Ruin's Lot

by ID Johnson

  A triumphant smile beamed from Jane’s face. “Perfect! Now, don’t forget, the meeting starts in ten minutes. We’ll need to all sit together.” The last comment was directed at Cutter, who sometimes sat with Coach Clark.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied. He smiled when he said it, but there was an edge to it, like he was also a bit put out by her bossiness.

  Jane laughed like he’d said the funniest thing on earth, batted her eyelashes at him for a moment, and then turned and sauntered out the door, her hips attempting to send him a message as she went. While Ru found it slightly humorous that he wasn’t even looking in her direction, worry about her message was still eating at her, and it wasn’t until Cutter rested his hand on her shoulder that she snapped out of her daze. He’d hung the last poster without her help.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she stammered as he pulled his hand away. “I just…. It’s fine.”

  “Ru, I’ve noticed you avoid electronics. Why is that?”

  The sincerity in his face compelled her to tell him the truth, even though she thought it was crazy to divulge her secrets to someone she’d only met a few days ago. Even Candice didn’t know the extent of her problem. Nevertheless, he’d asked, and she didn’t want to lie to him. “I, uh, don’t do well with them. I’m always… shorting them out. I’m not sure what it is.”

  “Well, that’s got to be frustrating,” he said, and while his face did show concern, he didn’t seem surprised or amused.

  “It is,” she admitted. “I can’t tell you how many small appliances I’ve broken. At home, it’s a little easier because I can take certain precautions, but here….” Thoughts of walking around at school with thick oven mitts on both hands had her practically rolling her eyes.

  “Well, look, I get here about the same time as you every day. I don’t mind stopping by and unlocking your door, flipping on your lights. It’s no problem.” His eyes showed he was nothing but sincere in his suggestion.

  Ru didn’t know what to say. “I don’t want to be a bother,” she said, though her first impulse was to say thank you. She fought it and went back to her tradition of assuming she was a burden; that was what she was most comfortable with.

  “Yes, this is quite the hardship.” He flipped his finger up and down several times, as if he were turning the lights on and off.

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “I mean, I could sprain a finger, but until that happens, I think I can manage.”

  He sounded a bit like an exasperated teen, and Ru laughed even harder. “Thank you, Cutter. I really appreciate it. And… Jane probably doesn’t need to know about… any of this.”

  “No problem,” he replied, and she was sure he meant on both accounts. “I’m guessing there’s more to that mom situation, too,” he continued, his voice softening, “but we can save that for the next episode of Dr. Phil.”

  Nodding, Ru caught his eyes. There was something about the way that he looked at her that made her think it was okay to tell him anything. It was almost like a trance of sorts. Breaking away from his gaze, she physically shook her head and attempted to clear her thoughts as well. “Yeah, right. We need to get to the meeting now, anyway.”

  “Yep,” he replied. “I’m going to go grab a pen.” He headed for the door. “Think Candice is here yet?”

  “Probably just coming in the door,” Ru laughed. She had no idea why Candice was always late. She only lived a few minutes away and only had herself to get ready and just one pet.

  “I’m here!” she hollered, flying in the door closest to their classrooms. “Save me a seat!”

  “Will do,” Ru replied. She had her water bottle, phone, a notepad, and a pen. She didn’t think she’d need anything else, but then, she wasn’t really sure what they were doing. She headed for the library, and Cutter caught up to her. Smiling up at him, she felt like she had made another good friend, which was nice. Candice was great, but she wasn’t always available. It was nice to know there was someone else she could lean on if she needed to.

  The library was already fairly full when they walked in, but no one other than Jane was sitting at the designated fourth grade table. It was no secret that Jane could be a little rude, and the other teachers didn’t like to give her an excuse to put them in their place.

  Ru did know a few teachers on other teams well from some of her committee work, and one of them, Hannah West, who taught third grade, waved at her as she came in. Ru waved back and approached her usual seat. She wasn’t paying attention when she set her belongings down, and it wasn’t until Jane shrieked that she realized what she’d done. Looking down, she watched as Jane’s full cup of coffee spilled all over the table.

  “Ru! What did you do?” Jane screamed, jumping up like the hot liquid was coming right at her, even though it was flowing the other direction.

  “I’m so sorry!” she said, feeling the red creeping into her face. None of Jane’s belongings were wet, but Ru’s notepad was beginning to turn brown. And then there was her phone, which had been directly in the line of fire.

  “I’ll get some paper towels,” Cutter said, disappearing out of the door. A few other teachers rushed over, one with a box of tissues, which at least kept the substance from dripping off the sides of the table, and Ru picked up her soggy phone, sure it wouldn’t even turn on, which would be a huge problem when she had to call her mom later.

  “Here you go,” Cutter said, back at her side already, handing her some paper towels for her phone as he began to soak up the coffee.

  “Thank you,” Ru said, doing her best to dry it out. Jane was still yelling beside her, but Ru was tuning her out. Someone else showed up with a tub of Lysol wipes.

  “Well, it looks like we’re having an eventful morning,” Mrs. Long said, as she approached the front of the room.

  “Yeah, but I’ll be falling asleep in a few minutes since I only got a sip of my coffee,” Jane whined.

  “Oh, no! What happened?” It was Candice.

  “Everything’s fine,” Cutter replied, taking the trash can one of the fifth grade teachers had gotten and placing the drippy paper towels inside.

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Jane continued. “Seriously, Ru. Do you ever pay attention to what you’re doing?”

  “I’m sorry,” Ru replied, acknowledging her for the first time since she’d initially apologized.

  “You say that an awful lot.” Ru ignored her, which must’ve made her even more angry. “You’re like a tornado.”

  “Good God, Jane! I’ll go back to the damn coffee maker and get you another cup!” Candice stormed out of the library, headed toward the breakroom as some of the other teachers, particularly from the primary camp, gasped in shock at her use of a swear word.

  “Is your phone working?” Cutter asked, peering over her shoulder.

  “No,” Ru admitted. She knew she would need to take the case off to see how much of the coffee got inside, but she was afraid to. So far, she couldn’t get it to turn on. It was crazy what a little liquid could do, even in a protective case.

  “Let me see,” he replied, and before she could protest, he had it in his hands.

  The table was clean now and smelled like lemon, thanks to the wipes. Ru’s notebook was wet around the edges, but it would still do. She took a seat, and Candice came back in with the cup and sat it down on the table. Jane said nothing, and they both sat down.

  After Cutter had the case off, he grabbed another paper towel and began drying off her phone, taking his seat as he did so. It was clear Mrs. Long was ready to start.

  “Still nothing, right?” Ru asked in a whisper as their principal began to speak.

  He shook his head. “Give me a minute.” He looked at the principal apologetically and then got up and headed out the door. Mrs. Long gave him a suspicious look but didn’t say anything, continuing to address the group.

  Watching him leave, Ru felt even worse. Now, she’d made Jane�
��s day start off poorly, caused a ruckus in the faculty meeting, and made Cutter appear uncommitted. It was shaping up to be a marvelous day.

  Cutter walked back in just a few seconds later. Assuming he must’ve realized the phone was toast and given up, Ru let out a sigh. Maybe she could borrow someone else’s phone to call her mother and let her know she was on her way. But that would take more time. And she honestly didn’t even think she knew her mom’s phone number by heart. It was in her phone for a reason….

  “Here you go,” Cutter said, smiling. She looked down to see her phone, back in its case, and on.

  Ru’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s working?”

  “Yeah,” he replied. “It’s fine.”

  “But… how?”

  He flashed her a crooked smile and shrugged.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Her whisper was a little loud, and she caught some sharp looks from a few people, especially Jane. Placing her hand on his far shoulder, she leaned in and gave him a sort-of hug. “Thank you so much!”

  “I didn’t do anything,” he shrugged. “But you’re welcome.”

  Releasing him, Ru turned her attention to Mrs. Long for the first time and learned they were about to watch the sexual harassment video they had to watch every year, as well as the ones about reporting abuse, and bodily fluids and hepatitis. Then, they’d each be required to complete a short quiz. Since they’d watched them every year, and some teachers had seen them over twenty times, it wouldn’t be entertaining, but at least it wasn’t some new initiative. Ru settled back to listen, wondering if hugging her male coworker would constitute harassment. At least she got to stare at his profile as he also watched the films. She noticed he was taking notes and thought this must be different than whatever training they did in NYC. Or perhaps he thought he might be the victim of sexual harassment considering his situation.

  The film didn’t hold her attention long. Ru was still trying to figure out how in the world Cutter had gotten her phone to turn on. Considering it was on when she initially set it down, if there wasn’t something wrong with it due to the coffee, it still should’ve been on when she picked it up. It definitely wasn’t. And she’d tried to turn it on so many times, there was no way she’d accidentally turned it off the first time. It would’ve come back on eventually if it wasn’t saturated with sticky coffee on the insides.

  She remembered that first day in the copy room when she was certain she’d fried the copy machine, but Cutter had gotten that to come back on, too. Was there something he was hiding? Was he her antithesis? She blew things up, and he put them back together? The thought seemed ridiculous. After all, he’d have to wield some sort of superpowers in order to bring electronic devices back from the dead. But then… she’d always thought her own predicament beyond the ordinary. It was as if she had a current flowing through her that had to be managed and sometimes spilled over, through her hands, into whatever she was touching, and it was drawn by the stream already pulsating through the appliance or other electrical device she had her hands on. It sounded so silly even in her head that she’d never mentioned it aloud to anyone before. But that didn’t make it any less of a possibility. Was Cutter more like her than she thought?

  As the first video came to an end, Ru tried to shift her attention back to the room. Candice was looking at her, and Ru gave her a small smile. She was sure her friend was worried about her. No one knew better than Candice how it made Ru feel to have an “incident.” With the help of her friends, this one was well-managed, but Jane wouldn’t let it go. For the next several months, she’d make a big show of making sure she kept her beverages far away from Ru. She’d ignore her and let it slide. As much as Jane wanted to bully her, Ru had built up an immunity to tyrants. Try as she might, Jane could never be the oppressor Liddy Brown was. That took real talent only the loathing of having to raise a child you do not love could inspire, and her mother had many more years of experience than Jane. Though Ru had to admit Ms. Owen should get some credit for trying. Even now, she could feel her icy stare. Ru didn’t even bother to turn her head. There was a much more interesting view in front of her, and it wasn’t the actress pretending to be poked by a dirty needle while giving a child a shot.

  “Oh, my God, Ruin Sara Roberts! Where have you been?”

  Taking a deep breath, Ru squeezed past her mother into the house. “It’s 4:03,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

  “That’s right, and I specifically told you to be here before 4:00. The fact that you are late is just further proof that you don’t care one bit about your family!”

  Ru’s hands were full with the various items her mother had asked her to pick up, and she carried them straight to the kitchen, setting them down on the counter. Her mom was still barking at her, but Ru had learned that not listening was always better than trying to reason with whatever Liddy was going off about. “I’m sorry. I got off at 3:45, remember? I got here as fast as I could.”

  “You always have an excuse for everything, don’t you?” Liddy stood in front of her, arms folded, a scowl on her face. She was much shorter than Ru, with reddish-brown, frizzy hair that had a mind of its own, no matter how many products the woman used. She did manage to hide the gray that had been creeping in since she’d turned fifty a few years ago. Still, no amount of hair dye or makeup could hide the ugliness Ru saw every time she looked at her face. It had nothing to do with her features.

  “What do you want me to do first?”

  “Well, the decorations, of course,” Liddy replied, sharply, and Ru began to dig the streamers and other items she’d purchased out of one of the bags. She was sure she’d somehow managed to mess up “purple and yellow streamers,” but if they were wrong, her mother didn’t notice as she began to direct Ru where to put them. There’d be no avoiding the ladder this time, and Ru desperately wished Candice or Cutter were there to help her out. She was on her own this time, however. She prayed no one would be injured as she began to decorate in the dining room, which adjoined the kitchen.

  About half an hour into her attempt to make the house look festive, Greg, her mother’s husband of about six years, walked in. “Oh, it looks nice, Ru,” he said, heading into the kitchen.

  “Thanks,” she called, but she didn’t dare look down. She thought she was almost done with this room, which only meant two more. She could hear her mother in the kitchen, talking to Greg in an exasperated voice, blaming Ru that everything was behind schedule. He didn’t volunteer to help. Ru had no idea how they could even stand to be married to each other in the first place. While Greg was polite to her, he wasn’t exactly nice either, and the couple argued all the time about anything and everything.

  For Liddy, it was clearly a marriage of convenience. The house Ru had grown up in across town was small and dilapidated, the best Liddy could do on a cashier’s salary as she attempted to raise three daughters. The state subsidized her income after she took Ru in, but it still wasn’t the same as having a husband who could provide for them. Many nights, Ru went to bed hungry, a can of soup and maybe a sandwich not quite filling her up. And the other girls always ate more than she did. But she’d survived, and thanks to her academic strengths, she’d managed to get a scholarship to college. Liddy had already taken on a great deal more debt to put her “real” daughters through school, so when she met Greg, who was a banker, it just seemed to make sense to her to pursue him. He would at least have enough money to provide for her. She’d quit her job at the super center as soon as they’d tied the knot. Now, she bred small dogs in the backyard and sold them at festivals and street fairs, as well as in the paper. Ru found the practice a bit revolting, but she was in no position to tell Liddy Brown what to do. Even though, technically her last name was Meyer now, to Ru, she’d always be Liddy Brown. She’d been referring to her by that name mentally for so long, she couldn’t go back now.

  As she was coming back down off of the ladder, her foot slipped. Ru caught herself but her finger dragged along the edge of the ladder, opening up
her skin. “Ouch,” she muttered, stepping carefully down onto the floor and looking to see how much damage had been done. A thin line of crimson highlighted the break in her skin. She immediately put her finger in her mouth and thought she should probably go clean it and find a bandage, but her mother’s shrieking voice told her that wasn’t a good idea. She took a piece of streamer and wrapped it around to try and keep the blood off of the rest of the decorations.

  Moving the ladder into the living room, Ru tried to tune her mother’s voice out and concentrate on something more pleasant. It didn’t take long for her mind to wander to Cutter. The more she got to know him, the more mysterious he seemed to become. Over the last few days as they’d worked together, she’d asked him a few questions. He still hadn’t told her where he came from, other than working in NYC for the last few years. Even that wasn’t detailed. He’d confirmed he had parents, but when she’d asked about siblings, he’d gotten awfully quiet. She could understand not wanting to talk about his family since she didn’t like to talk about hers either, but she was always forthcoming with answers to basic questions—two sisters, grew up in Tarrytown, that sort of thing. Was Cutter intentionally keeping his past a secret?

  One thing was for sure; there were a lot of people at Thomas Elementary who wanted to know more. Several times when they had free time to work in their classrooms during the week, teachers from other grade levels had come by to introduce themselves and linger in his classroom much longer than necessary. Ru had wondered if they’d somehow managed to get their own rooms done so quickly that they had time to waste. She wasn’t jealous, of course. There was no reason for that, but she did feel a little sorry for Cutter. It must be difficult to have that sort of attention from the opposite sex all the time, even at work. She resolved herself not to be part of the gawking crowd. They were teammates, after all, and would never be anything more than friends, even if he somehow had an affection for awkward, tall, gangly blondes who were accident prone and likely to catch his house on fire.