As the years passed the emotional distance between Stanley and Andrea increased. Her rapid business advancements left her feeling little, if any, dependence upon her husband. Economically and emotionally she was independent! Andrea’s strong views on most subjects were ever a source of potential marital conflict. Rather than rise to the challenge where defeat was almost a given certainty, Stanley withdrew, keeping his views to himself. Increasingly, work became his safe harbor – a place of retreat from a less than fulfilling marriage.
These circumstances left Paul in something of an emotional “no man’s land.”
Andrea was filled with ambition. Her astonishing career success provided substance for dreams of owning her own business and a place among the “who’s who” of San Diego Society. Those dreams became reality as she purchased a woman’s shop in the prestigious Pacific Beach area, north of San Diego and near the ocean. Her shop offered exclusive merchandise with high price tags and her clientele consisted largely of socialites who shopped to be shopping, eager to purchase things that would make a statement about themselves. Andrea understood the mentality of her customers, providing the essential strokes as well as the all-important designer merchandise. The shop, “Andrea’s Clothes Closet,” provided high fashions for evening, along with sportswear, expensive jewelry, and exotic perfumes – a smattering of the “best” for women. Years later she would relocate her shop in the exclusive La Jolla business district, adding wealthy tourists to her set of customers.
As the business prospered, Andrea became obsessed with the need to find a home in a more desirable area of greater San Diego. And soon she had located a spectacular piece of ocean front real estate, also in Pacific Beach. The debt would be prohibitive so far as Stanley was concerned but as ever, Andrea had her way. And with the new home came furnishings at a commensurate level of opulence.
Despite Andrea’s extravagant tastes, she never had a problem covering expenses. Profits increased steadily, as did her prominence in business and community circles. She was surprised when the owner of the store she had so effectively managed in La Mesa approached her with a proposition. In her absence, the business had not done well – “would she be interested in acquiring the store?” After a few days she made her decision and soon the store bore a new name, “Custom Jewelry by Andrea.” With this acquisition and its subsequent success it began to appear that she could do nothing wrong when it came to her business efforts.
It was ironic that the luxurious Kirkham home was seldom used as a home. Both Andrea and Stanley were gone during the days and Stanley frequently stayed on at the lab until the late-night hours. The two of them had separate bedrooms and it was not uncommon for them to have only fleeting contact as the days and weeks passed. There were times when the Kirkham home bristled with importance as guests arrived for social events. On such occasions, Stanley dutifully performed to keep up appearances, but privately he loathed these parties and dinners with their artificial small talk and the Kirkhams’ pretense of domestic normalcy. Andrea always excluded Paul from these events, arranging for a sitter when he was young, and then asking him to remain in his upstairs room in later years.
In truth, the downstairs portion of the home was generally “off limits” to Paul. Andrea had a fetish for an immaculate appearance within the four walls of her palace and accordingly laid down the law to her young son. His space was a large second floor bedroom and an adjoining multi-purpose family room. He was welcome elsewhere in the home only by invitation. Even the formal stairway descending into the spacious front entry area was a taboo for him. He was expected to use the back stairway that was accessed from the kitchen or the rear entry to the home. For Paul, life at home was generally a solitary experience. The housekeeper came each afternoon and remained until the early evening. She and Paul typically had an early dinner in the kitchen prior to her departure. When Andrea returned home there was only limited interchange between her and her son. She was firm in her expectations and made no real effort to engender warmth in their relationship.
Both Paul and his mother had the early realization that he was gifted intellectually. Andrea pushed him to excel in school, taking pleasure in his emerging capacity. So it was that Paul chose to spend his many hours of solitude in reading. But he was slow in the development of social skills and had few friends. His intellectual prowess was to become his primary means of self-validation. Not only did Paul read incessantly, but he also threw himself into the academic side of school. All of this had its downside, however, for his brilliance, together with his reclusiveness, sparked resentment among other students. Many regarded him as an oddity.
With the onset of puberty a whole new set of problems made their appearance in Paul’s life. His social deficiencies, together with the unconventional role he had carved out for himself, left him struggling to fill growing personal needs. He felt disconnected with others and had no idea how to remedy the ostracism he sensed. Always articulate, he had learned to skillfully defend himself with words, especially words of biting sarcasm. His place as an object of ridicule by his peers engendered smoldering hostility towards others that had begun to permeate his personality by the time he entered high school. And then, during the first few weeks of his sophomore year, an incident occurred that would have a lasting influence in his life.
Bad feeling had existed between Paul and Stuart King, or Stu, as his friends called him, since the two boys were thrown together on the school bus during Paul’s first year of junior high school. Stu, two years older, seemed to have antagonistic feelings towards Paul from the outset. There was punching, poking, and snide comments so typical of boys asserting their superiority over those of lesser importance in the pecking order. Despite the age difference, Paul held his own, hurling poisoned words in response to Stu’s efforts at intimidation. This only perpetuated the problem, keeping him in hot water with Stu. But even as the constant pummeling continued, Paul refused to yield to his antagonist, and for some reason Stuart always stopped short of the “battle royal” he repeatedly promised.
Contact between the two ceased after Stu commenced high school, but during Paul’s sophomore year at Bay View High the old hostility resumed. By this time Stu had become a high school athletic luminary – the idol of his peers. Paul had begun his journey into manhood and no longer looked the part of the geek reading a book in the back seat of the school bus. It was during the first week of school that Stu recognized Paul as he was rummaging through his hallway locker. Strolling by in “cock of the walk” fashion, Stu punched Paul on the arm, hard enough to remove any doubt about his malicious intent. “Hello punk!” he said, sneering back at Paul as he continued down the hall. As luck would have it, Paul and Stu ended up in an elective speech class together, which brought them into regular contact. As the term wore on, Stu continued the ritual that had its origins in school bus encounters years earlier. Paul came to anticipate the uncomfortable exchanges before or after fifth period speech when there would be a jarring pop on the back of his head, a body lunge from the side, or the familiar punch on the side of the arm. These gestures were always accompanied by uncomplimentary remarks and laughter from bystanders.
The speech class was a hodgepodge of many students of varying ages and abilities. It was an informal class, one reason for its popularity, which students failed to take very seriously. Stu’s status at school made him somewhat of a celebrity in class, notwithstanding his apparent deficiency in expressing himself as he filled speech assignments. On one occasion Stu’s lamentable performance brought classroom titters. He, himself, had struggled to keep from breaking into laughter as he butchered a five-minute presentation on current social issues. But the fiasco of a speech was received in the spirit of fun until Paul raised his hand in response to the teacher’s request for constructive criticism.
“I think he’d better stick to basketball,” said Paul. “He’ll have a better chance at anything that doesn’t require him to open his mouth.”
There was no laughter followin
g Paul’s barbed statement, and the teacher took immediate steps to remove the unfavorable light from Stu. After class, Stu immediately pursued the business of getting even. The altercation occurred in the long hallway just outside the fifth period classroom. Paul was weaving his way through the crowd of students when he suddenly felt a heavy fist blow from the rear that found its mark squarely between his shoulder blades. He reeled forward, struggling to keep from falling. Regaining his balance he turned, only to see Stu moving menacingly towards him. Before Paul could respond, Stu shot both arms forward, striking him above his chest on both shoulders. This time Paul fell backward, crashing into a bank of student lockers that lined one side of the hall. Then Stu’s two large hands were suddenly gripping the upper portion of Paul’s jacket, drawing it tightly about him and up under his chin.
Amidst a wash of profanity came the words, “You punk! You smart mouth!” Stu angrily thrust the flat of his right hand into Paul’s face, grinding his palm into Paul’s mouth and nose, at the same time painfully forcing the back of his head against the metal locker behind him. He spoke in a demeaning tone. “Little people like you don’t ever talk to me like that! You got that, jerk?”
There was a flash of uncontrollable anger within Paul and the stored-up aggression within him exploded. It was not only anger against Stu that animated him, but the bitterness he felt towards life in general. His arms began to flail, and then as his fist struck Stu in the midsection, Paul sensed a moment of advantage. Lunging forward with all his strength, he managed to break the other boy’s grasp and then push him backward. Paul was now acting solely upon impulse.
As Stu stumbled, Paul threw himself at him, pinning him against the opposite wall. Caught in rage, Paul grasped handfuls of Stu’s hair, then repeatedly slammed his head against the hard-plastered wall until Stu went limp. When he let go, the other boy slumped to the floor in unconsciousness.
As he realized what had happened, a sickening feeling came over Paul. The image of Stu’s helpless form on the hallway floor and the dense ring of horrified onlookers would vividly remain in Paul’s mind to plague him for years to come. He knelt at Stu’s side, his rage having dissipated as quickly as it had descended upon him. Sensing the urgency of the situation, he barked a command to the gathering group of curious students – “Somebody get help, quick!”
Stu was subsequently hospitalized with a serious concussion, complicated by a fractured skull. From his immediate symptoms, including extreme eye pupil dilation, hemorrhaging was suspected and a cranial burr hole procedure was ordered to relieve pressure from a subdural hematoma. The doctors were guarded in their prognosis, but did not rule out a complete recovery. At a minimum there would be a protracted period of convalescence that would have a serious impact on Stu’s senior year of high school. A return to basketball during the current season was out of the question. Angered at these circumstances that had intruded into their lives, Stu’s parents lodged a formal complaint against Paul and the high school. A day and a half after the incident, the Kirkhams received word that legal action for the recovery of medical expenses was likely. Fearing the possibility of additional public embarrassment, Andrea had contacted her attorney about the possibility of a quiet financial settlement. As always, Stanley fell in step with his wife.
Three days following Stu’s hospitalization Paul sat between Stanley and Andrea in the office of James Stroud, principal of Bay View High School. Prior to that meeting he had held numerous phone conversations with Stu’s parents, as well as with Andrea Kirkham. He was now formally following up on the matter.
Stroud was a middle-aged principal, in his tenth year of educational administration. He had dealt with many student problems over the years, but this was among the most serious. Now, as he looked at the sullen boy between two apprehensive parents, he wondered what he might say to adequately address the real issues involved.
He spoke thoughtfully, his dark eyes boring in at Paul. “You have some very important decisions before you, young man.” He waited until Paul lifted his eyes to look at him before continuing. “I believe I can say without exaggeration that this will be a pivotal point in your life. Your choices are two, as I see them. Either you will disregard what happened three days ago without making any changes in your life, or you will take this opportunity to rethink the way you relate to other people. If you take the first course, I predict that you will become a liability to society.”
Andrea interrupted in obvious disagreement. “Mr. Stroud, the boy was defending himself! I regret what has happened here, but I think we should keep the facts straight. My son was the object of another boy’s aggression.”
Stanley evidenced surprise at his wife’s statement. “Andrea, I don’t think we should minimize the seriousness of this thing.”
Andrea’s impatient response was immediate. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’m not minimizing anything. All I’m saying is that …”
“Please, Mr. and Mrs. Kirkham, let me finish.” The exchange between Stanley and Andrea ceased and Stroud, obviously unfazed by Andrea’s plea, again turned to Paul, his graying hair and dark suit lending to the aura of authority he projected. “These kinds of incidents never occur in a vacuum. I’ve taken the liberty of doing a little investigating. It appears that you have quite a reputation, son. Your academic record is flawless, but you have left many teachers bewildered by your tendency to be a troublemaker.”
“Mr. Stroud …”
“Please, Mrs. Kirkham,” said Stroud, holding up his hand in Andrea’s direction. Andrea leaned back in her chair, making no effort to hide her frustration.
“You’re not a very pleasant person to be around, Paul. You seem to be angry with everybody, not just Stuart King.”
Expressionless, Paul continued to look at the floor.
“I am told that your confrontation with Stuart stemmed from an insulting remark you made to him in Mr. Bramwell’s speech class. Is that right?”
Paul remained stoically silent.
“Mr. Bramwell also indicates that even though it is early in the school year, you have become something of a deportment problem in his class – lots of sarcastic comments directed at him as well as other students. Isn’t that so?”
Still there was no response on Paul’s part.
“Paul, I’d like you to hear some of the teacher notes I’ve copied from your cumulative records.” Picking up a note pad from his desk he read with emphasis: “‘Despite his capacity, which is well above average, Paul holds himself aloof from others and evidences strong antisocial tendencies – Paul is belligerent and intimidating in social interaction - Paul is quarrelsome and tends to belittle other students – Paul is self-willed and frequently unwilling to submit to authority.’ Although you don’t have a history of pushing people around physically, it seems that you have been determined to hurt people in other ways. I spoke with Mr. Beck, your junior high school principal, and he referred to some problems a year ago. Apparently you were accused of writing poison-pen letters to him, as well as other teachers and numerous students.”
Andrea’s impatience erupted. “Mr. Stroud, this sort of thing is uncalled for. I refuse to sit here and be subjected to something so entirely unprofessional.”
Apparently shocked at the principal’s reference to poison-pen letters, Stanley also expressed concern. “If there were accusations, I think someone should have spoken with us about the matter.”
“You’re never around for anybody to talk to,” said Andrea testily. “People from the school did contact me and I went through the whole business with Paul. There was nothing to it. He said he had never written that kind of a letter in his life and I believed him. There never was any proof that Paul was involved. They ended up dropping things. Isn’t that the way it was, Mr. Stroud?”
“My purpose here is not to reopen any earlier inquiries; it is to make an appeal to Paul. It is the firm opinion of Mr. Beck that the letters came from you, Paul. You are the only one who knows if he is right. If he and other teachers have
made accurate judgments about you, the current problem with Stuart is of singular importance to us. It is important because it is part of a pattern. If that pattern does not change, you will bring much unhappiness to yourself and others. During my years as a graduate student I did an internship at a youth correctional facility. For me it was amazing to discover that there were some in that institution with exceptionally high IQ’s, but their native ability could not offset their lack of social conscience. Some were angry young men quite willing to hurt others in their efforts to ‘get even with life,’ so to speak.
“Now Paul, try to understand what I’m saying. Your mother has approached me about the possibility of your transferring to another school. I agree with her that it would be unwise for you to remain at Bay View. There is such student antagonism against you that your high school days here would be miserable. There could even be reprisals against you by students who might feel the need to take matters into their own hands. Naturally, I would strenuously oppose such a thing, but I do feel that a new start elsewhere would be in your best interest.
“Accordingly, I have made some arrangements for you to be transferred to Franklin High. This is a fine school and the principal, Malcolm Davis, is a personal friend. He has assured me that if you use this transfer as an opportunity to work at some personal changes, he will see that you are accorded every possible opportunity. My appeal to you is that you make a concerted effort with regard to such personal changes. I can only warn you that if there is a repeat of what happened between you and Stuart, expulsion will most certainly follow.”
Stroud had given vent to the thoughts that had been dominating his mind for days. Now he waited for Paul’s response.
Several moments passed before Paul raised his head and looked into the concerned face of James Stroud. “It will never happen again,” he said quietly. There was no belligerence in Paul’s words. There was, however, a feeling of finality in this simple expression that convinced the three adults in the room of his utter sincerity.
Braided Gold Page 14
