The Hayloft. A 1950s Mystery

ear, and headed for the door. I made it outside on the heels of the guys who were still chanting.
    Willie came just behind me. When he caught up to me, he said, in a belligerent tone, “You sure you ain’t coming?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Why not?”
    “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
    Willie weaved his way toward the others, singing off-key: “Every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited you. Party pooper. Party pooper.”
    I climbed into my car, waited until the packed carload of chick chasers peeled out and drove away. Then I headed for home.

    CHAPTER 15
    When I drove Sylvia to school on Monday morning, it was too early to talk much. And too miserable. The cold rain, which had started on Sunday, continued unabated. October had come in with a snarl. She looked glum and I felt glum.
    I had driven to my home in Atherton yesterday, eaten Sunday dinner with my family, and played Clue with my brothers afterwards, because it was too cold and wet to go outside. My father ranted about how communists were trying to take over the country, with special emphasis on Michael Doran. I kept my mouth shut, with difficulty, partly because I didn’t want him asking me about Sylvia. Thankfully, he didn’t, because I don’t know how I would have responded.
    I visited the room I shared with Tom. It looked the same. My books were still in the bookcase. My upper bunk was neatly made. Tom slept on the lower bunk. I felt homesick for the first time. If I were going to school in Atherton, I wouldn’t have to deal with communists and Dr. Graves. And I wouldn’t be wondering how Ralph had died. I drove back to the farm, reluctantly, in the rain.
    Sylvia and I rode the short distance from her house to the school in silence. I pulled around to the back of the school and parked in the students’ parking lot.
    When she started to get out of the car, I said, “Wait. Couple things. One, I went to a party Friday night.”
    “I didn’t know about any party.”
    “It wasn’t on your radar screen. It was given by Dennis Rice.”
    “You’re right. Dennis isn’t on my radar screen.” Sylvia made a grimace. “I guess nobody is, anymore. So you know Dennis?”
    “Actually, I know Willie, his younger brother. I met him at the sock hop.”
    Sylvia smiled. “I remember that. I rescued you from him.”
    “Yes, you did. But he invited me to the party. So I went. It wasn’t really my kind of party—”
    “You don’t need to apologize.”
    “Anyway, I found out some things about Dr. Graves.”
    “Dear old Dr. G. Do you know he was out to get me? Clip my wings? I guess he figured I was getting too big for my britches. But the communist conspiracy got me first.”
    “I have a confession to make.” I hadn’t started out to say this, but I figured that this was a good time to do it with the noise of the rain muting the impact of my words.
    “Don’t tell me. You’ve written a magazine called Carter Confidential .”
    “Worse. When I started here two weeks ago, Dr. Graves made me promise to report to him what you were saying and doing, on implied threat of expulsion.”
    “He asked you to spy on me?” Sylvia shrank against the door of the car with a look of horror in her eyes. “That son of a…”
    “Relax. I didn’t tell him anything important. At first, I thought he wanted to know about your father, so I quoted to him from editorials in the Buffalo Express .”
    Sylvia laughed out loud. “Gary, that was brilliant. I always suspected that Dr. G can’t read.”
    “Then I realized that he wanted information specifically on you. In fact, he asked whether you were still trying to get teachers fired. That was after you had talked to me about Mr. Plover, but I didn’t tell him anything.” I zipped my lip.
    “I knew you were trustworthy from the start. But tell me the new scoop that you have on Dr. Graves.”
    “I was talking to a…um, a boy at the party. He told me that Dr. Graves took him up on the catwalk above the stage and had him sit on his lap.”
    “Holy cow. I didn’t know he was queer. Maybe we can get him fired.”
    “Not so fast. In the first place, I’ve been sworn to secrecy. This boy’s not going to testify against him. But he did indicate that Dr. Graves also liked Ralph. I was wondering if they had some kind of a…relationship—this is hard to say—and they had a fight or something and—”
    “And Dr. Graves pushed Ralph off the balcony.”
    “Yeah, I guess that’s what I was