Story: Cherry Ridge School Sex Ed   
      
       Chapter I New School   
      
      
      
       "There are a few things you should know about Cherry Ridge before you   
   begin" Mr.  Hoskins was saying.  I glanced around the room as he spoke.   
   "For one thing, almost every family up here, has lived on the ridge for   
   five generations or more."   
      
       I looked at the school principle.  "Five generations?" I stammered.   
      
       "Or more." he qualified.  All of the land is owned by families and they   
   don't sell, so we don't get new families moving in.  There is only one   
   apartment house in town, and that is where I, and the rest of the bachelor   
   male faculty live.  And now you." I looked at him more closely.  I was   
   surprised that he was a bachelor, since his hair was completely grey and he   
   appeared so close to retirement age.  The office didn't fit him though, it   
   had a young feel to it, more like the office of someone only a few years   
   older than me.   
      
       "Cherry Ridge school is officially part of the Watermelon Mountain   
   School District, though we tend to be completely separate.  Ken Wallace   
   teaches the 11th and 12th grade and helps out in math and science with the   
   younger high school students.  Jenny Lowman teaches the 9th and 10th grade   
   children and helps in home ec and economics with the older girls."   
      
       "John Kellerman teaches the junior high, he...."   
      
       "Excuse me sir." I broke in, "Is that the same John Kellerman who took   
   the bronze in the Olympic Decathlon six years ago?"   
      
       "Yes, that was John.  We were hoping that an Olympic athlete might have   
   a bit more endurance than our last 3 junior high teachers." I wondered why   
   a Junior high teacher needed so much endurance, but Mr.  Hoskins was still   
   talking.  "You will teach our fifth and sixth grades.  Kimberly Meyer   
   teaches third and forth and Janet Kelley has the first and second."   
      
       "There are 141 students in the entire school." He continued.  " Most of   
   the classrooms have between 20 and 25 students, yours has 18.  Another   
   thing that makes Cherry Ridge unique is that of the 141 students in first   
   thru 12th grade, 140 are female."   
      
       "Excuse me." I coughed.  "Did I hear right?"   
      
       "You heard me correctly.  We have one boy, Derek Hammond in the eighth   
   grade.  For some reason, and no one seems to know why, parents up here,   
   give birth to girls.  Almost always girls.  Derek was the first boy born on   
   the ridge in ten years."   
      
       I couldn't believe it.  An all-girls school by genetic design.  It was   
   positively weird.  And I couldn't believe this principle had hired me for   
   the job.  That was almost as strange.  I completely zoned out for a minute,   
   then I realized that he was still talking.   
      
       "I'm sorry sir," I interrupted.  "I was having trouble taking it all in,   
   what was that you said."   
      
       "I was saying that, a few doctors have come up here to study the   
   phenomenon over the years but no one has been able to figure out what it   
   is. They've tested water and soil and air and can't find anything.  And   
   strangely, when the Cherry Ridge women who have moved away have children,   
   they seem to have a balanced ratio of boys and girls.  No one has come up   
   with a rational explanation yet.   
      
       "Now about Derek.  You shouldn't have much contact with him, in fact I   
   don't want you to have any, if it can be avoided.  Derek is desperately gay   
   and just might come on to you.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU TO RESPOND   
   IN ANY WAY!!!" Mr.  Hoskins glared at me."   
      
       "That goes without saying, sir.  A teacher should never respond to that   
   kind of attention from any student." I said in my best 'proper' voice.   
      
       "There will also be no fraternization with the female teachers.  Do I   
   make myself clear?"   
      
       "Sir, I don't know how you could suggest such a thing." I said   
   innocently.   
      
       "I can suggest such a thing Mr.  Conners, because I know exactly why you   
   left your last job." I felt my face flushing.  "I also know that you only   
   avoided prosecution because the district and the family was anxious to   
   avoid bad publicity."   
      
       "I see." I said, staring down at me shoes, totally deflated.  "I'm not   
   sure why I'm here then."   
      
       "You're here because I hired you." he said simply.   
      
       "But why?  If you know my background."   
      
       "The Cherry Ridge school believes in second chances.  That's part of it.   
   You're a damn fine teacher according to Mr.  Tanner, your old principle and   
   that's part of it.  And there were other considerations as well." he   
   chuckled.  "What I'm amazed at really, is that you could be fucking your   
   sixteen year old chemistry student, her fourteen year old sister and her   
   eleven year old brother and none of them knew about the others."   
      
       "It just kind of happened." I stammered.   
      
       "Well, someday, I'd like to hear that story.  Maybe over a large   
   scotch." It was the first kind thing he'd said to me, and I was still too   
   embarrassed to acknowledge it.  He stood and walked around the desk.   
   "You're getting a late start of course.  I mean it's already October, just   
   three more weeks until Halloween.  The class has been taught by substitutes   
   so far, while we found the right man." I wondered why I was the right man,   
   and what happened to last year's teacher.   
      
       "Well, I guess it's time to introduce you to your class."   
      
       He led me out of his office and all the way down the hall.  The school   
   was shaped like an 'I' The offices and cafeteria were at the top of the   
   'I', the classrooms along both sides, and the gym at the bottom.  The   
   classrooms were arranged by grade.  The first one on the left was the first   
   and second grade, Janet Kelley's classroom I remembered.  Next to it in the   
   middle was the third and forth, that was Kimberly something.  And finally   
   on the end next to the gym was my new classroom.  Outside of the first two   
   classrooms was the playground.  The other side across from me was the   
   seventh and eighth grades, that was the Olympic athlete, John Kellerman.   
   In the middle was the freshmen and sophomores, and finally the juniors and   
   seniors.  Outside of my classroom and all along the other side was a   
   beautiful lawn.  Behind the gym was a baseball diamond, football field and   
   track.   
      
       Mr.  Hoskins walked into my new classroom and clapped his hands.  The   
   girls stopped what they were doing and were looking attentively when I   
   walked in behind him.  "Ladies, this is Mr.  Conners, your new teacher."   
   There was a low mummer until Hoskins clapped his hands again.  "YOU WILL   
   TREAT HIM WITH ALL THE RESPECT DUE ANY TEACHER." He said coldly, and I saw   
   nodding heads.  "Now line up please.  Lets have the sixth graders on this   
   side, " he gestured to his left, "and the fifth graders over her." he   
   gestured to his right.  The girls scrambled to obey.   
      
       As the girls organized themselves, the principle commented, "As you can   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)