Honeydew # 26, "Public Relations"
Title: Damaging Accusations
Word Count: 446
Toppings: Cherry
Ratings: PG
Summary: Barrick's boss gets a call from one irate sister.
Author's notes:You know, I love class breaks. I can use that wonderful fifteen minutes to hurriedly write the skeletons of stories. ^^ I gave myself a cherry for my first phone conversation dialogue. It originally began as an all dialogue piece, but it looked so stupid that I decided to give some description to Leanora's end of things. I actually had a really hard time with this piece. It contains a spoiler, mostly for Mousie, of what's happening while Barrick's away from his hometown. This is the first of the three spoiler pieces I wrote today. I hope you enjoy!
“You promised to protect him!”
Leonora flinched at the rage she heard in Rika’s voice. “I tried, Rika, I truly did. I did everything in my power to help Barrick, but the school board gave me no choice. They wanted Barrick gone.”
“Fine. So you didn’t have a choice. But what about today’s papers? What about them, Leonora! It’s front-page news that Barrick was fired under the suspicion of having raped children, of being a pedophile! How could you?! How could you let something like that make it into the papers? How could you let them fire him under that sort of accusation?!”
“Rika…”
“You know he would never hurt a child! Never, never never!” The older woman felt her heart clench, hearing the tears in Rika’s voice.
“You know this will break his heart. Not just because he won’t be able to teach anymore but also because he can’t stand the idea that… that people will look at him and see someone that would hurt children. It’ll break his heart knowing that those kids in his class will hear about it and they’ll begin to question his intentions as a teacher…”
Rika’s voice broke, and Leonora wiped her damp eyes with a tissue. “I’m so sorry Rika,” she whispered, “I’m so sorry that this happened to him. It wasn’t supposed to make the papers. It was supposed to be kept very quiet, but there was some sort of breakdown in communication. Barrick is a good man. I know that. I defended him the best I could. And the School board and I all know it isn’t true. But we’re required by law to suspend any teacher for two months so an investigation may take place when such an accusation occurs. The board used this as an opportunity to fire him. I sense that there has been some pressure on them to fire Barrick for some time now, though I couldn’t say why. He was a good teacher.”
“He’ll never be able to work as a teacher again. It’s unlikely he’ll ever work in Ashdown at all again, at any job now. This is going to damage his reputation permanently.”
“I’ll do my best to work with public relations to see if we can heal his reputation any. I’ve already made an appointment to make an announcement to clarify to the papers that the accusation against Barrick is just that: an accusation. Nothing more.”
“I hope whatever it is you do will help him. And I hope that he decides to stay with his boyfriend a couple more days, wherever they are, until this has blown over a bit.”
“So do I, Rika. So do I.”
Word Count: 446
Toppings: Cherry
Ratings: PG
Summary: Barrick's boss gets a call from one irate sister.
Author's notes:You know, I love class breaks. I can use that wonderful fifteen minutes to hurriedly write the skeletons of stories. ^^ I gave myself a cherry for my first phone conversation dialogue. It originally began as an all dialogue piece, but it looked so stupid that I decided to give some description to Leanora's end of things. I actually had a really hard time with this piece. It contains a spoiler, mostly for Mousie, of what's happening while Barrick's away from his hometown. This is the first of the three spoiler pieces I wrote today. I hope you enjoy!
“You promised to protect him!”
Leonora flinched at the rage she heard in Rika’s voice. “I tried, Rika, I truly did. I did everything in my power to help Barrick, but the school board gave me no choice. They wanted Barrick gone.”
“Fine. So you didn’t have a choice. But what about today’s papers? What about them, Leonora! It’s front-page news that Barrick was fired under the suspicion of having raped children, of being a pedophile! How could you?! How could you let something like that make it into the papers? How could you let them fire him under that sort of accusation?!”
“Rika…”
“You know he would never hurt a child! Never, never never!” The older woman felt her heart clench, hearing the tears in Rika’s voice.
“You know this will break his heart. Not just because he won’t be able to teach anymore but also because he can’t stand the idea that… that people will look at him and see someone that would hurt children. It’ll break his heart knowing that those kids in his class will hear about it and they’ll begin to question his intentions as a teacher…”
Rika’s voice broke, and Leonora wiped her damp eyes with a tissue. “I’m so sorry Rika,” she whispered, “I’m so sorry that this happened to him. It wasn’t supposed to make the papers. It was supposed to be kept very quiet, but there was some sort of breakdown in communication. Barrick is a good man. I know that. I defended him the best I could. And the School board and I all know it isn’t true. But we’re required by law to suspend any teacher for two months so an investigation may take place when such an accusation occurs. The board used this as an opportunity to fire him. I sense that there has been some pressure on them to fire Barrick for some time now, though I couldn’t say why. He was a good teacher.”
“He’ll never be able to work as a teacher again. It’s unlikely he’ll ever work in Ashdown at all again, at any job now. This is going to damage his reputation permanently.”
“I’ll do my best to work with public relations to see if we can heal his reputation any. I’ve already made an appointment to make an announcement to clarify to the papers that the accusation against Barrick is just that: an accusation. Nothing more.”
“I hope whatever it is you do will help him. And I hope that he decides to stay with his boyfriend a couple more days, wherever they are, until this has blown over a bit.”
“So do I, Rika. So do I.”