Tom

living out life
2008-03-04 15:49:18 (UTC)

Hal's Demise, part 10

In almost every way possible, Craig Flynt was a poor excuse
for a father. The only thing he was good at was providing
money but, unfortunately, he spent so much time at work
that it kept him from getting to know his own son. Craig’s
entire world revolved around his insurance business and he
didn’t let anything stand in the way of making it
successful, including family. He was not happy about having
to miss his morning staff meeting and he had another
appointment with an important client scheduled for 9:30. He
let Mrs. Connors know about it as soon as he entered the
office, “We need to get this done quickly. I have a very
important meeting that I can’t miss.”

Mrs. Connors watched the man sit down with Hal. They were
about the same size, only Craig was slightly larger. He was
dressed in a nice suit and his hair was cut extremely
close, almost to the skin. Before she had a chance to
speak, he was barking out an order “Let’s get this show on
the road, I’ve got other places to be!”

“Like father, like son,” she thought to herself. She wasn’t
about to be pushed around in her own office. She
purposefully waited a few seconds and then spoke directly
to Craig, “Mr. Flynt, I called you in to let you know that
Hal has been suspended for one week, effective immediately.”

He questioned her, as if he couldn’t believe it, “Why? What
did he do?” Surprisingly, he sat there and listened as Mrs.
Connors explained all that had happened. When she finished,
he looked her in the eye and said, “What are you doing
about the other kid?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he must have done something to provoke Hal. That kid
needs to be suspended too!”

Mrs. Connors glanced at Hal and noticed that he was
grinning widely. “Mr. Flynt, your son tried to force that
boy to do his work and when he refused, he tried to hit
him. Why should I suspend the other boy? He didn’t do
anything wrong.”

“Are you sure about that?”

The man’s arrogance was irritating. She had seen parents
like this before. They always came in defending their own
children, blaming someone else for their bad behavior. She
knew from experience that continuing the conversation was
useless and she also knew the only way to handle people
like Craig Flynt was to stand her ground, “Mr. Flynt,
whether you choose to believe your son did anything wrong
or not is beside the point. The fact is that I have eight
other students who watched all this happen. The fact is
that your son violated our zero tolerance bully policy and
the fact is that if he does it again I will kick him out of
my school for the rest of the year. Do I make myself clear?”

Craig Flynt sat back and smiled. He liked this woman. She
wasn’t easily pushed around. She was older than him, maybe
in her mid forties, but fairly attractive. He couldn’t see
her body, but his mind started racing as he wondered what
she looked like behind the big, oak desk.

His little daydream was interrupted by Mrs. Connors
voice, “Do I make myself clear?”

“Huh? Oh… yeah. Very clear. Is that it then? Are we
finished?”

“That’s all I have Mr. Flynt.”

He stood up and Hal stood up with him, “Great! Then we will
be going… and you can call me Craig.” He extended his right
hand, far enough away where she would have to stand up to
take it.

She stood up and noticed his eyes move up and down her
body, so she shook his hand quickly and sat back down.
Disgusted, but totally professional, she said, “Thanks for
coming in Mr. Flynt.”

“Craig,” he said with a cocky grin, and then he turned to
walk away with Hal right on his heels. As they passed
through the doorway, she heard Hal ask, “Can I still drive
the Mustang?"




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