DEATH IN THE FACULTY ROOM- CHAPTER XX

I awaited a report from Baumgartner about the materials that I had given him. It did not happen for a few weeks. It was then the beginning of October and Daphne was getting ready to give birth. We were really excited. I must admit that I did not pay as much attention to my new job as FBI agent, as I should have. My focus was on my wife and my third graders. I was beginning to know the kids a lot better by this time. They seemed like a very good group of kids, with pretty high expectations. I realized that I was in the zone with these kids. They mostly came from well to do families, or families that were pushing their children to do well, so that they could succeed in life.
Of course there were kids who came from needy surroundings. There was an old black (not African-American yet) community at the eastern edge of the Atherhold community that had been a stopover on the Underground Railroad. Some of the families had been there for over a hundred years. One of the kids, later on, made it to the major leagues. He became a hero and is now in the Hall of Fame. For the most part, the black kids graduated from high school and went on to college.
I did my best to keep the kids interested in projects that I concocted, that allowed them to do research on their own. It meant that they had to go to the school library, or the town library for the information. I cannot say that I succeeded with everyone, but I am certain that I did well with most of the students.
At the end of October, Daphne gave birth to a little boy. I shouldn’t say little. Douglas Hodges III weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. He was born with a full head of black hair and sharp little nails. He was a real sweetie and cuddled well with his mom. When we got him home, we realized that he was a baby for beginners. He slept most of the nights and drank his formula like a starving soldier. Our life was changing in more ways than we knew.
By the start of November, I began to notice things that I never noticed before. If you are an elementary teacher, you don’t really get out of your room much during the day. If you have a 30 minute lunch break that’s pretty much it. Even when you get one of the specialty teachers in your room (art, music and phys. ed.), you must stay there and assist the specialty teacher. It was not my favorite part of the day. By the time the day is over, you will have been with your students for 7 hours plus a 30 minute break for lunch. If you think that is not tiring, you are nuts.
As I said, I was in my room most of the time, so I did not notice most things that were going on in other classrooms, the hallways or the office. I suddenly began to notice patterns. In early morning, a couple of the teachers, seemed to gravitate through the hallways toward the office. Since my classroom was on the way to the office, I should have seen it before.
It happened mostly every day. I wondered how these teachers got free from their classroom responsibilities long enough to go to the office. Each morning at about 9:00 a.m. a different group of two teachers passed my room. One day I did peek out and saw that they were going into the office. It wasn’t more than ten minutes later that they came by my room again, going the other way. This happened each day. I was afraid that I was in some science fiction movie about the pod people. How could I have not noticed this before? After all, I have been at this school for about two and one half years. Or, maybe this has just begun with the death of Driggs? I will not let this go unnoticed again. I must find out what is going on