The Mechanic.

Chapter 18

"Ella, your phone's ringing," Kayla said as she hurried into the kitchen. Ella dropped the pan of cupcakes she was holding and took the phone from Kayla. She saw that it was Josh's teacher and wondered why she was calling her by this time. It was just 10:30 a.m.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Hello."

"Miss Lewis?" she heard the soft voice of Josh's teacher.

"Yes. Is everything alright?"

"I'm afraid not," Miss Rose replied.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to hold off the panic for just a little bit.

"Josh got into a fight."

Ella frowned. "You sure it's my Josh?"

The teacher chuckled nervously. "Pretty sure. We're going to need you to come and get him."

"Of course. Of course," she said hurriedly. "How is he?"

"Just come down to the school," she replied. Ella agreed and they hung up.

Her reply did nothing to ease Ella's fears. Why wouldn't she tell her how her son was? If he was okay, she would have just said so, right?

She hurriedly took off her apron. She explained the situation to Kelly and asked her to hold the fort till she got back.

When she got to his class, she was led to the Guidance Counselor's office by his teacher. She refused to tell Ella what was going on. Ella couldn't help wondering where she had learnt "teachering". Ella had always thought that one important part of being a teacher was an ability to make parents feel comfortable. Ella was not feeling very comfortable at the moment.

For the hundredth time in the past half hour, the thought that they had made a mistake came to mind. Josh never fought. Ever. When she said ever, she meant just that. He was a level headed little man who knew how to apologize when he was wrong and he absolutely hated conflict. Why then would he fight?

She stepped into the Counselor's office and gasped. Her little baby had bruises on his face. There was one on his forehead and one on either side of his face.

What kind of child was able to inflict such injury on another child? Then she turned her head and saw the other little boy. He was bigger than Josh, he had fiery hair and pale skin. But that was not what caught Ella's attention. What did was the fact that the boy was in even worse shape than Josh. He had bruises on his face and a cut lip, and he appeared to be crying while Josh just sat and glared at everybody in the room.

Exactly what was going on?

"Please, take a seat," The Counselor said to Ella.

"What happened?" she asked as she sat down in one of the empty seats.

"Your son and Micah here got into a fight," the counselor said.

"Can somebody please not state the obvious and tell me what happened?" She was agitated at this point. Her son was bruised and nobody could tell her what the problem was.

"Your son's teacher and I discussed it and we think it would be better for you to take Josh home and talk to him and then choose to punish him in the way you see best. It's a rather sensitive issue," the middle aged woman with round glasses said.

What kind of system was this? Anyway, she was glad she could finally take her son home now and tend to his injuries herself. She looked back and saw that he was still glaring at the boy sitting beside him. What had the boy to work Josh into such a temper?