Most often people talk about being in the right place at the right time. Maybe they achieved a beautiful photo of a sunrise, or the antics of children or animals. Maybe they found something someone lost and received a big reward when it was returned. But how often do they talk about being in the wrong place at the right time? If they do, it’s often about the death of someone or maybe witnessing a crime. And if this is the case, they are sad or horrified. Walter Williams often is in the wrong place at the right time, though his reaction to the incidents he encounters is much different than anyone would expect. And, life-changing.

The first thing Peter did when he got back to school was to send an email to all the teachers, letting them know there’d be a short meeting in the office conference room. Coaches included. The next thing he did, after talking with Tina, and answering Margot’s questions, was to call the President of the school board. She asked how Walter was doing, how badly he was hurt, and a few more questions, before Peter told her, “Um, it’s about another matter with Walter. One I don’t feel comfortable discussing over the phone.” She told Peter she was free the rest of the day, and perhaps they could meet in his office after lunch at one. Peter countered with “Lunch, here at the school. Then we can talk afterwards.” She agreed and they met fifteen minutes later when Margot brought her into Peter’s office.

Margot knew Peter was alone, so she knocked on his office door, then opened it and let Mary Turner go into Peter’s office before closing the door behind her. Peter got up out of his desk chair, walked around his desk, held out his hand and told Mary, “Mary, it’s nice to see you again. And agreeing to meet me on such short notice. But I assure you, it’s important.” Mary shook Peter’s hand before telling him, “It’s good to see you again, Peter. And it must be important, as you usually schedule meetings days in advance.” Peter nodded his head and replied, “It is, Mary. Very important. Let’s get some lunch then I can tell you everything.” Peter opened his office door and let Mary walk out first, then followed, closing the door behind him.

As the two walked towards the cafeteria, Peter wasn’t sure if he should tell Mary about his impending marriage. He quickly weighed the pros and cons before telling her, “Mary, I’m planning to ask a wonderful woman to marry me, though some might have a problem with it.” Mary stopped, turned to face him, she ignored the last part of his statement, for the moment, as she grabbed him in a huge bear hug, and told him, “It’s about time you did, Peter. I think Pamela would like that you’ve finally found someone to share your life with. I’m really happy for you. So, why might some have a problem with your upcoming marriage?” Peter stopped walking, looked down at his shoes, then back at Mary, before saying, “Because it’s Tina I’m going to ask. I’ve checked every regulation I could find, every rule out there, and nothing says a married couple can’t work at the same school.” Mary could see how nervous Peter was, just like a student caught cheating on a test. She decided not to prolong his agony and told him, “Peter, there isn’t anything which says a married couple can’t work at the same school. I’ve known a few in the past who have. And if any of those stick in the mud morons I work with have a problem with it, I’ll just have to be my sweet self and ask them to show me where it says they can’t. Now, before I starve, can we go eat?” Peter laughed, offered his arm to Mary, who took it, and as they walked to the cafeteria Mary peppered him with questions about this all came about with Tina.

“...and that’s the whole story, Mary. My nephew will soon become my niece, unless they can find a way to reverse the effect those chemicals are having on Walter’s body.” Mary sat back in her chair, blew out some air before saying, “Wow, we may have bigger problems than we thought. I read the prelim report the investigator sent us about those shelves having been overloaded at some point, which was the cause of their failing, but nothing about all this. Did you send a report to us? Because I don’t remember seeing one.” Peter opened a desk drawer and took out several sheets of paper, giving them to Mary to read. “We never received any of these. Who’d you send them to? Peter had a questioning look on his face as he told Mary, “I faxed them to your normal fax number. You should have received them, because my machine said they were received. I don’t understand. Here, let me print out the fax history.” Mary waved him off saying, “No need, I can check our machine instead. Before I go, Peter, how’s your nephew handling all this, this transformation? I would guess he isn’t too thrilled about it?” Peter was quiet a moment, wiped his eyes, then told Mary, “He’s putting on a brave front, but he’s scared. Right down to his boots. Even so, he’s handling it better than some people might. It just might be he’s handling it better than some because he’s had more experience with strange encounters than most. I think he’s really afraid of what others are going to say, how they’ll react. And that he’ll become a target for the morons here at school. And Mary, there’s not a hell of a lot I can do to help. Except be there if/when he needs me.” Mary looked at Peter for a moment before she told him, “You know, Peter. Sometimes the only thing we can do to help someone IS be there for them. I know you’ll handle anything that happens to him here at school, and pity the jerk who does, I know the temper Terry has. And just do the best you can the rest of the time. Well, I have my own investigating to do, so I better get going. I’ll let you know what I find.” Peter got up out of his desk chair, walked around his desk to shake Mary’s hand, but didn’t count on her hugging him instead. He opened the office door for her and watched as she walked down the short hallway to his office, said bye to Margot before walking to the main office door. As he was about to close his office door, Margot stuck her head in and told him, “Peter, Walter will be okay. Boy or girl.” Peter snickered, shook his head, not understanding how Margot found out things, and said, “Thanks, Margot.”

After Mary had left, Peter called Terry and asked if she, Shelby, and Walter could come to the school earlier than usual so he could tell them about his talk with the school board President. Terry told him it wouldn’t be a problem, and they’d see him the following day.

The three were sitting in Peter’s office the following morning, talking, when they heard, “WHERE IS THAT BASTARD OF A PRINCIPAL? NEVER, MIND, I SEE HIS DOOR,” a man yelled. Then Margot could be heard yelling, “SIR, YOU CAN’T GO IN THERE. THE PRINCIPAL IS BUSY IN A MEETING AT THE MOMENT.” The door to Peter’s office slammed open, hitting the wall, and the glass threatened to fall to the floor, but didn’t, and a pig of a man barged into Peter’s office. The man filled the doorway because of his girth, and shouted at Peter, “WHO IN THE HELL GAVE YOU THE AUTHORITY TO CALL AND TALK TO THE SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT?” He then waddled over to Peter’s desk, his girth had actually caused Terry and Shelby to lean left and right, as he’d forced his way between them. “YOU WANT TO TALK TO HER, YOU GET PERMISSION FROM ME,” and he brought up his right hand and pointed to himself with his thumb. “I’M THE ONE WHO DECIDES WHO TALKS TO WHO BECAUSE OF THAT BRATS ACTIONS. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS WILL COST THE SCHOOL?” The man stepped back a step before looking at Walter and said in a snide voice, “So, this is the freak that’s costing this school system all the money. What’s wrong with it, has it come to shake down the school for more money?” He’d raised his hand to slap Walter on the back of the head, when Terry growled at him, “You do and it will be the last thing you ever do on this Earth, fat man” Terry’s voice, and the look in her eyes caused the fat man to change his mind, and take another step back.

Bill Wordsman, actually, William Charles Wordsman III, often used his great weight to intimidate people, but it wasn’t working this time. Shelby had also seen what the fat man was about to do to Walter and had stood up and almost got into the man’s face. Peter had seen this man’s antics before, and wasn’t threatened by them in the least, as he calmly picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Robert, hi, it’s Peter. Are you boys busy right now? No? Goood. Would you gentlemen please come to my office, equipped, I’ve a little problem that I’d like you to handle.” Robert Walker was the head of the school’s security, and he was all muscle, as were the others who worked with him. After talking with Robert, Peter phoned Mary, and filled her in. Robert and his team showed up in Peter’s office moments later, Mary a little after.

When Robert and his team had arrived, only then did Peter address Bill Wordsman. “Bill, here’s the deal. You can go with these gentlemen quietly to one of the conference rooms down the hall, or they’ll take you to one of the conference rooms down the hall.” Peter had stood up when he started speaking to Wordsman, and was now blowing fire as he leaned on his desk, telling the fat man, “But you are going to one of those conference rooms down the hall” Bill had never failed to intimidate people with his great girth, but he’d failed this time, and he could see it in all of the faces that were looking at him. Mary’s included; she had walked around Peter’s desk and was now standing next to him.. And they all had the same fire in their eyes as did Peter and Terry.

Bill felt sweat trickle down the side of his face, he knew he’d stepped into it this time. He waved a hand at Peter and told him, “Well FUCK you, mister high and mighty.” Robert then stepped in front of Bill, cracking his knuckles after doing so. Bill held up both hands to Robert before telling the big man, “Alright, alright, I’m going, I’M GOING!” Two of Robert’s partners led the way, with Bill behind them and Robert and one other following. As the five walked down the short hallway leading to Peter’s office, those in Peter’s office, and those in the outer office, heard the fat man say, “GAWD! What a FUCKED UP mess!” They then heard a loud pop, then, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?” and another loud pop before Robert said, “Watch your language.”

Walter couldn’t help himself, and started laughing. He was laughing so hard that when he took a breath, he snorted, which caused him to laugh harder. And snort more. His laughing and snorting had the effect of causing the others to start laughing as well. When he’d finally slowed down, and was able to talk, he said, “That man reminds me of a scene in Animal Farm, where the pigs come walking out of the farm house on their two hind legs, chanting, ‘Four legs good, two legs better’.” And he started laughing again. Margot had judiciously closed Peter’s office door after the parade was clear of the short hallway. She came back a few minutes later, opened the office door, walked into the office, and placed five bottles of bottled water on Peter’s desk, before leaving and closing the door behind her. She had to chuckle after what Walter said.

Peter handed out the bottles of water, as everyone was starting to calm down, even wiping their eyes from laughing so hard. It was Mary who spoke first, and was not happy when she said, “I found out it was,” and she pointed in the direction of Bill, “who collected that fax you sent me, Peter. We had some trouble some time back with people taking faxes without letting anyone know. So we went to a vendor and they worked with us to come up with a fax machine that wouldn’t immediately spit out the fax. In order to get the fax, the person had to put in their ID code, and only then would the fax be printed. Dumbo forgot that our machine keeps a history of everything done on that machine.”

After Mary explained about the missing fax, Terry asked, “So why is he so fired up thinking we have to go through him to speak with you?” Peter sat back down in his chair, and Shelby, seeing Mary looking at a chair against one wall, walked over and brought the chair to Peter’s desk. Mary thanked him then said, “Bill thinks himself more important than he is. He is only the accountant for the schools, not the head cheerleader. We’ve had problems with him before, doing something similar, and warned him, but I guess having a big head he forgot what we told him. Plus, his taking the fax in order to keep me, or the other members, from seeing it is his last straw. Now…” And Mary outlined everything she’d talked with the other board members about, concerning Walter and his transformation. And the accident, which was still under investigation; extensive lab work was being done to determine why those shelves failed.

“...so that’s it. None of the other school board members have a problem with Walter being in school as Walter the boy, or if you continue to transform, Walter, as a girl. Most were only concerned when you’d start coming to school as a girl and how the other students would react. Plus, since you’d be new to being a girl, you might dress a bit, um, how should I put this?” And Terry finished with, “Slutty?” Mary chuckled, smiled at Terry, and told her, “Well, it was what they were thinking but I didn’t want to put it that way.” Terry looked at an amused Walter before telling Mary, “Don’t worry, Mary, no slut will leave our house for school.” Terry and Peter saw the smirk first, with Peter saying, “Don’t say it, Walter!”

Mary got serious as she looked at the Willams family. “Now there is another matter we need to address. Because Walter was hurt on school property, the school will cover all of his medical expenses, up to the point he was found to be transforming.” She held up her hand to stop Shelby from speaking, as she went on with, “But, we’re not sure if we can cover the rest of the medical expenses. That’s why we’ve given it to the School Board’s attorney to look into. We believe, based on the preliminary findings of the investigations, the school is also at fault for those shelves failing, so would be liable for any further medical expenses. My personal opinion, and it doesn’t leave this room, the school should foot whatever bill is necessary for Walter’s good health. And yes, Shelby, I’m mindful this whole thing could end up in court if the legal opinion goes against Walter. But I doubt it will. That’s all the school district would need, experts going into a courtroom and pointing out it was the schools fault those shelves failed. The settlement would be much more than we would be willing to settle for. But as I said, that’s my personal opinion, so you didn’t hear anything from me.” The first bell sounded, and Walter was told he best get to his first period class. He wouldn’t be needed for this next part of their meeting. Walter heard Mary chuckle as she repeated, “Four legs good, two legs better,” over and over again.

After Walter headed for his first period science class, Peter said to the other three, “Well, shall we go and butcher Bill, the pig?” And as they started filing out of Peter’s office, Mary told them, “And I’ll make all the necessary cuts.”

The door to the conference room Robert and his fellows had escorted Bill to was standing open, and they could hear Bill ranting and raving over being kept waiting. They heard, “WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY,” before they heard a pop and Robert say, “I won’t tell you again. Next time we’re going to gag you and tie you to a chair.” Bill was rubbing the back of his head, again, where Robert had not bothered to control the force he used to smack Bill in the back of the head; Bill’s head actually snapped forward from the force of the blow. When they walked into the conference room, Mary spoke first by telling Bill, “Sit your butt down and keep your mouth shut. You’re in it deep this time, mister.”

Bill made the mistake of getting up in her face before he told her, “NO BITCH TELLS ME WHAT TO DO!” Bill suddenly went flying backwards, grabbed by the back of the neck by Robert, and thrown into a chair. His hands were pulled back behind him and tied, as a gag was forced into his mouth and tied tight at the back of his head. Mary’s hand-print on his face deepened in color. Robert leaned down so he was in Bill’s line of sight and told him, “If I were you I’d go see an audiologist. You seem to have trouble with your hearing. And if you EVER speak to a woman like that again, in my presence, I will knock you so far into last year you’ll need a calendar to find your way back to the present.” He waved at Bill and said to Peter, “He’s all yours, boss.”

Mary and Peter took the seats on either side of the chair holding a tied up William Charles Wordsman III, self appointed financial director of the School Board. Peter asked Terry and Shelby to sit across the table from them, lest they be tempted to kick the shit out of Bill; Peter knew the two would, given that Bill was about to slap Walter in the back of the head. Once everyone was seated, Robert’s partners standing outside in the hallway, came into the room, closed the door and stood guard. No one was getting into that room who had no business in that meeting. Robert and his other partner stood behind Bill on either side of the chair.

“Bill,” Mary said in a calm, yet firm, voice. “I really don’t know where to begin. You pulled this same stunt several months ago and we told you never to do it again. But here we are, and you did it again. For those of you who don’t know Bill’s position with the School Board, it’s as an accountant, nothing more. Several months ago we had a problem at another school, which required a settlement, and mister William Charles Wordsman III, thinking himself more important than he is, chewed that Principal out because she and I spoke, much like we did Peter. He got a few days off for that stunt, and I had to do some fast talking to prevent an excellent Principal from quitting. And here we are again, Billy.” Mary knew Bill hated to be called Billy, it’s how he was teased while in school. “So, Billy, what are we to do with you? Give you more days off without pay, like last time? Noooo, you showed today you didn’t learn from that.”

“You’ve also shown how ignorant you are about new technology. You thought if you got the fax Peter sent me before I did, you could prevent our meeting from taking place. Well, Mr. Ignorant, you didn’t seem to know about our new fax machine, besides requiring a person’s ID, it also keeps a history of everything it does. And when I pulled up the history, imagine my surprise when it showed your ID was used to accept a fax from this school. TO ME!. Now why did you think an accountant would need to see a fax sent, TO ME? Answer, YOU DIDN’T AND DON’T! No, Bill, I’m afraid you’ve shot yourself in the foot this one too many times, and we’ve not choice but to,” and Mary leaned over to look Bill right in the eyes and snarled when she told him, “KICK YOUR ASS DOWN THE ROAD! YOU’RE FIRED! You will go collect your personal things from your desk, while escorted of course, hand your ID badge and any and all keys to the people escorting you, AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THE BUILDING.” Very calmly, Mary sat back in her chair and looking at Peter said, “Um, your turn.” Hamming it up, Peter replied, “Why thank you kind lady.”

Peter turned to look at Bill and started with, “You know, Billy, you caused a lot of problems this morning. Problems we didn’t need. First you come into the office acting like the ass you appear to be, which, I guess, is true to form. Then you come storming into my office and interrupt a meeting I was having, which was none of your business, by the way. It probably never occurred to you I may have been meeting with someone else about another sensitive matter, did it? No, it didn’t, but you didn’t care anyway, did you Billy. Because you’re the big bad William Charles Wordsman III, an accountant. Billy, if you ever storm into my office like that again, Robert there, won’t be the one knocking you into last year. It will be me, then we’ll send you to the butchers to get dressed out.” Peter had said all this with a calm voice, but with fire in his eyes. Then he pointed to Terry and Shelby sitting across the table from the three.

“You know, Billy, I should let you and the Williams, there, have your own meeting, one I don’t think you’d like. You almost hit their child. You almost had your eyes and jewels taken out by an enraged mother, who saw what you were about to do.” Bill had looked across the table and saw the same fire in the eyes of Terry and Shelby as he saw in Peter’s eyes. “Ya know, Billy, I won’t let that happen, your meeting with the Williams alone. I don’t want to make any more work for the janitors than they already have. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to ask Robert, here,” and he pointed to Robert, “to escort you out to your car. He’ll make sure you don’t fall down and hurt yourself on your way out. He’ll also make sure you keep your tongue silent, or he will take you down, call the police and have you arrested for trespassing on school property. So, Billy, I won’t tell you to have a nice day because yours hasn’t started that way. Untie him Robert, and make sure he gets safely to his car and off school property. And I meant what I said, Billy. You open your mouth until you’re off school property and Robert and his men will take you down and call the police. Nod your head if you understand me?” The fat man was pissed. ‘How dare they treat him like that, including that bitch,’ he thought to himself as Robert untied hands and took the gag off.

William Charles Wordsman III had always been a slow learner, in understanding he wasn’t as important as he thought he was. The minute his hands were untied, and the gag removed, he turned to Mary and snarled at her, “NO BITCH FIRES ME,” and backhanded Mary across the face, knocking her out of her chair and onto the floor. He started to get up and pound on her, but forgot about Robert and his men, as he was again picked up by the back of his neck and slammed onto the floor face first. This time handcuffs were used to secure his hands, and as he started spewing filth, the gag went back into his mouth. Peter took out his cell phone and dialed the nurse, telling her where they were and to hurry. Robert took out his cell phone and called the police, explaining the situation and where they were. The nurse arrived out of breath, and carefully helped Mary back into a chair, after making sure she wasn’t seriously hurt. Mary had a split lip where Bill had hit her, and that would be used to file assault and battery charges against Bill. Because of Bill’s actions, Peter would be filing trespassing charges as well. Bill had just earned himself a trip to jail, and court.

It wasn’t long before four police officers had arrived. Margot had escorted them to the conference room, knocked on the door, and when Robert’s other two men saw who they were, let them into the room. The situation was explained to the four officers, and why Bill was gagged and cuffed. The two female officers spoke with Mary, while the other two officers, and Robert’s men, helped get Bill off the floor and out into one of the patrol cars. When statements had been taken from everyone who witnessed the event, and pictures of Mary’s face had been taken, the officers gave Peter and Mary the needed case information about Mr. Wordsman. The school nurse then took Mary to the school infirmary to treat her split lip, while Peter, Terry, and Shelby went back to his office. Mary returned to Peter’s office a short time later, looking better but now with a split and fat lip, and bruising on her left cheek; the nurse saw it developing and took a picture, sending it to Mary’s and Peter’s phones. They in turn sent it to the police. They talked a bit more about Walter being in school as a boy or girl, a bit about what Bill had done, before going their separate ways. Both Mary and Peter telling Terry and Shelby to contact them if Walter started having any trouble at school or with himself.

Mary had to go to the police department to file an official report. She called the office after she got into her car and told them what happened, asking that all of Bill’s personal things be boxed and taken to reception; she’d get everything else from the police. It was only then that what had just happened hit her, and she broke down in tears. As she was crying there was a knock on the driver window. Mary looked up and saw Peter standing there, and she opened the door to him. He reached in and a tearful Mary held onto him as she cried. “It will be alright, Mary, you’ll see,” Peter softly told her as she let her cry on his shoulder. After a few moments she pulled back, laughed because his shirt was wet on the shoulder, told Peter she’d be alright now, closed the driver’s door after Peter stepped back, started her car and drove off.

Shelby knew Terry was going to need time to cool off, so he took them to their favorite cafe to get something to eat and drink. Terry was quiet the entire time, though when he parked the car in the cafe’s parking lot, she blew up. “How DARE that pig think he was going to hit my child. Who the HELL does he think he is? Give me five minutes with that BASTARD and there’ll never be another child in his lineage.” Shelby knew to let Terry unwind herself, it was safer for him that way. When Terry wound down, he asked, “Ready to get something to eat?” Terry blushed before saying, “Sorry, yeah.” Shelby rubbed the back of Terry’s neck and told her, “I know how you feel, honey. But it’d be safer for Bill if we let the police and the courts handle it. Okay?” Terry tried to give him ‘the eye,’ but failed, as he started laughing before pulling her close and tried to see if her tonsils had grown back.