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The Teacher

Hammond Family Saga

By L. Lane BaileyPublished 2 years ago 16 min read
3
The Teacher
Photo by Tadas Mikuckis on Unsplash

Vicki Wilson stood at the end of the driveway watching as Elijah Hammond drove out of her life. She tried to think of how long they had been “together”, but it was an impossible task. It had just happened. There was no day… or even a week. There had been a slow, inexorable crawl toward the certainty of their future together. After his van was out of sight, she walked over to the pond and sat on the swinging bench to look at the tranquil waters. All her emotions from this past summer flooded back into her. She was filled with joy, pain, certainty and confusion.

School started in just a few days, and she wondered how weird it would be without Elijah. He had graduated, and for the first time since she started high school, she would be driving herself to school. For the last two years she rode to school each day with Elijah. Before that, she sat in the back seat with him as they rode to school with Rachael and Phillip.

Vicki and Elijah had been friends seemingly forever, when she became friends with his sister. Their farms were only half a mile apart, and so their parents depended on each other, and so did their offspring. They’d had generations to grow close, both families having long histories on their properties. In a way, they were almost like cousins, but they weren’t. In some ways they were closer.

She remembered back in seventh grade, the first time she knew she liked Elijah as more than a friend. He was in eighth grade and asked her friend Sheila to a dance. She was sure her eyes had flashed green when Sheila gushed with enthusiasm over being asked by him. But when Sheila broke up with him, it was Vicki he had turned to… sitting on the same swing. She had held his hand then, as they rocked back and forth and watched the calm water.

This past summer had been different, though. All through the year, they had been building up to it. The Hammonds hosted a graduation party for Elijah and Rachael in the field next to the old barn. There was a big bonfire, and Elijah’s band played a couple of sets. It was the last time he was to play with the kids with whom he’d grown up and gone to school. Then, close to midnight when the party was breaking apart, she found herself in the old barn, alone with him.

It was a moment she had dreamt of and dreaded. Lust, fear, love and nerves came together that night as she gifted him with her virginity. In that moment, she was sure that she and Elijah would be together forever. When she looked into his eyes, she saw nothing but love. She was sure it wasn’t just teenaged desire… they had built a long and deep friendship. They had been together for just about every moment of that school year and making love in the loft of the old barn was the next step. Vicki also knew that the barn carried magic. Everyone knew about the barn and the many loves it had fostered over its almost two-hundred-year reign in the valley.

The following weeks were a blur, the only thing in focus was that they were together. Phillip was back from college for the summer, and he and Rachael were working the Hammond farm, and it seemed every spare moment involved the four of them. Swimming at the creek, barn dances, and riding horses through the fields. If the four weren’t together, she was with Elijah.

When he had announced that he was going up to Dayton for college, she’d only had a few nerves, but as the time grew closer and closer, her nerves grew bigger and bigger. She became convinced he wouldn’t be back. His dreams were bigger than a farm outside of Gallipolis, Ohio. Maybe the magic of the barn wasn’t strong enough anymore.

***

She met Todd when she went to Cincinnati for college. She’d held out for Elijah’s return, but Rachael had told her to give it up… he wasn’t coming back. His loss, her friend told her. It broke Elijah’s sister’s heart to tell her friend that her brother had found a new path. Vicki didn’t fight it very hard; she already felt like Elijah had outgrown her. Her heart was broken but Todd had been there to start sweeping up the pieces. The cafeteria was full, and he asked if he could join her at her table.

One lunch turned into a daily dalliance. Then getting coffee together, and finally he asked her out. They were together for three years. He was handsome, funny, and supportive. Especially at first. It was in their third year that things devolved. She had begun reading some of her poetry at open mic nights at a nearby coffee shop. She had gained a small following and Todd had grown jealous of her popularity. He never did anything overt, and he was always there for her, but she sometimes felt that he hovered over her, untrusting.

Todd hadn’t known that the band that they had seen several times was the same band Elijah fronted. When Elijah was “Lightning”, lead vocalist of Elemental, he looked like a different person. He had the same long brown hair, but without the make-up, skin-tight jeans, the chains, or the tight tank top, his look transformed. There was also his personality. On stage, he was outrageous and energetic, but caught in real life, he was rather quiet… the boy she knew and with whom she had fallen in love.

She wondered what would happen if she introduced him to Todd as “Lightning.” Her fear was that she wouldn’t be able to go to his shows anymore, and she didn’t want to risk that.

At Rachael and Phillip’s wedding, Phillip had been the one to blow her cover. He had been talking to Todd when Elijah ambled over to Vicki’s side. Phillip hadn’t meant anything by it, but as he and Todd chatted, he mentioned that Vicki’s old boyfriend was there. Todd followed the other man’s eyes straight to where Vicki was standing as Elijah approached.

“Hi, Vicki,” he said, casually. One would have hardly guessed it had been over three years since they last talked.

“How have you been, Elijah?” Vicki had replied, her voice even and slightly detached. As much as she craved a conversation with him, it also filled her with dread.

“Good… I’ve been meaning to…” Elijah started before Todd slipped up next to Vicki, draping his arm across her shoulder.

At that moment, all Vicki had wanted to hear was the end of Elijah’s sentence. She longed to know what he had been meaning to do. For a moment, the thought of pushing Todd off of her flashed into her mind but dissipated like fog just as quickly. Todd had been there for her. They were engaged. Until five minutes before, she would have taken a lie-detector test and testified that she truly loved him. Even as she stood in the audience at the small venues Elemental played, and watched Elijah on-stage, she had enjoyed having Todd’s arms wrapped around her. But when the make-up was gone, and he was no longer “Lightning” things had become more complicated.

***

There had been a lot of crying. And the wine had flowed. Vicki and Rachael had spent a girl’s weekend in Cleveland for her to decide what to do. Several other friends had been along, but it was Rachael that Vicki had needed to talk with. It was Elijah she needed to talk about.

“Is he happy?” Vicki asked.

“Do you really want to know? If I tell you that he isn’t, you’ll hold out hope that he’ll come back. If I tell you he is, it’ll break your heart. The real question is… are you happy?” Rachael had replied. “Forget my brother. I love him, but this isn’t about him. If you are going to stay with Todd, you have to be completely committed… to Todd.”

“I thought I was,” Vicki said. “Until I saw Elijah. Then, all the things that have ever bothered me about Todd became overwhelming. I think I love him,” she continued, her voice wavering, “but…”

They were sitting in the bar of the hotel Rachael had booked. The other girls were still upstairs getting ready, so Rachael and Vicki had come down to sit and talk. They were going to dinner, then there was a poetry reading Vicki was invited to do, and then they were going dancing.

“For the last few months, it has felt like Todd hasn’t trusted me. He hasn’t come right out and said it, but he doesn’t seem as happy about my poetry, and it’s almost like he follows me. I’m surprised he let me come up here without him,” Vicki said.

They kept talking until it was time to leave for dinner. Vicki still didn’t have the answers to her questions, but she still felt better having unloaded some of the burden by talking to her friend.

That night, when they were out at the club dancing, someone sent her a drink. She politely refused the offer, asking the waitress to tell whoever had sent it that she was involved with someone. The young woman smiled and took the drink back, never telling her who sent it.

***

Shortly after graduating, things with Todd came to a head. Vicki still didn’t feel like he trusted her, and in the ensuing argument, he let it slip that he did trust her… because he had watched her the whole time she was on her girl’s weekend in Cleveland, as well as almost every time they had been apart for more than a few hours. He’d been the one to send her the drink she had refused. He’d watched her read her poetry. And so many other things.

Vicki didn’t know if the outcome would have been different if his actions changed, but they hadn’t. Despite her refusing the drink, and at no point even flirting with anyone while she was “out on her own” as Todd had put it, he still hovered over her. It was too much for her and she stormed out of his apartment. The next day she returned, but instead of the apology he expected, she handed him the ring and a box of his things from her apartment.

That night, she went to see Elemental performing. She was going to try to get backstage… she just wanted to talk to Elijah. Alone and uninterrupted. It had been an hour drive up to the club in Dayton they were playing. They were the first of three bands performing that night. After their set, she had walked back toward the dressing room, only to see him walk by thirty feet away with another woman.

The other woman followed him into the dressing room. Vicki was rooted to the spot upon which she had seen them walk by. She thought she wanted to run, but she couldn’t. The girl had seemed so comfortable with him… like it wasn’t the first time she had walked into his dressing room… more like she belonged there… with him. It was only a few minutes before they came out. Elijah was no longer “Lightning”. He was once again himself.

“Good luck, sister,” a blonde girl next to her said. “Lightning is definitely the one to catch, but Lizzie seems to have a lock on him. She is at all the shows, and aside from the merchandise booth, he hardly ever talks to anyone else.”

“Oh,” was all she managed before she turned and walked away. She cried for most of the drive back to her apartment in Cincinnati.

***

After getting her master’s degree, she decided to go back to Gallipoli to teach. The middle school was looking for a language arts teacher, and she was ready for a change. Rachael had built a new event venue from the old barn, and she needed help, too. Vicki was excited to be going home and looking forward to the new school year and everything it entailed.

“Vicki,” Rachael said when Vicki picked up the phone, “now is your chance.”

“What are you talking about?” Vicki replied.

“Remember up in Cleveland… you asked if Elijah was happy? I never answered your question. You needed to make your own decision about Todd… and frankly, Elijah needed to make a few decisions of his own.

“He is sitting out by the pond. He needed some time. I think what he really needs is you.”

Vicki didn’t even say goodbye. She just hung up the phone and grabbed her coat. The walk from her parent’s farm to the pond was less than five minutes, even in the thickening snowfall.

She walked up behind him and slipped her mittens over his eyes. “Vicki Wilson?” he’d said even before she made a sound.

Vicki thought her heart would leap from her chest. He hadn’t even hesitated. She sat next to him, and they talked, gently rocking as the snow fell onto the frozen pond. She thought it was a magical night. The way the light played on the falling snow, and the quiet… and his closeness. It was as if the seven years they had been apart didn’t exist.

***

Vicki was supposed to help Rachael set up for a wedding later that evening, but when she walked in, she heard the piano. Immediately she knew it was Elijah. There was a style to his playing that was like a signature to her. The tune he played was new, but the way he played it took her back to when they were together.

He played it through, then stopped and started over again. The melody spoke to her, and without thinking, one of her poems came to mind. As her voice drifted into the song, it weaved together with the notes of the piano. The words fell into the rhythm Elijah had created, as if the words and the melody had been written for each other.

He didn’t stop as she stood behind him, nervously singing out the words she had created about him… losing him and seeing him leave… feeling it was forever. Her hands rested on his shoulders as he leaned back into her while he played. The notes he had furtively tapped the first time through, he played as if it was the thousandth time, strong and confident. She watched his hands and anticipated where the melody would take them.

Then it ended… the melody and her words both ceased. Neither spoke. Vicki leaned past him and tapped his phone to stop the recording. Then she slipped around him and sat next to him, her arm still on his shoulder as she drank up their closeness. This is what I have missed, she said to herself.

“That was really nice.”

Elijah stared blankly at her as she spoke, breaking the quiet. “No, that was amazing,” he replied. “Where did those lyrics come from?”

She told him that it was something she wrote about him when he left. She saw a tear in his eye as he wrapped his arms around her. And when their lips met, she lost track of time. As sure as she was that their time together was over when he’d driven away, she was sure that they couldn’t be separated again as they kissed.

“About time,” Rachael said from across the room.

***

It was open mic night at the coffee shop in Cincinnati Vicki had been to a thousand times. She had stopped in most mornings for her morning fuel when she was in college and had been a regular fixture most open evenings when there was a crowd for poetry. A few people recognized her, calling out a greeting, or asking how she had been. One young woman thought she recognized Elijah, although she didn’t know his name off-stage.

Their turn came, and Elijah walked over to the old upright piano. Vicki walked to the microphone. She wasn’t the first to have accompaniment, but from the moment his melody started, it set them apart. He dropped into a simple melody, his fingers moving lightly across the keys as the emotion of her song built. Even those that had heard her a dozen times had no idea that she could sing, and certainly not the way she was singing by the time of the chorus.

The melody built again for the second verse, and then again for the third. Elijah joined Vicki in singing the fourth verse. The tenor of the song going from love lost to love found. Their harmony was perfect as the last chorus sounded. Then it was over. The song ended and the ringing of the piano died. The room went silent.

Elijah stood and took Vicki into his arms. “Thank you,” both said into the microphone. Nobody knew what to say. The applause started after the wonder wore off. The audience hadn’t expected a song… they were there for the readings, so they were still largely in shock.

“Hi, Vicki Wilson, right?” a young man said, walking over to them as they stepped off the small stage. “I have a show on the radio station… I feature new music. Do you have a recording of that? I would love to debut that on my show.”

Vicki looked at Elijah. He smiled in response. They had worked on the song over a couple of days in Rachael’s event space, and he had recorded a few of them. He’d put together a rough tape and listened to it. He thought it was ready. He nodded at the young man, “She does.”

***

Elijah walked to the front of the room. Vicki stood at the back and watched him as he tapped the stand in front of him and the kids in his class turned their attention to him. The school could hardly not hire him. He was able to teach choir, guitar and piano… which he would do every day. In a small school like theirs, his flexibility made him indispensable,

“Mr. Hammond, did you used to be in a heavy metal band?” a girl in the front row asked. “My mom said you were the lead singer in a band called Elemental. You don’t look like a rockstar.”

He smiled. “That is a persistent rumor. Maybe, if you guys pay attention you’ll find out.”

After class, several of the kids greeting Vicki as they walked out the door. It was her planning period, so she had wanted to see how things went.

“Hi Mrs. Hammond,” one of the girls said, smiling at her as she headed to her next class.

To read Elijah's story, click here. Break Away. You can also start at the beginning on the Hammond Family Saga here. The Magic.

You can also find my novels, which are full of action, adventure and romance, on Amazon. They are available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and Print on Demand.

Short Story
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About the Creator

L. Lane Bailey

Dad, Husband, Author, Jeeper, former Pro Photographer. I have 15 novels on Amazon. I write action/thrillers with a side of romance. You can also find me on my blog. I offer a free ebook to blog subscribers.

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