re goin’ to go over the proper technique for using a power sander on high-grade material like the cabinet fronts, you’ve all been building.”

He picked up a set of goggles, slipped them on his forehead, then over his eyes.

“Remember, for safety’s sake, always use protective eye wear,” He said, grinning. “I don’t think anyone here is in the mood to get a splinter in their eye.”

He then positioned the sander then flipped the switch. It was 3:05 p.m.