The Nomadic Life

The Consequence

Chapter 11

I am not a violent man. I abhor violence with every fiber of my being. As a child, I lived it and swore never to become the monster that haunted my childhood. But that Sicilian temper I inherited from my mother simmers beneath my skin, and today, it threatens to boil over. The so-called Principal, that munchkin of a little man crossed a line. He humiliated my little brother, publicly, and even dared to put his hands on him.

I walk Junior home, making sure he’s safe from his drunk, rage-fueled father. Once I know my brother is out of harm's way, I immediately march straight back to school. My blood feels like lava beneath my skin, and the icy 15-degree air can’t even tame it. My every step of the two and a half miles is fueled by determination.

As I approach the old building, the doors to the school no longer look inviting. Seething, I throw them open unable to contain my rage.

The secretary gasps as I push into the office. “You can’t go in there!” she protests, but there’s no stopping me. I respect my elders, usually. But today? Respect is a luxury that miniature man lost the moment he put hands on my brother.

I burst through his door, and there he is, Principal Munchkin, barely five-foot-five, springing from his chair with his chest puffed up.

“Leave now. You’re not welcome here.”

With a low growl in my voice I insists he sit down, before I knock him down.

He hesitates, thinking twice before approaching me. Good. He sees the fire blazing in my eyes. Slowly, he sinks back into his chair. I plant my hands on his desk and lean in until we’re nearly nose to nose.

“Explain yourself,” I demand. “Why the hell did you put your hands on my brother? Give me one good reason not to take this straight to the Board of Education.”

His lips curl with arrogance. “Sit,” he orders.

“I’ll stand.” I reply, my voice dripping with icy defiance.

“Have it your way,” he smirks with a smug look that ignites every ounce of restraint I have left. My fists twitch at my sides, screaming to be unleashed.

“I sent your brother home because he showed up without your parents,” he says flatly.

“Did you send anyone else home today. Were there other children you felt could not return this semester without their parents in tow?” I know the answer, but I want to hear him choke on it.

“No. But the others haven’t disrespected this town like you two have.”

My eyes glow red. “So, you think throwing him out of school in front of his classmates is justified? Because you and this damn town are mad at us?”

He lights a cigarette and, with pure disdain, blows the smoke into my face. I do not flinch.

“I wanted his parents here,” he says, his voice oozing with false righteousness. “Not only because the citizens of this town are furious with you both but for his safety too. I thought it best his parents and I have a conference before he comes back.”

“I’m still waiting,” I insist, “for the reason you thought you had a right to put your hands on him.”

His holier than thou attitude slips for just a second. “I was angry,” he admits, his voice less guarded. “Like the rest of Mathiston, I let it get the best of me. I’ll apologize to him, when his parents come in.”

I try to repress the fury clawing up my throat. “You won’t get both. Only our mother. His father is well on his way to being inebriated before school even starts. He won’t be showing up. And as for me? I’m my own guardian. Were you planning to manhandle me too?”

He glares at me as he answers. “I was about to call you to my office but saw you high tail it out of here following your brother. I knew you would be back.”

“So?” I ask. “I am here, what do you have to say?”

His eyes burn with the same resentment I felt from every accusatory stare I have received the past several days.

“The entire town is pissed at you and your brother. You both just left. You walked away from everyone who tried to help you. No warning. No thanks. Just... gone.”

I freeze, my anger hitting a wall I didn’t see coming. “We left because my mother had to escape that bastard. Everyone knew what he was. And Junior, I couldn’t let him go alone. Family comes first.”

His voice is bitter. “And what were we? The ladies from the church who nursed you through the flu, the neighbors who kept an eye on you both, what were we to you?”

The words hit me like a punch to my stomach, emotionally bending me over as I metaphorically stagger under the weight of guilt I never saw coming. My arrogance causes me to sink lower in the chair, the rage I had been feeling now settling into my soul, cold and hollow.

“I... I didn’t think,” I shamefully whisper. “I thought you’d understand, I thought everyone would. I had to be there for Junior. I didn’t know I owed the whole town an explanation.”

He stares, his eyes sharp and unforgiving. “It wasn’t about owing. It was about caring.”

“Here is my issue I am having with this entire situation,” I say, attempting to justify my stance. “The kids aren’t the ones looking down on us. The adults are. The kids don’t care. Maybe all of you should learn from them. Junior doesn’t owe anyone here an apology. He’s been through enough. If you need a scapegoat, take me. But he stays out of this.”

The room is suffocating, the air filled with tension, almost too thick to breathe.

“Maybe,” he concedes, “but you never gave us the chance to understand why you decided to just leave.”

I stand, the fire in me flickering, but not out. “Junior deserves a public apology for the way you embarrassed him. And if it makes this town feel better, I have no problem leaving Mathiston. I can easily find work and settle down in Maben. Perhaps someday this town can forgive me. Maybe not. But I’d make the same choice again.”

I turn to leave.

“Yeah,” the leader of the lollypop guild sneers behind me, “just walk away. That’s what you do best, you ungrateful asshole.”

I stop. My hands clench. I want to spin around and let him see my anger. The rage within me had almost subsided and now this remark? I want to say something, anything to tear him down the way he’s torn at me. But I don’t, I take a deep breath and glance over my shoulder, my eyes burning into his as I lift my middle finger, slamming the door behind me.

Outside, the cold sinks its teeth into me, but I barely feel it. My heart pounds with rage and regret so deep I feel like it might swallow me whole.

I do care. How dare he insinuate that I do not. I always have and always will. But I see it now, to these unforgiving people, I’ll always be a pariah, the one who left without so much as a goodbye.

It will take decades for me to realize I was not a bad person for choosing my family over this town. But the consequence of my decision to relent and cower to the people will haunt me for years to come.