In mid-January, Chase and I followed our morning routine delivering John and Carter to their kindergarten class before we checked in with the guys in the dorm. We left our anoraks in our room and donned our cloaks. It was surprising how warm and useful they had turned out to be. Most of the students balked initially but as the rain got colder and snow made its way into the winter panoply more if not all wore the cloak and enjoyed the comfort. We had a degree of discretion in headwear and I opted for my Stetson fedora. Chase wore a cloth hat that looked like something from the Medici's time, one room of boys had adopted bowler hats and soon several more were seen plus all manner of other hats in muted colors. Mostly blues and browns. Many boys just wore Toques, as long as their head was warm, they didn't care about style. I only clocked a few other fedora's and those were mostly worn by faculty. The custom of hat tipping caught on and I thought that was pretty cool. Our cloaks had hoods so we didn't really need hats most of the time and we were allowed non uniform jackets when it was cold and rainy, and raingear was part of our uniform clothing but it would get uncomfortable going from classroom to outside and the school gave us the option of cloaks or jackets. The cloaks made many of the younger boys look adorable and our brothers were no exception.
There were two kindergartens with four teachers. Class size was kept deliberately small and the boys had open play together. Carter and John both made friends at a rapid rate, they would encourage others to do some of the difficult tasks they had mastered but they weren't pushy. Watching the wave of boys come towards them as we brought them in gave me a warm feeling. This kindergarten wasn't all finger paint and sitting in circles. The teachers helped them with the alphabet, basic math and reading. They also helped the boys with speech where some were still using toddler speak or just having trouble with R's, W's or other consonants. They learned songs in English and other languages. During a drawing class John stunned one teacher by asking for a straight edge, his drawing was already beyond the level of his peers.
One teacher was concerned about John and Carter's dependence on each other. I explained that John had only been in our family a short while and that he had bonded with Carter almost immediately. I also pointed out that Carter's best friend had moved away just before the end of summer and it affected him deeply. With that explanation they decided that the boys were a good pair and they seemed to interact with others independently. I was glad of that and any attempt to separate them at school would not be well received by me, Chase, Mom or Jeff. Chase and I were very popular at the kindergarten, we would engage with the little guys although we didn't rough house like we did with John and Carter at home. We agreed that it could get out of hand quickly so it was better not to start. But I never gave so many hugs.
That particular day we went about our routine and I attended my advance French class with Dr. Janvier. He remained impressed that I could speak, read and write the language as well as he could in most cases. There were gaps in my knowledge that he was trying to fill and he often had me speak to visiting French teachers just to watch their expressions.
When I emerged from the language building I suddenly wished I had worn my anorak, mine had a lambswool lining and a rabbit fur collar. I found Chase and we went to our room to grab our gloves and heavy coats.
We arrived at our classroom and took seats, chatting with some of the others. Our class never got underway. The teacher had no sooner laid his notebook on his desk when an announcement came over the speaker system. All students were to return to their dorm rooms, Day students were to assemble in the auditorium and the kindergartens would shelter in place. The reason for this was a lake effect snow and ice storm that was rapidly advancing.
Those of us with siblings on campus received text messages that we could visit to check the welfare of our brothers, but we would need to return to our dorms after doing so.
We sat in our room and chatted, accepting the ice storm as something we could do nothing about. Chase and I decided to check on John and Carter and the rest of the little ones and we dressed accordingly. Many boys had no uniform jackets on hand. It was a rare occurrence when they were needed. But with the predictions of a harsh winter and late arrival of Spring we had opted for caution over bravado.
The kindergarten classes had just received the news about the storm and that it meant they wouldn't be able to go home until it lifted. They were subdued but our arrival buoyed their spirits a bit. Chase and I suggested they look at this as an adventure, that they were trapped by pirates at the Antarctic or some other equally challenging scenario. It seemed to do the trick and the teachers offered thanks for lifting the mood. A few other boys came to check on their brothers and one was a nine year old that came with a teacher. We offered to escort him back to the auditorium and that allowed the teacher to go on about his business.
When we left Stephen reluctantly came along and I noticed he was not doing well in the cold. He was wearing trainers and had no heavy coat. I squatted, unzipped and wrapped my coat around him and carried him to the auditorium. Ice hung from every surface, the trees were strangely adorned as were the covered walkways. I stopped a bit back from the auditorium doors and released Stephen from my coat. I wanted to preserve his dignity. He thanked us and we handed him over to one of the proctors. He was scanned in and we made our way back to our room to see how our roommates were doing. We had become friends in that time and we had learned a lot about each other. Ewan had a tremendous crush on me and I tried to direct his attentions to someone I knew had the same feelings towards him. It was slowly beginning to work. Jean Claud crushed on me too but not as deeply as Ewan. Our two youngest roommates had each had periods of homesickness that required soothing. Jake and Jael, had become solid friends and they had a wealth of friends outside our little cloister of a dorm room. Jean Claud excelled at hall hockey, an unsanctioned athletic event played with whatever came to hand. I wasn't bad myself. Jean Claud was an excellent ice skater and demonstrated his prowess on the schools small seasonal rink in the days before Christmas holiday.
We sat and read, played computer games , studied and talked. Boys from other rooms stopped in and we did the same. The common rooms and entertainment rooms were crowded but we had popcorn and hot cocoa, at least until the second day. The next morning the power went out, it was suspected a frozen tree limb had fouled a power line and shorted everything out. We could see no artificial light for miles in any direction and feared it might be worse than a local neighborhood problem. The really bad news was the power going out affected the heat in our dorms. The backup generators had not kicked in and all the dorms were dark and there was no heat. Although the heating was from gas furnaces and boilers, they required electricity to ignite the gas flame and the hot air was distributed by ducts but driven by electric fans. The engineers were working frantically to get the generators working. I didn't envy them, I had been forced to repair a puncture on my bike in winter weather not nearly this cold, Every knock and sharp edge was amplified by the cold and I was so miserable by the time I got on the road again, the only thing that kept me from crying was the thought that my tears would freeze on my face. As it was I had to wear my bike helmet in the shower because clumps of ice had formed trapping my hair in the damn thing. I could only imagine how they were suffering.
The central core buildings, auditorium, admin offices and the kindergartens were all on the one working generator. So little guys were safe and we worried less.
The pipes in one dorm froze and burst so that dorm was evacuated. We were all asked to take in six other students. They brought their blankets, coats and spare clothing. We would have to sleep two to a bed which didn't bother most of us. We simply put the biggest with the smallest. I ended up with a boy called Newton and Chase with Arlen, another small for his age ten year old.
Ewan got stuck with a tubby boy named Charles who whined a lot about having to share. The talk was that his brother had been a stellar student and took an early admission to MIT and Charles was not likely to finish the term let alone return next year. He really only thought in terms of what was best for him. My handshake with him revealed this and several other personality traits that were not particularly attractive. If I could have fit Ewan and Newton in with me I would have. I got Ewan off to the side and told him to wear his short summer trousers and belt and that if Charles put his hands where they don't belong, give him an elbow and come to me. We all wore our warmup suits to bed and getting to sleep was difficult. The only upside was that Charles gave off a lot of heat. Ewan was at least warm if uncomfortable, but he did get some sleep.
The next day we raided the storage for another bedframe and mattress setup. Charles had whined and moaned most of the night and mostly kept his hands to himself after one sharp elbow. After thinking a while the next morning I went back to storage, grabbed a roll of gorilla tape and tried an experiment. I flipped the mattresses off Chase' and my beds, tied the frame legs together with the tape and then installed the mattresses crosswise. Chase, Jake and myself tried it out and we could comfortably lay on the bed and still not feel crowded. We discussed it and decided to do all the beds that way. We really only needed four beds to accommodate twelve boys and Charles could bunk with Jake's watchful eye on him or stay in the bed we had set up for him. There aren't many people I find repulsive but Charles was one of them. Still I tried to engage and include him. It had no effect, he remained churlish and petulant and rooted in his own little self-absorbed world.
Visitors from other rooms saw our sleeping arrangements and quickly adopted them and the practice spread to most of the dorm.
For breakfast and dinner we dressed warmly hanging our uniform coats over the shoulders of the smaller boys, and trouped to the cafeteria for a hot meal. Lunch was sandwiches and hot soup delivered to each floor by a combination of cafeteria workers and proctors. We had a lecture from the Headmaster at our first breakfast. He told us that the room locks had enough battery power to function for two weeks. But they weren't reporting to the computer system because it wasn't running. That meant we were all responsible for keeping track of where each room member was at any given time. If anyone wandered outside unprepared, the consequences could be deadly in near zero weather.
We kept up like that for three days, until the generators were repaired.
It turned out that the problem was gelled diesel fuel. They added something to the fuel tank and used a small gas generator and a hairdryer on the fuel lines and charged the batteries on the generators with another gas generator.
But that was just part of the issues. The water system in the number three dorm building was unusable and would need repair before it was habitable again. The other problem was that the buildings had been without heat for three and a half days, even with the furnaces on high it would take days to climatize the building. So we would remain with our guests and sleeping three to a bed. I had ended up with Newton and Ewan and Chase with Arlen and Tad, Jake had Peter and David and Jean Claude was tucked in with a senior named Dan, they offered Charles the third spot but he preferred his own company. I suspected he feared what would happen to him if he allowed his hands to roam again.
The next day, while not warm was better in the dorm and we had our first showers in days. Charles had to be prodded to the showers but he smelled worse than all of us together. Hygiene wasn't a priority for him.
I found myself in the room alone with him and asked why he couldn't try to get along with the others. He complained that we didn't have the same interests as he did so I asked him what he was interested in. I discovered he liked movies and game shows, he disliked soap operas and horror films. After our discussion I came away with the knowledge that he preferred TV and sitting on his butt to engaging the world around him. I took hold of his wrists to get a good solid read, I thought there might be an underlying reason but there was none. He had no trauma in his past, he had caring parents , he had been to psychologists, but to no avail. How he came to be at this school was a mystery to me.
Two days after the dorms got power back a proctor came and asked Charles to come with him and to bring whatever was his along. "You're being reassigned," Gregg told him.
Charles grabbed his bag and blankets and humped out of the room without a word of salutation. A week later when everything was back to normal, I was summoned to the Dean of students and interrogated regarding Charles Deutch.
I explained that we had tried to engage and accommodate him, but he was the most inertia ridden individual I had ever met. I related that all of his interests appeared to revolve around a big screen TV and little Hershey bars, I told him I felt stymied by my inability to reach him.
"Etienne, you mustn't hold yourself responsible for his behavior. He was only allowed to attend here in the hope that our staff could reach him on some level. That experiment has ended and he is attending a school that will accommodate his lack of drive. I'm sorry you had to encounter such a sad situation. I want you to have a clear conscience, you did all that could be expected and I think a bit more. You are living up to expectations,Etienne and frankly, exceeding them. I think you might be Chief of Forms at some point in your time here," Dr. Kilcher imparted glowingly.
"Chief of Forms sir?" I asked.
"Ah yes, some schools call the position 'Head Boy' but that's a British custom. But the function is largely the same. We needn't go into duties until it's actually necessary but our current Chief is a senior and he doesn't advertise the fact. If someone needs his help they need only ask any older student and they'll receive all the help they need," The Dr. related.
"Well I will have to track him down so I can direct those in need to him," I replied.
"Oh I'm sure you've met him, he meets everyone new, he just doesn't make a big deal of being the Chief of Forms," Dr. Kilcher teased.
"It must be Warren, he's so reserved but he watches all the boys," I ventured.
"Very astute Etienne, I was sure you would guess, The Dr. affirmed.
I went on to my next class and carried on with my day.
I happened to pass Warren on my way across to the language building and we chatted for a while. I asked him if his capacity of Chief of Forms ate into his free time much. He assured me it did not and the duties were purely nominal. "I really only act as an advocate for students or settle disputes if I can," Warren enlightened me.
"So would you know who I should approach about forming a folk singing group?"
"I'd ask the Choirmaster or his new assistant. Mr. Dahlgren is a nice guy and he comes with a very good reputation. I doubt we'll have any of the same issues with him as we did with Bressini. I guess I better push along to class but I enjoy talking to you, and Keith asked about you too. He's very shy in large groups but if you get him in a small group where he's comfortable, he'll talk your ears off."
I looked at the clock and realized I was quite early so I walked over to observe the kindergartners just as they were being marched to the pickup area hand in hand. I followed and stood waiting to see if Mom, Jeff or Janisse would be arriving to transport them home.
"Hi Mom, how are you guys doing at home?" I asked as I smooched John and Carter. She sent them to get warm in the idling car.
"Everything's back to normal, we did okay but the neighbors water main burst at the meter so there was a huge ice slick all the way across the street, but the water company came out, shut off the water and a sent another truck to scrape the ice. All the roads have sand on them so everyone's car is filthy. Art and Grampa bought bags of sand to put in their pickups to improve the traction. I have my winter tires on now as you can see. Your dad has studded snow tires on his rig, someone slid into him the second day of the storm. It was very low speed and not much damage was done but it was a county car so they had to do a report," She explained.
"So no injuries then, did the backup generator work okay?" I asked.
"Like a dream, it's good that it runs on natural gas, diesel or gas might have been a problem after a few days," Mom speculated.
"I think that's why Dad chose natural gas, he didn't want a big tank of fuel on the property and he knew he might be gone when it needed fueling. That's just how Dad thinks," I asserted.
"Just like you, well I better get the munchkins home for snacks and a nap. Janisse will pick them up tomorrow, are you staying on tonight or shall I come fetch you," She asked.
"I think we're staying on tonight, there's a sort of celebration on. It's a dinner for all the people who worked to keep the school running while the ice storm was raging," I reported.
"Yes, I think they deserve the recognition Jem, give me a kiss and I'll get going," Mom instructed.
I kissed her cheek and gave her a hug and made sure she got to the car safely.
We had kept in touch by texting during the storm. We all charged our phones in the cafeteria. Voice communications had gone to hell but data worked pretty well. Chase and I had checked in at the kindergarten at least twice a day and there were always other older siblings there to comfort or play with the little kids. The teachers were immensely grateful for our efforts. I still loved being a big brother.
French was a lark that day, we discussed Verlan slang and other prominent accents in greater France. I was asked to demonstrate the Bretagne dialect. It varies considerably from Parisienne. I demonstrated how some expressions may be popular in Paris but not widely used elsewhere in France.
Returning to the dorm I found a waifish fifth year boy waiting outside our door.
"Can I help you bud?" I asked.
"Um, is Jael Burton here? I mean is this his room? I knocked but nobody answered.
"Let's find out," I opened the door and had him swipe his card as well. No one was in the room, Jael's phone was gone so I texted him to see where he was. He hit back that he was about five minutes from the dorm. I told him he had a visitor and he asked who. I looked at the little guy and asked his name.
"My name's Riga, Jael's my cousin. I just found out he was here," The boy peeped nervously.
I told Jael the boy's name but got no answer. I figured by now he was in the stairwell dead zone.
Jael swiped in and regarded the boy, not hostile but guarded. "So who are you?"
"My name is Riga, my mom is your mom's youngest aunt, in fact they're almost the same age. I just found out you were here if you're the same Jael Burton on our family tree."
"Riga eh, yeah, I think I read that name in our genealogy, are you from Oklahoma?" "Jael asked, dropping his guarded approach.
"Yes, we live outside Enid on a ranch are your folks still in Brownsville?" Riga asked.
"Yeah, mostly. Some have moved away, but there's a lot of Burtons in Brownsville. What's your family name?" Jael inquired.
"Emmling, it's Icelandic, that's where daddy came from," Riga smiled.
"But Riga is in Latvia isn't it? Jael asked obviously confused.
"Oh no, I mean Riga the place is in Latvia but Riga is also a short name for Reichhardt in Icelandic and Dansk. And that's my name," Riga informed us.
"Well I'm going for a shower, you two have a nice chat but remember we have that dinner tonight, why don't you sit with us Riga, there's always room" I offered as I began shedding clothes. I stripped to my briefs and Tee and put on my robe and slippers. They were still chatting when I left.
When I returned, Jael was in his robe lying on his bed.
He smiled when he saw me and got up and gave me a hug.
"That's my cousin you just met, I have four sisters, six aunts and five great aunts but there are only Riga and I that are boys. My brother would have made three out of over twenty five kids in our family. That's really weird, how can that happen?" He asked.
"Well it's the sperm that decides the sex but maybe there's a chemical or hormone present that's more effective at killing male sperm before they can fertilize the egg. You should probably ask Dr. Fletcher, he's a biologist and should know about stuff like that," I suggested.
"Yeah, I'll do that. Etienne, have you ever just met someone and just loved them? Without much talk or anything. It was so weird but I loved Riga almost instantly," Jael uttered.
"Yes, I have. When I met my little brother John, I loved him after just a few moments talking with him and holding him. And yes it was weird but I refuse to question it. Riga seems like a really nice kid and he's obviously smart because he's here. I think you got lucky today, you have family close by and that's worth a lot," I said quietly.
"Yeah, you're right. But I better get my shower and dress," Jael yipped.
Chase and the rest filtered in and each went to the shower block and returned.
We marched en masse to the dining hall and collected Riga outside the door. We parked him between Jean Claude and Jael and Ewan was between Chase and me. Jake sat next to Jean Claude and we all chattered amiably until the first speaker rose at the main table.