Page 64 of A River Red With Blood
“No, apparently it wasn’t.”
“Were you there as well?”
“Thankfully not, but I have a friend who wasn’t so fortunate.”
“Was Santopietro the friend?”
“No, the friend—he went missing some years ago.He struggled greatly after Élan.The assumption is that he took his own life.But I’d really prefer not to talk about that.It’s very painful.”
“I’d still like his name.”
I pressed because Teal was now being openly evasive.
“Mike Hurvich.”
The words came hard to him.
“What about Santopietro?Does he speak much about his time at Élan?”
“He has talked about Élan, but it’s not for me to share those confidences.I can say that his experiences colored his views on behavior modification for troubled teens.Spero doesn’t tolerate violence in any form.”
“Outside of nocturnal abductions.”
“On which we’ve agreed to differ.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything,” I said.“However, violence must occur.Even the best of schools have to deal with fights between students.”
“There are processes in place at Spero, systems of punishment involving denial of privileges, treat restrictions, extra chores, ascending in severity according to the nature of the infraction.Even striking a staff member isn’t automatically an expulsion offense.It’s discouraged, to put it mildly, and the penalties are severe, but every dog is allowed one bite.Spero can’t change these kids overnight, and some of them it won’t change at all, but the ethos of the school is to keep trying until forced to admit defeat, and such defeats are rare.A lot of the students are looking for discipline, but they don’t know it.Spero is tough only because it has to be.Ultimately, it’s built on care, and frequently Dante and the staff show more tenderness toward those boys than their own parents ever have.”
And you know, I believed what Teal was saying, or I believed that he believed it, which was close enough.He spoke of Spero with messianic zeal.
Teal made a show of looking at his watch.“Is this conversationheading toward a conclusion?I have no desire to be unhelpful—in fact, I’m trying hard to be as helpful as I can—but I don’t know what you want from me.”
I glanced down at my notes.So far, I’d written only a handful of words, and doodled a dangling man.I closed the notebook.
“I’m not sure what I want from you either,” I said.“But when I figure that out, I’ll come back.”
“What did Berrien tell you about me?”Teal asked.
“That you were the person in the department most closely associated with Spero.”
“Is that all?”
“All that’s relevant.Why do you ask?”
“Because she doesn’t like me.She never has.”
He sounded hurt, like a child rejected by the pretty girl in the schoolyard.
“How do you feel about her?”
“You expect me to admire someone who doesn’t like me?”
“I don’t expect anything,” I said.“That way, life is full of pleasant surprises.”
But Teal didn’t seem in a hurry to embrace this as his new philosophy, and once again a career in greeting-card messages remained tantalizingly beyond my reach.
“What I’m saying is,” he continued, “you shouldn’t believe everything you hear, especially when it comes from someone who’s bitter.”
