Jealousy at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

Mr Sanders was new to Te Arawa College. So far his stay had not been a particularly pleasant one and he had very much needed the day off yesterday. However, now it was back to the daily grind having to deal with fellow teachers who hadn't warmed to him and students who loved to make his life a misery. He had even been threatened by one student in particular.

  He shuddered at the thought of the huge youth who was close to six feet tall, loftier than he was… very well built, far stronger and athletic than he. Of course Sanders was going to be intimidated, it was only natural. If only, if only he hadn’t upset the boy’s girlfriend.

  He paused for a moment, picturing her in his mind, admiring her beauty. Her long dark hair, her flawless skin, full lips and rounded chin. If there was ever proof that God’s creations were perfect, that was it. He imagined that Eve would have looked very similar. The perfect woman. Oh what a pity that this one was only seventeen years old.

  ‘You know you shouldn’t look at her the way you do. You know. It’s wrong,’ he told himself as he sat on his own in his biology lab, shortly before morning class. ‘She’s your student. Drive out those sinful thoughts, Sanders, drive them out. The devil is tempting you.’

  He knew he had to make his mind submit. He was a professional. He had been unprofessional in his conduct towards her before, he realised that. It had all started with just wanting to have her around, to admire her. He had definitely gone too far when he exchanged her biology papers with someone else, so that he could fail her, to teach her a lesson for not being more friendly towards him. ‘God, please forgive me. I did not know what I was doing.’

  He shuddered when he thought of the girl’s boyfriend. He recalled the horrible memory of when the boy came in to his biology lab looking to make him pay for his improprieties.

 

  ‘Sanders! I want a word with you!’

  Sanders jumped. Terror welled up inside him as the huge senior strode towards him, his eyes blazing and a scowl on his face. He stepped right up to his desk and slapped his hand down on the bench causing a loud bang. ‘What the hell are you playing at? Vanessa’s biology assignment. Where is it?’

  Sanders shivered and his voice wavered. ‘I handed it back to her, Rex, she...’

  Rex slammed his hand down on the bench again. ‘Don’t give me that, crap, eejit! You know damn well that was not her paper. You switched it with someone else’s. She worked hard on that assignment and you’re trying to screw her over. Don’t try to deny it.’

  The imposing stature of the school’s top athlete was enough to make Sanders nerves jitter like crazy. He attempted to sound as assertive as he could, trying to fight back all signs of fear. ‘That was the paper she handed in. It was...’

  Rex reached over and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him partly over the desk. He was so strong and Sanders was not an athletic man, so there was no escaping his iron like grip. ‘I said... don’t give me crap, you lying douchebag. Look. I can make it easy for you. You can go back, get Vanessa’s assignment, mark it fairly and hand it back to her with an apology, or I’ll slam that head of yours down on this bench and then take the matter higher. And Flanders, you better believe that I’ll do that!’

  Sander’s entire body felt weak. ‘I... I... Perhaps... perhaps I made a mistake.’

  Rex released his hold causing him to fall back down on his stool. ‘Damn right you did, eejit. You will never know just how important Vanessa is to me and if anyone hurts her, I can promise you now they will suffer tenfold and that includes any teacher that tries to screw her over, you got that? Now where’s her real paper.’

  ‘Wait…’ He shuddered. ‘Let me check. It could be that I may have mixed up the papers inadvertently.’

  Sanders knew where the paper was. He hadn’t disposed of it yet. It sat in the bottom of his draw along with some other assignments he had not yet marked. He made an act of searching through his drawers. He peeked up at Rex every few seconds, but had to look back down again, because the piercing glare was still on his face. He reached the correct pile and flicked through them, his hands shaking. ‘Oh my...’ He pulled it out. ‘It seems I did make a mistake. It seems her assignment is here after all. I’m not sure how it is her name got on the wrong one.’

  ‘Whatever. You take that. You give it the mark it deserves and then you hand it back.’ Rex rose to his feet, but turned one last time. ‘And don’t you ever, ever harass her again, you got that, douchebag?’

  ‘I won’t! I wouldn’t! I promise!’

  Sanders watched with baited breath as Rex reached the exit and left.

  He breathed easy, although his body still tingled from the strain. He wiped sweat from his brow with his handkerchief, took a pen and wrote “Merit” on Vanessa’s paper.

  For a few moments, Sanders frowned deeply as he thought about the incident. He should have reported it, even at the risk of his own misconduct being exposed. To have a student threaten and intimidate him could not be tolerated. He could have made some excuses about his improprieties and claimed it all to be a big misunderstanding.

  Nevertheless, he knew that Rex had not been himself during that period. His memory had been affected from a knock on the head he had received. There was no way anyone would hold him accountable, although he had heard rumours it had all been an act. Could he take those rumours seriously?

  The bell rang for class and he tried to clear the thoughts from his mind. Still, it was hard and the thoughts of Rex’s treatment of him irked him. ‘Lord, he had no right to treat me like that,’ he thought to himself. ‘He can’t be allowed to get away with it. There must be something I can do.’

  The first few students trickled in. Ah, there she was. Vanessa Danté. A picture of gorgeousness and perfection. It was alright to just admire her beauty, surely? There was nothing sinful about that, nothing inappropriate. He watched as she sat down at the back and flicked her long dark hair over her shoulders. Her sapphire blue eyes sparkled as she chatted with her friends.

  The pleasure of watching God’s most beautiful female creation evaporated when Rex came in and sat at the desk next to her. The good feelings turned to anxiety and distaste. Over the last week he had done his best to avoid even talking to him for fear of unleashing Rex’s wrath. However, from what he understood Rex was back to his normal self, whatever that was, so perhaps there was no need to fear him anymore. Perhaps Sanders could dare start to impose his authority over him again. He had to be careful though, the boy was a smooth talker and very smart. He’d already caused Sanders to question his own beliefs, particularly about creation and how it came about.

  He had to be careful not to listen to the devil’s lies. The devil was clearly manipulating this boy. ‘Forget the arguments he gave,’ Sanders told himself. ‘Faith is all that matters. Don’t question the bible. Believe and trust that even those things you don’t understand or can’t explain, have rational explanations. No need to even wonder what those rational explanations could possibly be.’

  Soon the class was full, but they continued to natter as he stood there in front of them. This would not do. He had to establish his authority even if he did still feel intimated by that one particular student. ‘Ok, quiet please.’

  The noise continued.

  ‘Quiet now!’ he shouted. ‘Or I will issue detentions. Pete Cook! Detention. Will Ullman, Dennis O’Grady, Rhonda Mathers. You will all be on detention at lunch time too!’

  Suddenly all went quiet. For a few moments, nobody stirred, until Pete raised his hand.

  ‘Yes, Pete.’

  ‘I’m already on detentions for smoking, Mr Sanders. Still a week to go.’

  ‘Damn it, I’ve had enough!’ Mr Sanders snarled. ‘I have put up with disrespect and misbehaviour long enough and I’m no longer going to tolerate it. Do I make myself clear?’ He turned his eyes to Rex, but quickly jerked them away again. It was just too hard to look him in the eye. What if he angered him? No, he had to be strong. He turned his eyes back to Rex, who eyed him expressionless. ‘That
goes for everyone!’ he said, his eyes still honed on Rex. ‘I will not be badgered, I will not be intimidated. I have a job to do.’

  Rex’s expression remained the same. Sanders breathed easier. Perhaps what they said was true and Rex was not the intimidating, threatening individual he had believed him to be. Perhaps now Rex was in complete control of his emotions? ‘As many of you know...’ he continued. ‘I am a god-fearing man, but don’t let that make you think you can take advantage of me. My patience only lasts for so long. However, I’m going to take a leaf out of the book of God and agree to forgive you all for your past conduct in my classes. I mean if God can forgive us, then I must forgive you too.’

  Rex raised his hand.

  Sanders froze and his eyes widened. Rex still had that poker-face and for a split second, Sanders saw malevolence in his eyes. No, he had to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had to believe that Rex’s ire was no longer on him. ‘Yes, Rex?’

  ‘Will we need to make a sacrifice, Mr S?’ His voice seemed very calm and in fact quite reasonable.

  ‘Huh? What?’

  ‘A blood sacrifice. Will we need to brutally slaughter a lamb or something like that?’

  ‘What do you mean? Why would I want you to do that?’

  ‘Well if you’re going to take a leaf out of God’s book, then that’s going to be necessary, isn’t it? For us to be forgiven a blood sacrifice is necessary.’

  Mr Sanders breathed easy again; glad that Rex’s manner was friendly. ‘Ah, but you see, we no longer need to make blood sacrifices, because Jesus Christ was the ultimate blood sacrifice for our sins. We can be forgiven, thanks to that and there is no need for any more innocent blood to be spilt.’

  ‘But why was it even necessary in the first place?’

  ‘Because innocent blood must be spilt for atonement of sin. It’s the blood that cleanses our souls.’

  ‘Really? So in what way does innocent blood cleanse the soul?’

  Sanders paused for a moment. ‘Ummmm.’

  ‘In fact...’ Rex leaned back in his chair. ‘Isn’t a blood sacrifice simply a symbolic act?’

  ‘Well yes.’

  ‘So how does a symbolic act accomplish anything?’

  ‘Well, it’s an act of worship to God. It pleases him.’

  ‘Ah, I see. So really then, it’s not the blood that cleanses us from sin, but God himself?’

  ‘Well yeah...’

  ‘What’s really important is the act of worship and the sincerity behind it. The repentance side of it.’

  ‘Yes. That would be right.’ Sanders smiled.

  ‘So the blood alone can’t accomplish anything. Therefore the sacrifice is really irrelevant to the whole process.’

  ‘Yes... wait no!’ Sanders jerked his body straight. ‘Jesus had to die on the cross to save us. He had to be the blood sacrifice.’

  ‘Clearly not. As you’ve admitted yourself, the act itself is symbolic and it’s what’s behind the act that’s more important. God can cleanse us of our sins without the need for the sacrifice. It’s just that the sacrifice somehow appeases his horrible wrath.’

  ‘The sacrifice is the pivotal reason that sin can be forgiven!’ Sanders felt annoyance welling up inside him.

  ‘God is all powerful, right?’

  ‘Of course!’

  ‘Well in that case he clearly doesn’t need any blood to help him cleanse us or forgive us. Therefore the only other reason a sacrifice is needed is because he likes that kind of thing.’

  ‘Rubbish!’

  ‘Clearly your God enjoys these primitive and barbaric rituals.’

  Sanders’ body tightened. He could feel the righteous anger bubble up inside. ‘How dare you refer to my God as that? That is insulting to God!’

  ‘Insulting to God or insulting to you? Personally I can’t see why an all-powerful, perfect being would take offence at any insults directed at him. That would show a God with a fragile ego.’

  Sanders had to hold himself back, he had to calm himself down. Even though Rex maintained the cool exterior, Sanders couldn’t risk upsetting him. The thoughts of Rex threatening to ram his head into the table calmed him quickly. ‘But you see, Rex... if the sacrifice was not necessary, then Jesus died for nothing.’

  ‘So it seems,’ Rex said. ‘At most he died to appease God... which apparently is just him anyway, so really he died to appease his own wrath. Seems kind of screwed up to me… having yourself killed so that you wouldn’t feel the need to unleash your wrath on your creations.’

  ‘Nonsense. You’re distorting it all.’

  ‘Actually no, I’m just applying some logic to the whole scenario. I’m cutting to the chase here.’

  ‘You’re being misled!’

  ‘Seems the only one trying to mislead me, was you Reverend Flanders.’

  ‘The devil is deceiving you. You lack understanding!’

  ‘Whatever you say, Reverend, but I don’t see you giving any sensible answers. If thinking things through rationally and logically is of the devil, then I guess I’ll continue to remain my evil, satanic self.’

  Sanders cast his eye around the classroom. Some smiled, others giggled and laughed. He suddenly felt very exposed. He also felt very silly, allowing Rex to trip him up and make him look weak. He could feel the anger welling up inside him and realised he needed to calm himself down again. ‘Turn to page 254 in the text books. I want you to read the first section and answer the questions. Then we’ll discuss some of this.’

  He walked over to his stool and sat down. Further angry thoughts buzzed around in his head. How dare that boy use logic to attempt to refute his beliefs? How dare he ask questions that couldn’t be answered? Nevertheless his arguments bothered him, just as they had the last time too. He had to remind himself that faith was the most important thing. It didn’t matter whether things made sense. He just had to have faith.

  He glared over at Rex who seemed more interested in one of the girls across the room than his schoolwork. That boy would not get away with his blasphemy. Sanders could just feel God nudging him, telling him he needed to take action and deal with this evil sinner on his behalf. He would take action. God would teach that boy the lesson of his life.