Ten Thousand Miles in the Wrong Direction

Chapter One: The Big Opps:

What do you do when you lose your job and your home in the same day? I had to find that one out firsthand. I was an English teacher at this fancy private school. Everything was going great for me. I was living on my own with a nice apartment with a great job. I had good friends in the Boston area. Everything was going well.

That was until a scandal at my school derailed everything. I wasn’t involved, mind you. It’s all no thanks to my headmaster. I don’t think he liked me from the start. I was fired before the scandals broke out. Why was I fired? You tell me and we’ll both know. However, there is some sweet karma to this. There were two scandals that hit the news. The first one is a cheating scandal. Someone had tipped the press that several students were cheating their way to better grades. This wasn’t news to us. I think every one of us knew that some of them were cheating. Did some of us try to stop it? Of course not. I did try to dissuade my students with mirrors around the classroom.

But here’s where things get messy.

Now, I didn’t hear about this until I was on my way back home on my phone. (I will get into that later.) Let me back up for a bit.

My day started out normal. This was on a Friday too. I hadn’t planned to do much for the weekend. Just grade some papers and watch something on Netflix. Before that, I was going to get a haircut. Yesterday was supposed to be nice and normal.

When I got to school, something didn’t seem right. At the time, I didn’t really notice it. My coworkers looked like they were going to a funeral. That’s how they usually are, though. I bid them good morning. Some of them didn’t even want to talk to me. I should’ve expected as much. But then, I got to Kate near her classroom. I tilted my head.

“Something wrong, Kate?” I asked. She looked down at her feet.

“Kate?” I asked. She shook her head. That’s when I looked around.

“Wow, did somebody die?” I asked.

“It’s all over,” I heard next to me. I turned my head. Kate stared at me.

“Excuse me?” I asked. I shook my head.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Huh?” I asked. “What are you talking about?” Kate turned and walked into her classroom. I stood there, blinking. Hm. What was that all about? I headed down to my own classroom.

The morning started out as normal as it could. We were in the middle of my favorite book, Ulysses. From what I could tell, I was the only one really enjoying it.

“Wow, I have a tough crowd,” I said to them one day. I didn’t get a response. I think a couple of them were asleep at one point. I shrugged and carried on with the lesson. Today, the students looked a little more alert. Some of them were still alive. I walked over to Georgie and tapped her on the arm.

“Come on, Snow White,” I said. “I know we’re on a boring part of the book. But you have to get through this for the quiz Monday.” The class groaned. I shook Georgie harder on the arm.

“Hey, hey!” I said louder. I gave her one more shake and she bolted awake. I gave her a little smile.

“You ready to join us?” I asked. She sat blinking at me.

“How?” she asked. The rest of the class laughed.

“Come on, guys,” I said. “Back to the book.” The rest of the morning was fine.

It all fell apart during my planning period. A knock came on my door.

“Come in,” I said. I turned to see Rosie standing in the doorway. A puzzled look came over my face.

“Rosie? What are you doing here?” I asked. She shuffled in place as she cleared her throat.

“Mr. Garret wants to see you,” she said.

“The boss wants to see me?” I asked. I noticed how worried she looked.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Please,” she said. “Can you just go see him?” Rosie turned and walked away. I stood up looking confused. Huh? What’s going on? Did I do something wrong?

I could feel the eyes of my coworkers and the students on me. Why was everyone looking at me like I walking up to an execution? Was someone whispering about me? I didn’t like this. Maybe it’s not as bad as I thought. I knocked on Mr. Garret’s door.

“Enter,” I heard him say. I pulled myself together and opened the door. That old bastard sat at his desk. He didn’t even look up at me.

“Mr. Garret?” I asked.

“Take a seat,” he said. I sat down in front of his desk. I squirmed into place.

“Is something wrong, sir?” I asked. He looked up at me with a stern look on his face. I swear, that’s the only facial expression that he can make. I have never seen that man smile. Does he even have a heart at all?

As you can guess what came next. The conversation didn’t last long. Twenty minutes later and I was fired. He didn’t give me a reason why. Or rather, his reasons were vague and didn’t make any sense. I don’t know, something about budget or some crap like that. It doesn’t matter. My asshole of a boss fired me without warning or reason. I didn’t even get to my afternoon class.

“Can I at least finish the day?” I asked.

“No,” Mr. Garret growled at me. “Now get out of here or I will call security on you!” I put up my hands.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “I will go. Geez.” I turned and walked out of the office. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was going to be the only one. Were others going to be laid off too? If so, who? I ran through the staff list in my head as I packed up my classroom. My poor afternoon class. They won’t know what’s going on. I shook my head to myself. The eyes never left me as I walked out of the building for the last time.

My day wasn’t done getting worse, though.

When I got back to my apartment, I saw a sheet of paper tacked to the door. A confused look came over my face. Huh? What the hell is this? I set down my box and took down the paper. My jaw just dropped. First, I was laid off and now I’m getting evited? But why? I have been paying rent on time. There has to be a mistake. I turned and walked down the stairs.

I made it down to the main office to see it surrounded by cop cars. A group gathered around, watching. I walked over with a confused look on my face. A police officer was writing down something on his notepad.

“Excuse me,” I spoke up. The square-jawed cop looked up.

“Um… what’s going on?” I asked.

“Your landlord has done a runner,” he said.

“What?!” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “He’s wanted for fraud.” I didn’t know what to say. I struggled but words failed.

“Is that why we all got evited?” I asked.

“Yes, we believe so,” he said.

“So, what happens to all of us?” I asked. “Where are we supposed to go?” The cop just shrugged at me and turned back to his notes. I stood, dumbfounded. What the hell was going on? Was the universe conspiring against me? What did I do wrong? Did I piss off someone?

“Can I at least get my stuff?” I asked. The cop turned to me. The look on his face took me I wasn’t going to enjoy what he was going to say.

“Here’s the thing,” he began.

“What?” I asked. I could feel the color drain from my face. To add insult to injury, some of our things were stolen. That bastard was breaking into our apartments while we were out and stealing from us. The police were sorting out who’s possessions were whose. I felt like I wanted to scream.

So yeah, that’s where I am now.

I have no job. I have no home. I could stay with my friend, Joe, but he’s getting married. I felt like I was going to be the third wheel in that situation. His fiancée took pity on me and wrote me a check for a thousand dollars. I stared at her at the dinner table.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“You really need this,” she said. “Just take it. It’s the least that we can do.” I looked over at Joe. He just shrugged. I reluctantly took the check.

“Thank you,” I mumbled. The rest of dinner was just as awkward. I couldn’t even make eye contact with them.

So here I am. I had no choice but to go back home. Back to Wellfleet. By the evening, I got in the car and started the trip home.