Welcome to Four Corners Academy

The New Principal

The road meandered through the snow bound hills without obvious purpose, like a child drawing a line in black felt across white paper. The dark maroon Audi slid along it unhurriedly, slowing down whenever a break in the thick lining of trees afforded a view of the white-washed Berkshires rolling away beneath the ice-blue sky. The snow fall of a few days earlier had dropped close to a foot on the hills, and very little of it had melted yet, creating an atmosphere of cold flawlessness.

Mary Travis tapped her gloved fingers nervously on the wheel, trying to ignore the apprehension in her stomach as she tapped the brake around another curve, fully aware that this drive was probably the last bit of peace she would know for a long time. She wanted to relish it.

Obviously, her nerves had other ideas. They knew she was stalling. They knew she was scared.

Today she arrived at Four Corners Academy, to take up position of principal at a school infamous for boarding the unwanted, the difficult, and, frankly, the dangerous. They came from all across the country, some dumped by their parents, others by relatives, some by "guardians," all by people who either didn't want them or couldn't have them near them.

Naturally, the children reflected their upbringings. They were angry, moody, rude and violent. Nobody who graduated from 4C Academy ever went on to greater things; in fact, most ended up doing exactly the opposite, landing themselves in jail or disappearing altogether. Why even bother teaching them at all, Mary had heard someone say when she and Stephen had been researching schools during their class at Columbia, what is the point?

"Because," Stephen had said in response, draping his arm across his new wife's shoulder as he faced the questioner, "they need someone to give them a chance."

Mary sighed, blinking away the sudden wetness that invaded her eyes. This was not the time.

Truth was, this was supposed to be Stephen's position, not hers. If he hadn't gotten…If he hadn't….Why did he always try to put himself in the middle of situations like that? What good did it ever do? All that ever happened, and all that did happen, is that someone…that Stephen….And now he was gone because of it. How could he have been so foolish, so thoughtless, leaving her and Billy all alone…sending her to this horrible place without him….

"Stop it!" she commanded herself out loud, "It doesn't matter. You said you'd do this, if he couldn't. You promised."

She licked her lips, swallowing harshly and shaking the memories from her mind.

At the same moment, the road turned a sharp corner and the ground fell away to her left side, revealing the school for the first time.

The Audi stopped as Mary took her foot off the accelerator and depressed the brake fully. After a moment, she popped it into neutral and pulled up the handbrake, her eyes riveted by the view of the valley below.

The academy was a cluster of dark brick buildings scattered within the deep dell, hidden from the rest of the world. The most central building, "Main" as it was called, was U-shaped and contained the administrative offices, infirmary, cafeteria and some classrooms, mostly for the subjects that didn't fit anywhere else. To the right of Main was the "Quad," four identical rectangular buildings that faced each other in a square, each one a dorm, two for the girls and two for the boys. The academy covered grades 6-12, or ages 11 through 18, give or take. Surprisingly, students were allowed to choose their dorm, irrespective of ages, resulting in an odd mixture of years within the buildings. Seemed a poor idea to Mary, but Stephen had thought it helped the children form bonds with each other.

Well, she'd see if he was right soon enough.

A cluster of four mismatched buildings to the left of Main were also visible, ones she knew contained the bulk of the classrooms. The tall, thin four story structure, bordered by the seemingly endless forest on one side and a large parking on another, was the science building. The short, squat two story building sitting in its shadow was English and literature. Closest to Main, a grand but severe looking building housed math and economics, and, finally, farthest from Main and partway up a hill, standing as if determined to appear apart from the rest, a wide, single story building housed both athletics and, oddly, the arts. The tiny buildings next to the parking lot and scattered elsewhere on the grounds she knew to be maintenance and utility buildings.

Snow surrounded all the dark buildings, causing them to stick out starkly from their surroundings, giving them a cold, unwelcome feeling. Sidewalks of black lines and a handful of scraggly trees patterned the white landscape between the buildings, except where patches of mud where the snow had melted enough to reveal the frozen earth broke it up.

She couldn't help it. She shivered.

She was arriving halfway through the school year, to take the position that Stephen and she had both applied for, and, with his death, had been given to her. The last principal had apparently quit partway through the first semester, after his family had supposedly been threatened by some students and deciding his family's peace of mind was more important to him than a mere job.

A mere job. Stephen would never have called this a mere job.

Still….

Mary's shoulders tensed, thinking about Billy living with his paternal grandparents for the next four months, until she settled in and felt it was safe enough to bring her eight year old son to live with her here. She would have liked to have left him with her own family, but they lived out in California, and she wasn't about to send Billy that far away. Stephen's father was the superintendent of schools for Berkshire County, meaning that he and his wife lived fairly close by, in the pretty town of Great Barrington, only a couple of hours south of there.

Looking down at the school, Great Barrington felt as if it were a world away from here.

"Okay," she whispered, "stop stalling."

With a conscious push of will-power, she released the brake and depressed the accelerator, sending the Audi down the road and into the valley.

+ + + + + + +

Fourteen year old Ezra Standish sat in the window, dreamily watching the wind puff up the loose snow across the quad. His dark brown hair was swept away from his face, revealing clear pale green eyes as he leaned his forehead against the ice-cold glass. He watched as, every so often, a student emerged from one of the main doors of the other dorms, amused when it was a boy from one of the girls' dorms or vice versa, disallowed during term time, but easy to do when most of the faculty and administration were on vacation. For the most part, however, the students who stayed at 4C over the holidays were staying inside on this cold day.

Well. Except for that idiot.

Ezra lifted his forehead off the glass of the window, watching as his best friend skimmed along in the snow shoes Ezra had gotten him for Christmas. The smile on Vin Tanner's face was huge, which instantly made Ezra grin as well.

After a couple of circles, Vin stepped off the snow onto the cleared sidewalk and took the shoes off. Slinging them over his shoulder, he looked up at the window to the room he shared with Ezra and, upon seeing the other boy's face, waved a gloved hand and gave a thumbs up sign. The flush in Vin's cheeks from the wind and the bright red nose did nothing to distill the enthusiasm he obviously felt.

Ezra waved back, all the time shaking his head at the insanity of being out in this weather voluntarily.

Vin jogged towards the steps of the dorm, disappearing from Ezra's view as he hit the front door.

Ezra closed his eyes and sighed, enjoying the quiet for a little while longer.

Moments later, he heard the sound of hiking boots coming up the hall outside the door, then the sound of a key being inserted into the lock.

Vin entered in a rush of cold air, a huge smile, and…a snowball.

"Christ!" Ezra shouted, just narrowly avoiding being whacked in the head with the packed ball of ice. It hit the window where his head had been with a solid thump, then slid slowly down towards the pillowed bench. "The pillows!" Ezra cried, pulling them out of the way of the wet bomb just as it landed on the wood. Vin just laughed, dropping the wet snowshoes to the floor and thoroughly enjoying himself at Ezra's expense.

Wickedness gleamed in Ezra's eyes as he looked back at his friend, "You think that was funny?" he asked. Something in his tone suggested he had somehow expected something like the snowball to happen. Vin didn't notice, pulling off his hat, his long light brown hair a mess of tangles underneath.

Between hiccup laughs, the other boy nodded, explaining, "well…you…wouldn't come…outside…so…I brought…the outside…to you!"

"Really?" Ezra grabbed a towel off the pile on Vin's bed and threw it on the bench, "Actually, Tanner, I think what I said is that I would not go outside unless I had a good reason."

Vin's laughter died somewhat, though he was still smiling. Confusion lit in his blue-gray eyes as he continued to chuckle.

"Huh?"

Ezra wiped up the snow with the towel, then sidled around Vin, heading towards the door with it. "I'm going to go hang this up to dry over the radiator in the showers," he said, purposefully not answering.

"Good reason?" Vin repeated, no longer smiling at all now. "What do you mean, good reason? What would be a good reason?"

"It'll dry in no time," Ezra muttered, reaching the door and walking into the hall, and disappearing around the corner, and then, from a distance: "just like your snow boots…."

Vin's eyes widened, and he ran to the small closet. Ripping open the door, he looked down at his old, rubber snowboots…filled to the top with snow.

"EZRA!" he shrieked, spinning around and running out the door after his quick friend, following the trail of Ezra's laughter.

+ + + + + + +

Josiah looked up, hearing the shouted name clearly from his spot on the couch in the common room downstairs. Smiling, he glanced over at Nathan, who was lying on the floor and napping on top of, of all things, Gray's Anatomy. Josiah had gotten it for him for Christmas, and the younger boy had been engrossed in it ever since. To his right, there was a copy of the Merck Manual, which Ezra had bought him, and the human skull Buck had bought him from that curiosity shop over in Eagle Bend. At this rate, Nathan was going to be able to ace the MCAT exams before he even reached college.

If Nathan went to college.

Putting down his own book, Josiah sighed, stretched and glanced across at the other boy in the room. Buck sat in another chair, staring somewhat forlornly at the fire. His dark hair hung low on his forehead, hiding the sharp blue eyes that, along with the perfectly square jaw, clearly marked the junior. The older boy had to smile.

"Hey," Josiah picked up a pillow and tossed it at Buck.

Buck caught it, and sneered at Josiah. "What?"

"Want to go check Conklin's office to see if he's got his new red file list yet?"

Buck pursed his lips, considering the offer. Then, suddenly, he frowned. He looked at Josiah suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Because," Josiah leaned forward, his sky blue eyes sparkling, "we can see if he's added your newest prodigy to it yet."

Buck instantly snorted, and threw the pillow back. "Ain't funny, Josiah."

"Oh, come now, JD's been following you around like a puppy ever since Thanksgiving. He'd be at your feet now if he hadn't that family to take him over the winter holidays."

"Some family. They sent him here."

"Well," Josiah shrugged, "true."

"JD ain't going on the list. I won't let him be."

The older boy smiled patiently, then shook his head, "Some things are just destiny, Buck. Conklin will put him in a red file, and he'll follow us all down to the depths of purgatory just like everyone Conklin blacklists."

Buck didn't answer, and Josiah leaned back.

"Chris'll be out of detention tomorrow," he remarked casually. "Still can't believe Conklin kept him out there over New Years."

Again, Buck was silent.

"Well, I suppose it did give new meaning to the term 'Boxing Day,'" Josiah chuckled.

"Shut up, Josiah. You know he wouldn't have been fighting Lucas if it weren't for me."

Josiah hid his smile. He'd been waiting for Buck to start talking about it. "He won't blame you, you know. He knows Lucas was being his usual asshole self, threatening to tell on JD. Chris knows you were just protecting the kid. It was just bad luck that Conklin came round the corner with Mr. Nechaus when Chris punched Lucas down."

"He don't need to blame me. I blame myself. I was going to punch him, Josiah, but Chris held me back…then damn well punched Lucas himself! Idiot! But I won't let that happen again."

"Really? You're going to magically stop Chris from being Chris next time?"

"Ain't going to be a next time. JD's never getting in trouble enough for Lucas James to try and blackmail us again because of it. He won't need to. If the kid wants something, I'm going to get it for him."

"Oh?" Josiah turned his head to look at Buck more carefully, "You think that'll solve the problem, eh? Just stop JD from stealing from the other kids cold turkey because you'll steal for him? Oh, that's brilliant strategy, Buck."

"I won't steal. I'll find a way to borrow the stuff he wants."

"He stole Mr. Nechaus' laptop, Buck. How would you have been able to 'borrow' it."

"I'd have found a way. Kid wants a computer. I'll find a way to get him one."

"Really."

"Yeah."

Josiah's lips tightened, then pursed. He looked at the fire, then back at Buck. The younger boy was staring at the fire as well, as if he could see answers in the flames.

"Buck," Josiah sighed lightly, glancing down at Nathan still napping on the floor. "I've been thinking a lot since…since JD got here, and you caught him stealing your Gameboy, and proceeded to take him under your wing. I think we should stop…doing the stuff we do."

Buck arched an eyebrow at his fellow junior. "What?"

"Nathan…Nathan's got a real shot at college, Buck. I don't want that to be screwed up because of the rest of us. And, though he acts like a moron sometimes, so does JD. I'm wondering if we should start thinking about what we can do to make things better for them."

Buck frowned, staring fully at Josiah now. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

Buck pursed his lips, then gave a soft smile. "Well, hell, son of a preacher man…that sounds right noble."

Josiah smiled back, then shrugged, "Yeah, maybe it does. Look," Josiah leaned forward, "I don't think I have much of a future anymore, Buck, and, as much as I think he's secretly a genius, I don't think Ezra does either. He's got so many black marks on him, he'd be lucky to go to a two-year. Vin…well, he's clever, but his grades….And then there's you and Chris. Do either of you even want to go to college?"

Buck stared at Josiah, the smile still on his face, but it didn't move past his lips. His eyes were soft, listening a little too hard to the raw facts. Finally, he looked down, the smile fading completely.

Josiah sighed, "I just think that, maybe, we should all cool it. No more joy-riding; tricking the teachers; fighting, cheating….We'll talk to Ezra and Vin and Chris. Vin'll be easy, the other two less so, only because Chris has a hard time not thinking with his fists and Ezra just because he thinks too much, but if we all shape up…."

Nathan grunted and shifted, curling a little more into himself. The other two stopped looking at each other and down at the gangly sophomore sleeping on the floor. Nathan never cracked a lid, and Buck smiled over at Josiah.

"You think that, if we work at being better, that it might be enough to lift Nate and JD out of the…how did you put it? 'Depths of purgatory' that we've pulled them down into?" Buck watched Josiah carefully.

"That's exactly it," Josiah nodded. "Think we can get the others to go along? I'm not so sure Ezra and Chris would…."

"I…think…you may be selling them a little short, Josiah," Buck said softly, watching Nathan. "I think they'll do whatever you ask them to, if you think it'll be better for Nate. And you know I think JD's a great kid. I'll do whatever is necessary." His eyes seemed to deepen as he squinted slightly at Josiah, "They deserve every chance."

"Okay," the older boy nodded. "Thanks Buck."

"So, you really think JD's on the list?"

"If he's not," Josiah replied, "we'll do what we can to keep him off of it."

Buck laughed, "I thought you said it was destiny."

"Nah, that was just to rile you, Buck. I don't believe in destiny." He closed his eyes as Buck laughed again.

Up on the top landing of the stairs hanging over the common room, Ezra was kneeling and peering through the railing at the three boys below. He'd been hiding there from Vin, and had consequently heard most of the conversation. His eyes focused on Nathan lying asleep on the floor, the jealousy flaring in his chest so strong it brought tears to his eyes.

Swallowing harshly, he stood up and slipped back through the fire door to the hallway back to the dorm rooms.

Vin turned as he heard the steps behind him, holding a dripping ball of snow in his hands. The wicked grin on his face fell instantly when Ezra never lifted his head to look him in the eye.

He let the snowball fall to the tile floor.

"What's the matter?" he asked softly.

Ezra stopped, shut his eyes. Vin was freakishly good at knowing his moods. Not liking the scrutiny, he looked up and grinned, his green eyes narrowing.

"Sometimes, Mr. Tanner, I think the world gives up too easily. And the fact that you dropped that snowball," he licked his lips, "proves it. Sucker!" He dove for the snow on the floor, just as Vin decided that Ezra had tricked him, and tried to go for it himself. They ended up a tangled, fighting mess, their laughter echoing down the hall….

The Welcome

There was a small parking lot, barely large enough for more than six cars, directly in front of Main. Mary slid the Audi into the spot marked "principal" and turned it off, letting the breath she'd been holding release itself slowly through pursed lips. Pulling the rear view mirror towards her, Mary patted the tight bun holding her pale blond hair and, pasting a confident smile on her face, opened the car door and turned to look at the front of the building.

Two people were already coming down the steps to greet her, one she recognized and one she didn't. The one she recognized was Horace Conklin, the vice-principal and one of the people who had interviewed her. Conklin also lived on campus--in Remington, one of the boys' dorms. He walked slightly in front of a quiet woman, who had her head slightly bowed. This, Mary assumed, must be the office secretary.

"Mrs. Travis," Conklin greeted, oozing a superficial charm, "how wonderful to see you again. Welcome to Four Corners Academy."

"Mr. Conklin," Mary nodded her head in return, and looked to the woman. In response to Mary's gaze, the woman just tucked mousy brown hair behind an ear and kept her head bowed, as if nervous.

Conklin continued to smile as he took the woman's arm to draw her forward, "And this is Miss Irene Dunlap. She runs the office and also teaches some home economics classes in the evening—sewing and the like—to any girls who are interested."

"Girls?" Mary asked, watching Irene, who had glanced up and offered a shy smile before dropping her head again. "Just the girls?"

"Well," Conklin smirked, "it is open to both boys and girls, but, of course, no boy here is about to sign up for Home Ec, not if they don't want to end up in the infirmary."

"No," Mary noted darkly, still watching Irene, "I suppose not."

"So," Conklin clapped his hands together to dispel the sudden tension, "most of the teachers have returned early from the winter vacation in order to meet you, and are inside in the teacher's lounge. There are still a few missing, but I am sure you will meet them in due course. Shall we head in?"

+ + + + + + +

The central lobby of Main was as austere as the outside, made up mostly of dark woods and dark blue and green carpets without pattern. Furniture consisting mostly of hard benches painted black lined the walls while other decorations were scarce. Where one would have expected to see, say, an awards cabinet or other evidences of the school's accomplishments, there were simply locked glass bookcases containing what appeared to be old yearbooks, pamphlets and dust covered dictionaries and atlases. Mostly there was just a lot of empty space.

Mary repressed a sigh and followed Conklin through a side door, glancing only cursorily at the sign marking it as the "Teacher's Lounge." Irene followed them, shutting the door softly behind her.

This room was more plush than the outer lobby, lined with reading lights, paintings and bookcases containing actual books that people had even touched, based on the cracked spines and lack of dust. On one side, a low table containing several coffee makers and an electric kettle for tea softly emitted a sweet aroma, coloring the already heated atmosphere. Couches and soft chairs were scattered about, placed in no particular order, and of no standard design. A little like the people who stood now to face the new principal, there was a keen sense of haphazardness to the room.

Mary's smile brightened as the first group approached to be introduced, and she reached out her hand to shake, looking to memorize the faces and match them with the names and information she had catalogued about them on her trip up here. She knew that, like those who had held her position before her, most of the teachers at this school did not last long, but there were some she knew that had been here for a long time and it was these whom she most wanted to meet.

The first to reach her was a tall, stout woman wearing a rather prim, dark colored dress, but had an easy smile and bright brown eyes. Her handshake was warm, and Mary liked her immediately. Her name was Gloria Potter, the economics and marketing teacher, and the resident teacher in Spencer, one of the girls' dorms.

Right behind her was an older man with a slight stutter and a nice face hidden partially by a heavy gray moustache. Mary found herself wanting to laugh as both of his cold, dry hands gripped hers with a pleasant shake.

"Virgil Watson, Mrs. Travis, I teach math. Thank you for coming to take the reins of our little community here."

"Mr. Watson," Mary smiled.

The next two approached as a matched set, a sweet looking short brown-haired woman and a tall blond man with a ruddy face and a thick blond moustache. She spoke first:

"Belinda Greene," she said, "and my husband Stephen."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Travis," Stephen said, gripping her hand firmly. Mary smiled, her mind recalling that Mrs. Belinda Greene was the school nurse and head of the infirmary, and also taught some botany and ecology classes during the summer session. Stephen Greene was the biology and physiology teacher. Both lived in the nearby town of Bitter Creek with their two small boys, and both had only been here a year and a half.

Various others followed, many innocuous, and Mary did her best to keep up with the stream. She was doing fine until confronted with a tall, dark haired man with a ruddy complexion and a scar down one cheek. Unlike Gloria and Virgil, as this man leaned in to greet her, Mary had to fight the urge to back up and cower.

"Morgan Coltrane," he murmured, his voice deep and scratched like an old smoker's, "I teach physics. Welcome to 4C." Mary's smile was forced, but she accepted his greeting congenially.

Her smile became more strained as a steel haired man with a slight sneer on his face came next, lifting his chin slightly as he looked down his nose at Mary, an odd thing as he was slightly shorter than the tall woman. He shook her hand gruffly.

"Frank Elliot," he stated coldly. Without waiting for her acknowledgement, he turned and walked away, as if she were not important enough to merit more than that. Right behind Frank, a mousier man also with white hair and wire rimmed spectacles leaned in to shake Mary's hand, quickly said "how do you do," then ran after Elliot before getting an answer. Conklin leaned in.

"Lester Wheeler," he whispered, aware of the mousier man's forgetfulness. "He and Frank Elliot are a bit of a matched set. They both teach math, and they've both been here about four years. Wheeler also owns the small hotel in Bitter Creek where Frank rents rooms for himself and his daughter Virginia, so you will often see them arrive together."

Mary nodded at the information, then blinked, already feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the faces. More people shook her hand, and, just as she was certain she could stand it anymore, she found there was only one woman left--a small, bird-boned looking gray-haired woman who first took Mary's hands in both of hers and simply stared up at Mary for a moment, searching her face with sharp eyes that reminded Mary a bit of a hawk. Then, suddenly, the odd woman smiled, her blue eyes sparkling.

"You don't look like a woman easily put off, Mary Travis," her voice was rough, but very clear, "which is something you will need if you plan to stay here longer than the last set of useless so-called principals."

"You must be Nettie Wells," Mary replied, gripping the woman's hands in her own, "and you're right, I am not one to back down from a challenge."

"Good," Nettie replied, smiling again. "Good." Nettie Wells was an English teacher, and was the one person who had been here the longest among the teachers – almost twelve years now. She was the resident in the other girls' dorm, Richardson and, if Mary recalled correctly, had a niece Casey who attended the school here as well. "I will hold you to that, Mary," Nettie finished, backing up.

"A number teachers are missing, but will be here before the winter session starts, Mrs. Travis," Conklin said. "I'm sure they will all make a point to find you as soon as they arrive. Also, Hiram Nechaus and his wife Annie – he teaches geology and geography and she English – are around, but are watching over some students sitting in detention in the fieldhouse."

"Detention, really," Mary's eyebrows lifted, "even during the holidays?"

"Oh yes," Conklin stated darkly. Obviously, this was the usual state of affairs.

Mary smiled back, then looked out at the teachers now gathered back away from her, aware that they all expected a speech now that she had arrived. She had in fact prepared one, and, for most of the drive up from New York, had been repeating it in her head, but, for some reason, the words she had been planning to say seemed to melt away in the face of the hope, fear, curiosity and, in some, distrust and disquiet that regarded her now. Her jaw steeled, and her trepidation faded.

"Thank you for your kind greetings," she said, her voice a little softer than normal, forcing the teachers to lean in slightly. "Obviously, I did not come up here to maintain the dismal status quo that this school has, by reputation, festered in for so long," she paused, allowing the harsh statement to sink in. Eyes narrowed amongst the group, mainly in anger, and Mary was glad of the effect. "I plan to make changes, and to try to breathe life back into the futures of the children who have been sent here. I do not imagine it will be simple or for this to happen in a day, or even a year. Even if I could convince all of you of my determination, the children themselves are, of course, a whole different matter. But I am not going to allow them to continue to see this place as the last stop on a short train ride. I want this place to become what I believe it has the potential to become. I want these children, all of them, to believe they have a chance in this world, and…."

"Conklin!" a voice shouted, "Mistah Conklin! Come quick!"

The door to the teacher's lounge burst open, revealing a heavyset man with a scraggly, long brown beard, dust lining his clothes and smudges of what appeared to be tar on his face. He gripped the door with two meaty hands, his eyes wide as he searched the room for a moment before settling on Mr. Conklin.

"What’s the matter, Yosemite?"

"Mr. Conklin, there's a fire in the principal's office! Someone threw a firebomb through the window, and me n' Catfish can't get it out!"

As Conklin, Mary and several others ran out the door after Yosemite, Frank Elliot smiled and leaned over to the nervous Mr. Wheeler.

"I give her six months."

"Less," Morgan Coltrane sneered from where he was pouring himself some coffee nearby, "two months."

"Four," Wheeler chuckled, digging a twenty from his pocket. He looked out at the teachers still in the room, "Anyone else care to join the pool?"

Over by the door, Nettie Wells sighed, looking out the corridor and seeing some of the dark smoke creeping along the ceiling from the direction of the principal's office. Test number one, Mary Travis.

+ + + + + + +

"Oh Lord!" Mary shouted, backing away from the puffing smoke, "What is that smell?"

"Stinkweed, probably," Conklin replied darkly, waving a hand in front of his face ineffectually. "Going to stink for days in there now, even after we get this out."

"Where are the fire extinguishers?" she demanded, looking around for the familiar red canisters.

"Only one that works, Catfish is usin'!" Yosemite yelled back as he raided a nearby closet. "But I think there's a blanket in here, and if someone wants to go upstairs to the second floor, I'm pretty sure there's a fire bucket!"

Conklin sighed and turned to jog away to the main stairs, while Mary backed up some more, her eyes tearing from the heat. "Surely there is more than one extinguisher! This building is huge—it would have to be against the fire code to have so little protection!"

"We just go through them so fast," Gloria Potter said sadly, standing up next to Mary. "Yosemite can't keep up."

"He's the head maintenance man, correct?" Mary asked back. Gloria just nodded. "What do you mean you go through them 'so fast?'"

"Just that, more often than not, its rare we last a whole week without at least one fire. The principal's office in particular is commonly where they start." She smiled weakly at the tall blond woman. Mary's eyes darkened.

"Well, surely Mr. Royal and Mr. James…."

"They've given up caring about this place, Mrs. Travis," Gloria said. "In my opinion, they'd love to have it burn down just so that they can build condominiums here, or the like. I've heard Royal say that often enough, and Stuart James, well, he may not seem so mercenary about it, but I know he feels the same. Our two trustees have as little to do with this place as possible."

Mary harrumphed, she couldn't help it. If anything, the information that the two men who owned the Academy, the ones who had hired her for this position, only made her angrier. She had suspected they might not have believed such a young woman to be up to such a job, and had been curious as to why they had given it to her, but it made sense if they did not really expect her to do the job she had been hired for.

Mary's bottom lip curled slightly, and she quickly looked around her at the hallway then back to the lobby. Standing forlornly to one side, she saw what appeared to be a dead fichus tree in a rather dingy formally-gold plated canister. Growling under her breath, she strode purposefully towards it, picked it up and walked back to the main lobby to the outside.

"Where's she going?" Virgil Watson asked, sidling up next to Gloria. The economics teacher shrugged in response, then backed up some more as Conklin yelled at them to make way, the fire bucket in his hand. As the gathered teachers backed up, Conklin headed to the nearby water fountain and…very slowly…started to fill the bucket with water.

Gloria rolled her eyes, then looked towards the far end of the hall where Yosemite was holding a cloth over his mouth and trying to beat at the smoke and occasional flame burst with a blanket. To his right, a tall man with long sideburns sprayed foam into the office from the one working fire extinguisher.

Suddenly, the sound of a window shattering caused them all to jump, and Conklin dropped the bucket, sending the trickle of water he'd manage to capture to the floor.

Yosemite dropped his blanket and ran to the window at the end of the hall. Quite unexpectedly, he started to laugh. Turning, he ran past Catfish and ran up to Conklin, grabbing up the dropped bucket as he went.

"I like her, Mr. Conklin!" he shouted as he passed, "I think we finally got ourselves a good un!"

Confused, Conklin ran down the hall to the same window, while Gloria and Virgil and the other teachers followed Yosemite outside.

+ + + + + + +

They found the dead fichus on the ground about halfway around the side of the building. As they came around the rest of the way, they saw Mary Travis scooping up snow into a now empty plant canister (the soil she had already thrown into the room, the dry dirt going a long way to dousing the flames), and chucking it in through the window she had finished shattering with a large rock.

Yosemite was laughing as he came up next to her, scooping up snow with the fire bucket and quickly aiding in her battle.

Between the snow, the foam and the dirt, they had the fire out fairly quickly. Truth be told, it had mostly been smoke and stink, which continued to linger, but at least nothing was burning any longer.

Mary grinned at their success, dropping the canister to the ground and smiling over at Yosemite, who couldn't stop his chuckling.

"Welcome to Four Corners Academy, Principal!" he laughed, reaching out a hand to take hers. Mary grabbed it and patted him on the back.

"Seems pretty lively so far," she laughed back. "So what's next?!"

The End
Continues in The Red Files