The Earth Painter (13 page)

What he said got me thinking. “Why don’t you get up there and whisper, too?”

Theo leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms in front of him. “I don’t like influencing people without them knowing it. It doesn’t seem right to me. Plus, right now I doubt they’d be open to what I said.”

Geo spoke, “So you dragged us here, had us check out the water, had us bring
Chem
here to check it too. And to what—sit here and do nothing? We could be back at your place playing cards instead.”

The school board opened the session to questions from parents. Most were asking about what would be done to keep the kids safe until the water pipes were installed. Or was there any reason to believe terrorists were involved? Theo looked at his friends. “Guys, give me some reasons to keep the well. Things humans might accept as believable, so they will reconsider their decision.”

Bio rubbed his stubble.
“Money.
It’s quite important to humans. The construction company is giving the school a discount, but it’s still going to cost money. Plus public water comes with payments. Well water is free. How are they going to pay for it? Raise taxes? People hate higher taxes.”

Theo smiled. “Perfect.” Then he looked at me.
His gray-blue eyes bright with joy.
Theo tapped me. “You could go speak. You hear me and know it. It wouldn’t be like whispering, and you’re the only human on the planet who knows the truth.”

I looked at him, confused. “What?”

“Get up there and speak up for the well, for the blessing in it.”

I sat there dumbfounded. “
Ummmm
…I can’t go up there. What am I supposed to say?” I shook my head. “No…no…no way…no
. ..unh
, unh.”

“How can you sit here too scared to speak when you know the truth?” Then he pointed to the school board. “Right now, those board members are being lied to without knowing it. Unless someone gives them another option, they’re going to listen to Fritz,” he looked back at me, “But you know the truth.”

“But the truth sounds crazy.”

I looked at the board members and the way Fritz weaved his way among them. I swallowed and closed my eyes. Fear raced through my body causing me to quake inside. I took a deep cleansing breath and blew it out before I looked back at Theo. My breath caught as I considered what he was asking.

“You want me to go up there and say what? Something like, ‘my friend the earth painter here says the water isn’t contaminated. No, it’s blessed, and he’s brought the sciences— the rock-n-roll looking bunch right here. The unknown substance is actually a blessing intended for all humanity. So could you please leave the well as is?’” I stared at him in silence for a minute.

“No, you’ll give the real but easier to understand reasons we’ll tell you.” He pointed to the sciences.

“OK, but stay with me the whole time. And you better give me sensible things to say.”

Chapter 13

I walked up to the podium set up for people to ask questions. I looked down at first wondering—why me—as I pressed my lips together and squeezed my fists until my nails were cutting my palms. Then I heard him speak beside me. “You can do this. I’m with you.”

I kept my head down and glanced to the side. He was there, along with the sciences
who
had the knowledge to feed me the right words. It was like having the script when I’d delivered my monologue. I was terrible one-on-one with people because it was up to me to think of what to say right there on the spot. But I didn’t have to come up with it off the cuff. All I had to do was give their words a voice. My shoulders relaxed as I looked up at the eight pairs of eyes on me.

My eyes were drawn to a face. Her name plate said she was Martha Strickland. I hadn’t seen her face before, but it looked familiar. The only African-American sitting on the board and she looked like her son—my friend, Anthony.

I introduced myself to the board, explained how I had been present when Wayne entered the well, thanked them for looking out for the students at Chesnee High School. Then, I finally asked my question. “How will you pay for the pipes and the new water bill? Will taxes go up?” I looked around at the people in the room. A few looked like business men and women, but most looked like laborers—people who worked with their hands just to have enough money to get by.

“Jobs are pretty hard to come by these days. No one’s in a position to start paying higher taxes.”

Anthony’s mother had his same kind eyes as she spoke. “Do you have any other suggestions? We don’t want to raise taxes, but we can’t leave the students at risk either.”

I stood there and looked at her. I looked around and noticed Fritz whispering in Mr. Jolly’s ear again. I glanced at Theo and his crew, begging them for help with my glare.

Geo didn’t let me down. Because of what he said, I suggested they have someone come secure the well with a protected shaft and add a filtration system.

Mr. Jolly rolled his eyes at me and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Ms.…?’

“Holly Scruggs.”

He smiled condescendingly. “Ms. Scruggs, I appreciate your concern but this proceeding is for adults. If your parents are here and want to say something, have them step up and speak. If not, you should just have a seat and let the grown-ups make the critical decisions.”

Fritz stood and folded his arms in front of him. You could see the smugness in his crooked smile.

I felt my face turn red. Heat radiated off of it. I hated being belittled and was fed up with never being heard. “I am eighteen. I am an adult and a student at Chesnee High School. If anyone should have the right to voice an opinion, it should be me and others like me who will be impacted by your decision.”

I glanced over at my group as nonchalant as possible.
Chem
added to my reasons and again I passed them on.

“Chlorine, which is added by the public waters systems to clean it, is associated with heart disease and poor circulation. A study using chickens showed evidence to that and is still used by the poultry industry today. Most industrial chicken farms won’t give chlorinated water to their chickens to drink. And a recent study in
Japan,
linked chlorinated water used in cooking and making tea with creating cancer causing substances called THM’s when the organic materials
bonded with the chlorine.” I repeated the words and then realized what I was saying. I’d never heard any of that before. I would definitely Google it when I got home.

I continued, “Shouldn’t we treat our kids better than chickens and at least research it and see if we can make the well safe and protected, compare the cost of public water expenses with a filtration system and securing it from vermin or whatever it was that dug the tunnel? A fully informed decision will be a better decision than one rushed into by fear.”

I could see rethinking taking place among the members of the board. The crowd of parents was humming behind me as they discussed it among themselves. A little thrill ran down my spine. I kind of liked speaking in front of people. I liked swaying thoughts and opinions—making people think. Theo and the sciences had given me information, but I had used my words and my conclusions to deliver it.

The board decided to do more research and convene again in a week because the matter required an immediate decision. Until then, the school would use bottled water. Anthony and Wayne came to speak to me. Anthony’s mom joined us and asked me to meet her later in the week to research possible alternatives to save the well and the tax payers’ money.

Theo and the guys noticed Mr. Jolly leaving and Fritz by his side. They wanted to follow the two of them. I excused myself to go to the restroom instead of going with them.

I stood alone in the restroom looking in the mirror after cooling my red face down with some cold water, thinking about all that had just happened. I couldn’t believe I’d stood up in front of people like that and liked it. But as I stood there looking in the mirror, my thoughts began to take a turn.

What was I thinking getting up there and making a fool of myself? I probably looked like an idiot. Mr. Jolly was right. No one cared to hear what I had to say. Mrs. Strickland was probably just being polite to her son’s crazy little friend.

The longer I stood there thinking and looking in the mirror, the worst my feelings about myself and what I’d done got. My freckles were all I could see in my reflection. My ringlet curls suddenly looked like a giant ugly orange mass. Why would anyone want to hear from someone who looked like me?

I couldn’t remember ever feeling so down on myself. Not even my mom’s nitpicking made me feel like this. I heard Theo shout, “I hear him. He’s in there with her.”

The door busted open. Theo charged in with Bio, Geo and
Chem
, right behind him. The sciences stood at the door, mouths and eyes wide open watching Theo charge in, brush my left side and rush to the bathroom wall. I didn’t know what was going on until I saw Fritz pinned between Theo and the wall.

Theo put his face up to Fritz’s. “You leave her alone.”

Fritz looked shocked at first when he hit the wall. But then composed
himself
and smiled his arrogant smile.
“You little hypocrite.
You don’t want me to use whispers on people and yet you and your science guys get to have a puppet. Tsk—now how fair is that?”

Theo’s glare was more serious than I’d ever seen before. “I’m telling you…she’s off limits. Do you hear me?”

Fritz’s forehead wrinkled. “Or what—you’ll paint me like your
Khai-Ree
?”

The room got still and quiet. I thought about how I’d just been feeling.
The thoughts that had flooded my head from out of nowhere.
“Was he in here whispering to me?”

Fritz’s eyes opened wider. He glanced between me and Theo. Realization set in as I stared right at him. “She sees us.”

I narrowed my eyes. Anger bubbled up under my skin like water boiling a lid right off the pot. “Yes, I see you… now. And Theo doesn’t whisper to me. He talks to me. He doesn’t play mind games like you do.”

Fritz pushed Theo off him and came closer to me, eyeing me up and down. “What kind of rules have you been breaking Theo? This kind of offense has to trump mine.”

Theo got between Fritz and me, pushing me back into Geo behind him. “I said leave her alone. I’ve broken no rules. Now go.”

Fritz grinned at us. “This is too interesting for me to just let go.” He made his way by me and the sciences by the door. He stopped just a moment to gaze at me with his haunting eyes. “I will be seeing you. You can count on it.” Then he smiled and exited out the door.

We all walked out into the hallway. Theo took my arm and stopped me, “Are you alright?”

I nodded yes. Theo put his arms around me and held me.

“Enough already!”
Bio shouted before walking up to Theo. “Why are you acting like a human male all of a sudden?” He gestured back towards the restroom we’d just left.
“Getting in Fritz’s face for whispering to this girl.
You didn’t even confront him when he stirred the water and ruined your work. You pouted about it and painted ugly pictures of Fritz, but never did you so much as yell at him. Now, you’re getting all machismo man and threatening him.”

Chem
stepped closer to us. His nose wrinkled as he got closer to Theo and me. Then he openly sniffed me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I said as I stepped away from him.

“Pheromones.
They’re hers, but they are strong.”

Bio’s voice
raised
as he spoke. “No wonder with the body language Theo’s using. He’s giving off signals she can’t help but respond to.
Watch.”

Suddenly Bio grabbed the older blond woman on the school board, as she walked by. She shrieked when he took her arm and swung her to him.

“Don’t worry. Five minutes from now she will have forgotten all of this.” He moved closer to her and whispered in her ear. “Hello, Sweetheart.”

Her eyes fluttered, and her breathing increased.

“See how she’s responding to me, an attractive male moving into her personal space.” He put his arm around her and rested his hand on her shoulder. “This says I want you close to me. I want to protect you as my own. I want to touch you.” He looked at Chem. “Can you pick up the same scent over here now?”

Chem
leaned in closer. “Yes, I see.”

Bio let the woman go. She shook her head, looked a bit confused before she spoke to herself, “I’ve got to talk to my doctor about these hot flashes,” and then walked on down the hall.

I felt my cheeks burn red as Theo moved away from me and looked at me and then at Bio. “I guess I’ve hung out at the high school so long that I’m mimicking their behavior and interaction.” He looked at me. “I didn’t mean to give you those kinds of signals.”

My gut churned more, my body shook. Pain, rejection, disappointment—embarrassment, all of it grabbed hold of my insides and started to wring them like a wet dish rag. My feelings - feelings I had not identified myself - had been examined, labeled and announced to everyone.