Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 13:49:59 EDT
From: Lherelenfeline@aol.com
Subject: Of Meetings 4

Common disclaimers apply. If you're reading this , you are doing so of your
own free will and thus you're the one to blame  if it's illegal. Also this
is copyrighted material, so ask for permission before you mess with it.

 This may be a bit confusing , but bear with me . all will be cleared in the
next few chapters.

_____________________________________________________________

Of Meetings
Julian K. Pearlson               PT.4
    The clock showed  two minutes to the appointed time and Chris let go of
the folder and smoothed down his appearance. Exactly at 6:30 a quick clicker
of heel sounded along the hallway announcing his guests arrival. It grew
closer and closer  and he began to fidget with anticipation. Then finally, at
about five minutes past the appointed time , a smallish figure stopped by the
opaque glass door of his office. A hand knocked and was answered with a
steady "Come in!"

    "Mr. Randolph, Hi! I'm sorry I'm apparently late" said the twenty
something  woman. Her timy stature didn't diminish the image of power she
projected. She looked to be about his age , and yet her rigid  suit and hair
made her look quite a bit older. The black hair was bobbed and the
inquisitive blue eyes seemed to take in and file away anything they
encountered. That made him feel uneasy to the point of feeling threatened.
Chris rose from the chair an offered his hand in the mandatory gesture of
politeness. Her handshake was storing, he liked it.
    "Please, make yourself comfortable. This may take a while."
The woman sank into the leather cushions of the armchair and fixed her
enormous blue orbs on him.
    "Coffee?" he offered and hoped for her to agree so he could escape her
scrutiny.
"That would be delightful"
" No milk, two sugars, right?" her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"How'd you know?"
 He shrugged, more to relieve himself from the sudden spasm that seized his
back than anything else.
"Just a lucky  guess."
He busied himself with the coffee whilst crazy thoughts swirled through his
head. It wasn't a guess, he somehow knew exactly  how much of what she
wanted. He also knew better than to serve her with one of his "sissy" cups
and poured the potent drink into a clay mug. There was something incredibly
familiar about her. A  bit of a fraternal feeling that kept on nagging on him
No matter how he tried to busy himself with anything else. He seemed to know
her very well, but logically, they'd just met.

"There you go. I assume you know of the reasons for this visit?"

The woman nodded, her mouth too full of coffee to respond. He decided it was
cute . " I truly did hope we would meet under better circumstances, but your
son.."

"...Stepson" she corrected.

"stepson hadn't left me much of a choice. He's a generally great kid, a
devoted student and I appreciate him. Most of the time the feeling appears to
be mutual. Did Lucian tell you exactly what happened?"

She finally disconnected herself from the mug and fixed him with her
unnerving stare. For a moment she was silent and then answered. "He did tell
me and he's sorry. As far as I know, he's prepared to take any punishment you
deem fit."

Why did parents always jump for the whip?

" well discuss punishment later. Do you have any idea as to why he snapped?
He is after all , more than a bit unusual. He's a lot more reserved than
most of his peers. Frankly, I just wasn't expecting an outburst."

Chris was in fact very concerned. Admittedly, he was a new teacher, but he
doubted he'd ever turn into one of those dry and lifeless professors  who
delighted in punishing anything and anyone who remotely deserved it. He was a
teacher, not a disciplinarian. Lucien's stepmother took another long swallow
from the mug and said, " He's been through a lot for a child his age.  He
lost his mother four years ago, when he was twelve and never really recovered
from that loss.  It's amazing that he doesn't hate me with a passion." She
took another long sip and swilled it around her mouth, obviously enjoying the
taste.

"I marred his father two years ago and it seems that Lucien apparently
adopted me as a bit of an older sister of sorts.  I really don't know
anything about parenting though so my guess is as good as yours.

"Tell me, Mr. Randolph, how old are you?" taken aback by the unexpected
question he mindlessly answered'

"I'm twenty-five, but I've taken four years of  college and I've been
teaching here for three,"

" No need to be defensive," she laughed "a teacher isn't judged by age, it's
not like wine. We're the same age you know, and both of us are trying to help
Lucien"

The wine analogy send a shiver up his spine. Eileen used the same one quite
often. But Eileen couldn't be here, could she?  For one, she'd never cut her
hair, or marry, and if she was here , he'd know it. He always had a bit of a
sixth sense about her. Having thus reasoned away the twinge of fear he looked
at her again. She looked too old for twenty-five.  The beauty was there, but
the innocence and joy of life weren't.
"So what do you suggest we do? I don't suppose dragging him to a shrink won't
do him any good."
 "I don't think we could come u with anything half way workable  in just one
conference. I also want his father involved. After all, Mark knew the boy
from birth, plus, three heads are better than two. So if you aren't busy, why
don't you dome down to our place for dinner?"

Well, wasn't this an unexpected twist? He'd do it, the idea wasn't half  bad.
Besides, he was intrigued by this woman. She was like an enigma sucking him
in. "God, after six years, I'm getting into a married woman. Way to go! But
this way, no one would get hurt," he blinked out of his thoughts to an
expectant "Well?"

"Um. Yeah, that would be nice. When?"

The woman smiled, put down the cup and announced, looking every inch the
queen.

" Sunday, at 6 PM. You'll be driven to our home, if you don't mind. The dress
code is casual." Looking like a satisfied cat, she took out a business card
and placed it on the table. " if you need to contact either me or my husband:
she explained.

 When she left, Chris sat in his office, fingering the card. Somehow he'd get
through to Lucien. He sighed and stuffed the card into his wallet without
reading it. He had Lucien's number in his records anyway. Sunday night would
be interesting, especially  since the card read "Mark V. Duncan & Eileen A.
Duncan. Partners at Law."

_____________________________________________________________

This is part 4 of the saga and the story is getting much more complicated
than I originally intended.  The conflicts are forming and will be obvious
in chapter 6 which is already written but not typed.  As always, I crave
feedback and opinions and advice, so feel free to e-mail me at
Lherelenfeline@aol.com