Steven and Derrick

It was a normal start to a normal day at Copper Creek Elementary. Steven Hayes always arrived at seven fifteen and the first thing he did was put the date on the blackboard for his third grade class. Today he wrote March 23, 2015, with yellow chalk. He took off his raincoat and hung it up in the corner. He looked out the window. Since yesterday a light rain had been falling. There were black storm clouds gathering in the sky indicating more to come. For some reason, he shivered. Mrs. Maddy Conway from the classroom next door popped her head in the door. “It looks like we’re going to get some thunderstorms.” Mrs. Conway was past retirement age but she was still a fantastic teacher and controlled her fifth graders with an iron hand in a velvet glove. “Derrick and I watched the ten o’clock news from Waco last night and the forecast called for light rain to continue through the night with thunderstorms for today. I brought my raincoat.” It wasn’t until after the news that Steven started to grade compositions and Friday’s math test. Mrs. Conway looked out the window then down at his shoes. “It’s been over a year son, time to be a Texan and get some boots.” “Derrick took me out over the weekend to buy a pair. I wore them all weekend and wound up with blisters, so since I was going to be on my feet all day today, I decided to take a day off from breaking them in.” Steven’s face flushed. “You’ve got to wear thicker socks. You look kind of tired this morning,” Maddy said sympathetically. “I was up grading papers last night.” Steven blushed again. “Put it off until the last minute, did you?” Maddy asked. “Too bad you got blisters from the boots—you’re going to need them today.” Maddy Conway’s curly grey head turned to look back out the window, frowned at the clouds again and went back through the door to her classroom, leaving Steven with his face hot and his ears red. Any time Steven was embarrassed his whole body got hot and his face turned a bright red from the tips of his ears down his neck. He was aware that he had a problem with oversharing. He never knew when to shut up. He almost told Maddy about his argument with Derrick. Immediately his mind turned to his soon-to-be husband. His eyes gazed into the distance, remembering. * * * * Truthfully, Steven wasn’t a boots kind of guy. He’d come out to Texas to teach elementary school from New York City sixteen months ago and originally planned to settle in Austin—which was billed as a gay friendly town—but by the end of his first week in Texas, he was unemployed. In a panic, he papered the ‘net with resumes, from Austin to Waco to Dallas-Fort Worth and down to Houston, and spent most of his days on follow-up phone calls. He had been lucky that the school year hadn’t begun yet. He couldn’t go back to New York. He had come blazing out of the closet after getting his Master’s in Education and his religious parents and siblings thought he was the spawn of Satan. It still hurt. It was a week after the job debacle that Steven met Derrick Trent in a small gay bar near the Residence Inn. Derrick wasn’t the type to get embarrassed. He walked right up to Steven that night and introduced himself. “Derrick Trent…I haven’t seen you in here before. It isn’t often we get new blood at Harry’s, especially someone as gorgeous as you with that fair skin, black hair and blue eyes.” “It’s fairly common in New York, Black Irish they call us.” Steven laughed. “You must be new to Austin.” Derrick leaned casually back on the edge of the bar, dressed in a cowboy hat, boots, a western shirt and a pair of Levi 501s that left little to the imagination in contrast to Steven’s dress pants, oxford shirt and cotton sweater. Steven could tell that Derrick was a native. His voice held the Texas twang that Steven found so charming. “Can I buy you a drink?” Derrick asked. Steven looked up and down the bar and saw that his usual lemon martini wouldn’t be appropriate so he ordered a Corona with lime. “Thanks, I’m Steven Hayes.” “What’s a tenderfoot like you doing in Texas?” “Up until a month ago. I was recruited to work in the Austin school district. However due to budget cuts they decided to close down the school I was supposed to teach in a month before school started. Teachers who already taught in the district were given preference by the Board of Education for any teaching jobs opening up in other schools and I was shut out. I have nowhere to go until I get another job. I’m lucky they decided to give me my whole contracted salary in severance pay in case I brought suit for wrongful termination but staying at the Residence Inn will eat up that money if I don’t get a job soon. Besides the hotel, I have bills to pay.” “Would you have…brought the suit against the board of education, I mean.” Derrick examined him so closely that Steve felt like a bug under a microscope. “Of course not.” Steven bristled. “There were other teachers in that school who were supporting families. I was the last hire. It was only fair that it was me who went.” “Yeah, but you moved out here for that job,” Derrick persisted. “There is that, I suppose. That’s probably why I got the severance.” Steven had verbal diarrhea again—it was a defect in his personality, spilling his guts to strangers—but Steven figured he would never see Derrick again and he needed someone to talk to. He’d been alone since long before he left New York, being ostracized by his wealthy family and having his boyfriend leave him because he was cut out of the will. “So you’re a teacher, what do you teach?” Derrick took a long swallow of his beer and Steven watched his sexy throat, spellbound. His family wasn’t around anymore—he could look all he liked. Derrick waited for him to say something. He was eating Steven up with his eyes. Steven answered, stammering, “I teach elementary school, I’m qualified to teach Pre-K through middle school, but I prefer teaching first, second or third grade. They are so curious and anxious to please at that age. Their minds absorb information like a mop absorbs water. The kids repeat everything they hear so God forbid you say anything you don’t want everyone to know.” Derrick laughed. “I love little kids. They haven’t, as yet, divided the world into tribes. Most of them don’t see or care about race or religion, ethnicity or sexuality until their parents teach them their family’s own particular brand of prejudice. All they care about is who broke their crayon and what’s in their lunchbox. The job I was supposed to have in Austin was teaching first grade.” “Do you have to stay in Austin?” Derrick asked. “No, I’m pretty mobile. I sold everything before I left New York figuring I’d get some new things out here.” Steven ducked his head behind his chin length hair then absentmindedly tucked it behind his ear. “I’m staying at the Residence Inn down the block.” He was only a few inches shorter than Derrick and his black hair and blue eyes were a contrast to Derrick’s light blond hair and pansy brown eyes. They’d look good together. Steven thought this was someone he’d like to know a lot better and fate made it possible. So, to his own chagrin, Steven continued to babble. “I’ve thought about becoming a tutor, but there doesn’t seem to be much need for that here with all the homeschooling and Christian Academies. Yesterday, I picked up an application for a manager’s position in an independent bookstore. It doesn’t pay much, but I can’t live off the severance forever, I need medical insurance and I’m still paying off my college loans.” Derrick nodded his head in what appeared to be sympathy. “How old are you?” Derrick asked him. “I’m twenty-six. I spent an extra two years in school to get my Master’s in Education.” Steven lifted his eyebrows in suspicion. Why was he asking Steven’s age? “I’m thirty-two, not as much of an age difference as I thought.” Steven looked at Derrick quizzically. “I know of a job opening.” Derrick’s eyes sparkled. Steven stood straighter and the flush left his face. This was more important than flirting with a good-looking man. “It’s for third grade, but it’s in Copper Creek.” Derrick leaned forward and began to peel the label off the bottle of beer, giving sidelong looks to Steven. “Where is Copper Creek?” Steven asked offhandedly, trying to pretend disinterest. “Copper Creek is between Waco and Austin. The town hosts a magnet school for the kids for five other smaller towns and all the surrounding ranches and farms. All the kids are bussed into town from the outlying areas. Some kids come from as far as an hour away. There is a large student population and three classrooms for each grade. “The elementary, middle school and high school are all on the same campus. Copper Creek is a tiny speck on the map but we do need a teacher. Mrs. Colson retired last year and we can’t seem to recruit someone who wouldn’t mind teaching and living in such a small town.” Steven received another side-long look. “I’m gay and out. The reason I came out here from New York was that I came out of the closet and my family wasn’t supportive, so I left the area. I didn’t want the constant harassment from them that staying in the city would bring.” Steven looked away from Derrick. He blushed; he was afraid that he said too much again. “I already figured out you were gay, we’re sitting here at a gay bar.” Derrick chuckled. “Can I be out in Copper Creek?” Steven looked into Derrick’s eyes questioning. “I don’t see why not, I am and so are several others in town.” “What do you do?” Steven asked him. “I own the local bakery and breakfast café, Copper Creek Sweet and Eat. I also serve as the fire chief for the volunteer fire department.” “You can be the fire chief and be gay? If that’s the case, Copper Creek is a rare find in Texas. I was told that Austin was the only really safe place for people like us.” Steven looked intently at Derrick trying to gauge whether or not Derrick was telling the truth. “Come out and stay with me for a few days. Interview for the job and see if you like the place. If you don’t trust me, there’s a bed and breakfast in town.” Derrick’s mobile eyebrow went up, obviously waiting for Steven to make a decision. “Come on, live a little.” Derrick laughed, showing straight white teeth. What the hell…“Set up the interview,” Steven answered. He got the job and a small apartment over the hardware store. Steven and Derrick started dating right away and he had been with Derrick ever since. * * * * Steven shook his head to bring himself out of his reverie. Now, sixteen months later, he and Derrick had been living together for three months and planning a wedding in New Mexico in June as soon as school let out for the year. Steven loved Copper Creek, the elementary school and Derrick, not necessarily in that order. However this morning they had their first real fight. Steven felt guilty because it was over nothing but his own morning crabbiness. Neither one of them had enough sleep. Steven was up late last night grading papers because he wanted to spend time with Derrick and wouldn’t grade the papers before Derrick went to bed. One of Derrick’s assistants had called in with the flu and he had twenty loaves of bread to bake for the shop and muffins to put together for the local bed and breakfast before the morning rush. Therefore Derrick had to get up at four. That morning, it seemed to Steven that Derrick got up only an hour after Steven got to bed. Steven became grumpy. “Do you have to make such a racket, I’m trying to sleep here,” Steven mumbled, pulling the pillow and the covers over his head. “If you hadn’t put off grading the papers until eleven, you wouldn’t be so crabby. We could have gone to bed together and you could have used that crabby maw of yours for a more useful purpose than bitching.” Steven, of course, had taken offense and Derrick left without his usual good morning kiss and thermos of coffee. Steven felt miserable about it. Of course it was his fault and that had hung over his head since Derrick left. He called the bakery but Derrick didn’t answer the bakery phone so Steven couldn’t apologize until evening. He looked out the window again. The buses had started to arrive. The kids all wore plastic slickers with hoods and rubber boots against the drizzling rain. But it seemed there were a lot fewer kids than normal exiting the buses. It started to rain harder at eight thirty as the buses left the school parking lot. Steven looked around his classroom as he marked attendance in his roster. A lot of his kids were absent today. It took a little longer than usual to settle the kids into their seats. Steven started the day with math just as he always did. He thought that kids were better able to absorb complex concepts in the morning hours before they began to get sleepy after lunch. Because the Copper Creek district was a charter school district for the surrounding rural area some of his kids had to get up at five to make it to school by eight thirty. He saved the afternoon for group projects. He was a big believer in socializing the children and getting them to work together as a team. He decided to put away his lesson plans for the day because too many students would miss what he was going to teach. He reviewed last week’s lessons and went over the results of the math tests, further explaining the problems that a number of kids got wrong and assigning them new problems, demonstrating the same principle, to work in the classroom. He passed by each student’s desk to see how they were doing, stopping at the desks where a student seemed to be having difficulty. Steven was a good teacher and he knew it. The principal, Mr. Bowers, had told him during his evaluation the previous year, “I don’t know how we managed to get a teacher of your caliber here in Copper Creek, but I’m not complaining. I’ve never seen kids that work together as well as they do in your class. It’s excellent training for their future whether they turn out to be ranch hands or college professors.” Steven wound up with a small raise but the praise was more important to him. “Take out your math books and turn to page ninety-eight.” They had progressed from multiplication and division to fractions and geometry and Steven was attempting to show the kids the relationship between division and fractions. Johnny Darby, usually the spokesman for the class, waved his hand wildly in the air while looking out the window. “Are we going to go home early, Mr. Hayes?” “Why would you go home early, Johnny? The school day doesn’t end until three thirty.” “The creeks flood sometimes, Mr. Hayes, and then the bus can’t pass through and then we have to stay in the high school gym because it’s on high ground.” Steven turned around and looked out the window again. The rain had started to come down in sheets, soaking the dirt schoolyard, and there were large puddles forming in the parking lot. “I’m going next door to see Mrs. Conway. I trust that there will be no talking and you’ll stay at your desks working the problems I assigned until I get back.” Walking down the hallway to the bathroom before going to see Maddy, Steven noticed that most of the classrooms had the same sparse attendance he had. He lightly knocked on Maddy’s door. Maddy saw his face and popped out after giving out instructions to her students. “The kids are talking about going home early. What’s up?” “You fit in so well that sometimes I forget you’re a Yankee and not from these parts. In this kind of weather we sometimes get flash floods. Do you have a weather forecast application on your phone?” Steven’s eyes opened wide and he stepped back, surprised. He didn’t think that Maddy was up on all of the latest electronics and he realized that made him prejudiced and ignorant. He turned red again. He could feel the blush warming his neck. “Derrick had me put a weather application on the phone but I never asked why.” Make that stupid as well. Why hadn’t he asked Derrick about the app when he put it on his phone?” “We get notifications from the National Weather Service on flash flooding and tornadoes.” Maddy picked up her phone and showed him the same app that he had on his. He constantly had to adjust his attitude about Copper Creek and its residents. They may be isolated, but they were all tech savvy and every time he forgot that he wound up blushing and stammering. The internet was a great equalizer. Steven showed Maddy his phone. “Is your phone on?” Maddy asked, giving him a hard stare. “No, I always turn it off in the classroom so it doesn’t disturb the students. Derrick can call the office if he needs me and I can call him back.” “Turn on your phone today. If this rain keeps up, the buses won’t come here to pick up the kids and we’ll have to get the kids over to the high school for the buses or for shelter. The weather service warns of flash floods over the phone. Those fools built this school at the bottom of the hill not more than two hundred feet from the creek. If the sky spits, we’re in danger of flooding.” Maddy stuck her head back in her classroom. “I saw that, Mr. Miller. You’ll write a composition during recess on why it’s not polite to pull someone’s hair.” Maddy turned back into her classroom. Steven glanced at his watch. It was only nine thirty. He turned on his phone and tried to call the bakery. Before he had a chance to dial, the phone went off—sounding like someone stepped on a cat’s tail. The words Flash Flood Warning scrolled across his screen listing Copper Creek as one of the areas likely to be affected. * * * * Mr. Bowers’ voice came over the intercom. “The school buses are on the way to pick up the students at the high school. Parents who drop off their children will be picking them up there. We are going to evacuate this building in an orderly manner, by grade level, Pre K and Kindergarten first, followed by first and second grades, then third and fourth and finally fifth and sixth. Teachers, keep track of your students.” Thunder started to roar with the pounding rain. It was no wonder Derrick didn’t answer the phone at the bakery. The Fire Department would be preparing for rescue operations. Steven looked across the parking lot to the high school. SUVs pulled into the lot. Steven went next door to Maddy. “It looks like they’re bringing people to the high school.” Maddy said, “We use the high school as the relief center for residents with nowhere else to go.” Steven went back to his classroom and glanced out the window again to see five passengers being helped into the front hall entrance of the high school.