Fire Defender

by Rodney Hartman

  The eternal smile Mrs. Walker always seemed to wear was evident on her face despite the dreary day when she opened the door and said, “My goodness, Elizabeth, you’ll catch pneumonia if you don’t stop riding that deathtrap in the rain. You should get yourself a car or a truck like the other kids.”

  Quickly ushering Tess out of the rain and into the small back office, Mrs. Walker motioned toward a portable electric heater near one of the room’s two book-covered desks sporting large computer monitors. “Go dry yourself off, Elizabeth, while I make you a cup of hot chocolate.”

  Tess smiled at the old woman’s use of her real name instead of her nickname. It sounded nice coming from the chief librarian. She’d instantly taken a liking to the gray-haired, spectacled Mrs. Walker the first time they met. It had been a good day when she strolled into the library and made friends with the old woman.

  If it wasn’t for Mrs. Walker’s offer to let me use the computers in the library’s office during after hours, I don’t know how I’d have gotten my homework done before I got my laptop. Now Dad’s traded that off for beer. Thank God I put a backup of my files on the office computer.

  The morning’s loss of her computer wasn’t the first time she’d come home to find some of her gear missing. More times than she cared to remember over the years, she’d found her unconscious dad with a case of empty beer bottles in place of some hard-earned electronic.

  Forcing herself to forget about her father, Tess turned her attention to the librarian. “No hot chocolate for me. Can’t stay long this morning, Mrs. Walker. I’m running a little late. I’ll probably be back after school. Mr. Jenkins has some big science project for us that he’s giving out as an assignment today.”

  “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Walker with a dreamy smile and a faraway look in her eyes. “I remember when I first started working here as an intern. David Jenkins used to come into the library a lot then. He was such a nice young man; good looking too. My late husband was a little jealous at the attention David gave me.” With a smile and a wink, she added, “You wouldn’t know it now, but I was quite the looker in my youth. I think David’s attention had a hand in my dear departed husband proposing to me as soon as we graduated high school. Bless his heart.”

  Tess smiled at the old woman’s ramblings, unsure whose heart the librarian was blessing—her deceased husband’s or Mr. Jenkins’s. “Well, I suspect he’s changed since you first met,” she said with a chuckle. “He’s bald now and gives out assignments like his students are all planning on being rocket scientists when they graduate.”

  “Ah, yes,” said Mrs. Walker. “We all change given enough time. You may not believe this, but I used to turn a few heads in my day. Did I ever tell you that?” Without giving Tess a chance to tell her she just had, the chief librarian said, “I was homecoming queen back in fifty-four. I was part of the hip crowd, if you can believe it. Uh…do they still use the word hip nowadays?”

  Holding back a laugh, Tess said, “All the time when we’re talking about anatomy. Otherwise, not so much. I get your drift though.”

  Glancing at the clock on the wall, she did her best to keep smiling. The sweet old lady liked to talk, and Tess had no desire to hurt the one person who was probably her only friend in town. Still, time was running out.

  “Yep,” said Mrs. Walker seeming not to have heard Tess’s comment. “Those were good years.” She cocked her head and looked at Tess. “You know, dear? You’re a pretty girl. If you combed your hair more and put on a touch of makeup, I’ll bet you’d have all of the boys’ heads turning in your class. You know, there’s a homecoming dance at the high school this Friday after the game. You should go. Of course, you’d have to put something on besides those ratty pants of yours. I swear they don’t make clothes like they used to.”

  Tess laughed. “Uh, I think I have to work that night. As far as my pants go, this is the way they came from the store.”

  “Really?” said Mrs. Walker looking down at the pants in question. “Why would anyone buy pants with holes in them?”

  Stifling another laugh, Tess shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe they just want to be hip.”

  “Hmm,” said Mrs. Walker frowning. “Still, those will never do for the dance.”

  Tess shook her head knowing it would be useless trying to explain to the sweet old woman that she had no desire to go to a dance with a bunch of snobs. “Doesn’t matter, Mrs. Walker. Like I said, I’ll be working at Big Jack’s Friday night. No rest for the wicked, I guess.”

  The librarian looked at Tess and shook her head. “Tsk, tsk. I’ll hear none of that, Elizabeth. You’re young. There’s going to be plenty of time to work when you get older. You should enjoy yourself now. As for being wicked, if there’s one thing I know, it is people. Believe me, dear, you’re not wicked. I think you’re a very sweet young lady.”

  Tess almost laughed at being called a lady but resisted the urge. She looked at the clock on the wall again. Time was definitely getting short. Glancing around, she tried to find an excuse to make an escape from the talkative woman without hurting her feelings.

  Half-hidden behind a stack of books and an oversized computer screen on the desk farthest from the heater, Tess spotted a dark-haired boy she knew from some of her classes—Alec Johnson, one of the seniors on the football team.

  Mrs. Walker followed the direction of Tess’s stare. “Oh, you haven’t met my great nephew Alexander, have you?” Raising her voice, the old lady said, “Alexander, come here a minute. I want you to meet a very special friend of mine.”

  The dark-haired young man looked up from the computer, then nodded his head in Tess’s direction saying, “Hi,” before looking back at the librarian. “We’ve already met, Aunt Mamie. I think we’ve got a couple of classes together.” With that the boy looked back down and continued whatever he was doing.

  “Alexander Johnson,” said Mrs. Walker with as stern a voice as Tess had ever heard her use. “Where are your manners? You don’t greet a young lady to who you’re being introduced while sitting down across the room. Now you come over here and tell Elizabeth how pleased you are to meet her like a young gentleman should.”

  The boy continued with whatever he was doing. “I’m running late, Aunt Mamie. You asked me to get this old server of yours working before I go to class. If you want me to come over there, fine, but your computers will probably be down until I get out of school. Actually, it’ll be longer since I’ve got ball practice this afternoon. Of course, maybe the IT staff will be over to fix it later, but I heard the town’s last tech quit on Friday.” Alec looked away from the computer screen long enough to ask, “So, do you want me to try and fix the network myself or come over there? It’s your call.”

  Tess noticed the boy go back to working on the computer as if knowing his aunt had no choice. She looked at the librarian. “It’s all right, Mrs. Walker. Like he said, we’ve got some classes together. Besides, I need to get some work done on the computer now. I left a copy of my assignment on it. I’ve got to hurry, or I’ll be late for school.”

  “Well, of course, dear,” said Mrs. Walker. “I understand. Go right ahead. You young people are always in such a hurry. A pretty young thing like you should be thinking about the dance.” She turned to look at her nephew. “Alec, why don’t you—”

  The boy looked up, rolling his eyes. “Aunt Mamie, I’ve already got a date with Betty Swanson Friday night.” He looked at Tess and mouthed “Sorry,” then looked back at his computer screen.

  Yeah, like I’d be caught dead with you, Tess thought. She dismissed the jock from her mind as she sat down at the desk nearest the heater where the computer with the backup copy of her assignment was located. She plugged in an empty flash drive and looked for the K: drive on the desktop but didn’t see it on the screen.

  “Hey. Something’s wrong. It’s not letting me connect to the K: drive. I can’t find my files. They’re missing.”

  A voice from the other side of the room spoke up. “They’re not lost.
The server’s just down. I’ll have it back up in a few minutes.”

  Glancing at the clock on the wall again, Tess gritted her teeth before looking at the boy. “You picked a stupid time to shut the server down. I’ve got to hurry. I can’t afford to be late for class.”

  Alec stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “First off, I didn’t turn the server off. The network was already down when Aunt Mamie got here. I’m trying to get the system back up now.”

  “Well, you need to hurry,” Tess said growing more concerned with the time. She really couldn’t afford to be late to Mr. Jenkins’s class. She needed to stay in his good graces, so he’d recommend her for the science scholarship. “Why’s a football player trying to fix it anyway? Are you one of those computer nerds or something?”

  The young man frowned. After a couple of seconds, he said, “You know, Bess—”

  “Tess.”

  “What?”

  “My name’s not Bess. It’s Elizabeth, but people call me Tess.”

  “All right, Elizabeth,” said Alec. “Then let me put it this way. You can dress in those bad-girl clothes all you want, but a little bit of politeness will go a long ways toward getting help when you need it.”

  Tess glared at the boy. “I don’t need anyone’s help, especially not some jocks. And don’t call me Elizabeth.”

  “I thought you said your name—”

  “My mom called me Elizabeth. I let your aunt call me Elizabeth because she’s so nice. For everyone else, it’s Tess.”

  “Fine,” snapped Alec. “Well then, Tess, Bess, Alice, or whatever your name is, I’m trying to get the server up. I’m going as fast as possible. You can wait if you want. I’ve got the same first period class as you, only I was smart enough to save my assignment to a flash drive.”

  Biting her tongue, Tess turned away from the irritating boy and stared at her computer screen. She tried a few more times to connect to the K: drive, but it remained absent. A feeling of warmth in her right hand made her look at her ring. The yellow gem’s bright glow reflected her rising frustration. She repeated a calming mantra she’d learned from her sensei. The yellow glow of her ring subsided. Tess glanced out the corner of her eye at the young man across the room as he stared intently at his computer screen while moving in what she thought was a purposefully slow manner.

  Yeah, take your time, rich boy. I saw your flashy new truck outside. I’ll bet it was a birthday gift from your mommy and daddy, wasn’t it?

  After fuming for a few more seconds, she drummed the fingers of her left hand on top of the desk. She absentmindedly twisted the ring around her right ring finger, then inspected it closer. Both the metal of the ring and the yellow gem were intricately made. The metal of the ring was paper thin, but it was so hard she had a feeling she could beat on it with a sledgehammer and not make a dent. She twisted the ring until the yellow gem was centered on top. A flash of blue inside the yellow gem drew her attention.

  That’s different, she thought. I’ve never seen other colors in it. She stared at the gem, waiting to see if it flashed blue again. It didn’t.

  Tess looked back toward Alec. He was looking at her. As soon as their eyes locked, the boy bent his head and went back to typing.

  What was he looking at? she thought. He can’t see my ring. No one can see it but me. So, what was he looking at?

  For some reason, the boy’s previous words about her not saving her files still irritated her.

  I did make a backup on a flash drive, jerk. It was with my laptop. If your dad had traded your computer for beer, you’d probably be scrambling to find another copy of your files too.

  Tess’s eyes were once again drawn to the clock on the office wall. She watched the minute hand move closer toward the twelve.

  “Are you about done?” she asked letting all of her frustration creep into her voice. “I’ve got to get to class. I can’t be late.”

  Although she knew the downed server and her missing laptop weren’t the boy’s fault, she had to take her irritation out on someone. He was just convenient.

  No, Tess thought. It’s more than that. He’s just a little too perfect. He’s popular, cute, and obviously rich. He probably doesn’t have a care in the world. I’ll bet he doesn’t have to worry about how he’ll be paying for college. His mom and dad will probably see to that.

  Although it was none of the boy’s business, Tess had a feeling Mr. Jenkins’s recommendation and the science scholarship was her one shot at breaking the cycle of bad breaks since her mom’s death.

  I won’t wind up like Dad. I just won’t.

  Feeling eyes on her, Tess woke up from her thoughts to see Alec staring at her.

  “You awake now?” said the boy.

  Glaring daggers, she somehow managed to keep her tongue in check. She needed those files.

  Seeming to ignore her stare, Alec held up a flash drive. “I said there’s no use in both of us being late to Jenkins’s class. I’ll bring your files to class when I get the server back up if you want to go on to school.”

  Glancing at the clock, Tess was almost tempted to take the boy up on his offer, but she shook her head. “Don’t bother.” She’d learned a long time ago not to rely on other people to solve her problems. She glanced at the clock again. Time was up. “I’ll think of something.”

  Rising from the desk, Tess made her way to the glass door leading from the office to the receptionist area in the library proper. Looking through the partially open blinds, she spotted Mrs. Walker busy arranging cookies on a platter. Tess opened the door and stuck her head out. The old woman looked up when Tess cleared her throat.

  “Oh, hello dear,” said the chief librarian with a pleasant smile. “Would you like a cookie? I’ve got a class of kindergartners coming over later this morning. I baked this batch myself. They’re oatmeal.”

  Tess eyed the platter, more than half-tempted to take the old woman up on her offer. The cookies looked moist, and she could smell them all the way from the doorway. With a twinge of regret, she shook her head. No, Tess thought. I don’t like owing anybody. Mrs. Walker’s nice, but she’ll expect things later if I start letting her do more for me than she already has.

  Smiling at the old woman, Tess touched her stomach. “No thanks, Mrs. Walker. I’ve got to watch my figure and all that.”

  The old woman laughed so hard her spectacles slid down her nose. “My dear, you’re beautiful. I suspect the only ones watching your figure are the boys at school. I certainly saw my nephew eyeing you.”

  For a second, Tess was flattered. After all, the boy was moderately handsome and popular. Then irritation replaced thoughts of flattery. Well, Tess decided, if I catch him checking me out, he’ll be looking through a black eye for the rest of the week. Shoving her irritation aside, she smiled for the old woman’s benefit and laughed politely. “I’ll see you tonight after school, Mrs. Walker.”

  “Goodbye, dear,” said the librarian walking over to Tess. She slipped a cookie off the platter and forced it into Tess’s hands. “Now off with you, sweetheart. I’ll see you tonight.”

  Once out the back door, Tess wolfed down the cookie as she walked past her motorcycle and headed out to the street. She’d learned on day one the safest place for her cycle was in the library’s employee parking lot.

  Not to mention the powers that be at good old Covington High frown on students riding motorcycles, Tess thought. Doesn’t matter. It’s only four blocks to school. She glanced at her watch. Time was almost up. Gotta get moving.

  Kicking it into high gear, she trotted around the side of the library, past the bright blue pickup. The thought that the irritating boy would be parking in the lot a few steps from the school’s entrance while she had to hoof it in the drizzle riled her to no end.

  Yep, he’s a rich boy who has parents with more money than they know what to do with. It must be nice. I’ll bet old Alec boy’s out polishing his truck any time he gets a speck of dust on the thing. He probably hasn’t worked a day in
his life.

  She turned onto the sidewalk along the main street and headed in the direction of the school, picking up speed as she went. Before she covered half a block, the clouds opened up a little and the drizzle turned into a light rain. By another block, the light rain turned into a downpour. Pulling the hood of her rain jacket over her head, she did her best to keep her hair dry. Despite her best efforts, she was soaked by the time she made it through the school’s double-doors and into the nearly empty hallway beyond. She turned left and made a mad dash for the science wing.

  Great, Tess thought as she tore her rain jacket off, dripping water onto the floor all the way to class. That’s just great. I’m going to be the last one to class. Typical Monday. She just made it to her seat as the bell rang.

  Mr. Jenkins’s stern look watched her as drops of water from her hair made small puddles on the top of her desk. After several seconds of scrutiny, he walked over to a large sheet of paper hanging on the wall and wrote Tess’s name at the bottom, on a line by itself while everyone else’s was on a line with two names.

  Mr. Jenkins turned away from the paper to face the class. “I’ve decided to shake things up a bit with another team project.”

  Several groans came from the class.

  Tess sighed. I hate team projects. I normally wind up doing all the work myself. It’s the only way I can keep my A average. Maybe I’ll get teamed with one of the science geeks this time. Even with the thought, she wasn’t hopeful. From experience, she knew her luck didn’t run that way.

  After scanning the room, Mr. Jenkins gave what Tess thought was a devious smile. “I’ve noticed some of you tend to work with the same partners every time. So…” He scanned the room again with his smile growing ever wider. “…this time, I’ve taken the liberty of letting Lady Luck assign the teams.” He pointed to the large piece of paper behind him. “This is the order you got to class this morning. You’ll be in two-person teams. After class, you can get with your teammate and work things out.”