I lead them across the gym floor and down the steps near the exit. Instead of turning right into the locker room, we turn left. Once we’re inside, I shut the door and hurry to grab another folding chair that’s leaning against the wall.
Jordan and his parents sit down and look at me expectantly. “I think I’ll let Jordan start,” I tell them which causes Doug and Carley to turn their attention toward their son.
“What’s this about, Jordan?” Doug demands.
I can tell my student would probably rather run into oncoming traffic than tell them, so I’m exceptionally proud of him when he admits, “I’m in trouble.”
“What have you done?” his mom asks, sounding alarmed.
“I … um … that is to say …” He finally stops talking and inhales deeply like he’s been underwater for five minutes and has just come up for air. On the exhale, he tells them, “Margie is pregnant.”
“What?!” his parents ask in unison.
“It’s not yours, is it?” This from his mother.
“It is.”
I finally understand the term “deafening silence.” The lack of sound is almost painful. Clearing my throat, I announce, “Jordan was hoping you might be willing to talk about the options.”
“What options?” his dad asks before deciding, “Margie is going to have to have an abortion. We’ll pay for it.” He points hisfinger aggressively at his son and adds, “And you’ll pay us back.”
“Margie doesn’t want an abortion, Dad,” Jordan tells him.
Carley stands up abruptly but seemingly realizes she can’t pace in a room this small, so she sits back down and starts tapping her foot against the floor. It’s like she’s trying to send a message in Morse code through the earth’s core to China. “She can’t want to keep the baby! She’s only a child herself.”
“All I know is that she doesn’t want an abortion,” Jordan tells them.
“What would it even look like if she kept the baby?” his mom shrieks. Turning to her husband, she demands, “What would people think if our grandchild was being raised by his single teenage mother in this little town?”
“Mom, Dad,” Jordan interjects. “This is Margie’s decision, not mine. As much as I feel like I should have some say-so, it’s her body.”
“This is so … so …” Carley finally settles on the word, “Trashy. You were not raised like this, Jordan. I’m ashamed of you.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to face our friends,” his dad finally adds.
The Hollises’ reaction isn’t supportive like I had hoped. While I can understand they’re shell-shocked by this news, I can only hope that in time they’ll come around.
“Do you want to be part of your grandchild’s life?” I ask them.
“I … well … I mean …” Poor Carley is sputtering on overdrive. “My grandchild!” she exclaims. “I’m too young to be a grandmother!”
“Be that as it may,” I tell her, “that’s what appears to be on the horizon. It might help you deal with things to accept that a baby is going to be entering the picture. Yourson’schild.”
Carley’s eyes fill with tears, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t ones of joy. “Do Margie’s parents know?”
Jordan looks at his feet while nodding his head. Then he tells them, “A lot of people know.”
“How?” His dad’s alarm is clear.
With a shrug, Jordan tells him, “Once Margie’s family found out, other people heard the news too.” With surprising fortitude, Jordan finally looks his parents in the eye. “I’m not happy about this, but I don’t know what to do. I was hoping you guys might help me.”
“I don’t know how we can do that if Margie won’t get an abortion,” Doug states plainly.
“I want to talk about what my life will look like if Margie has the baby,” Jordan says. “For instance, will I still be able to go to college or will I have to get a job so I can support them?”
“I’m guessing Margie’s parents will help her care for it, so they probably won’t come after you for much money,” his mom decides. “At least at first.”
“That’s the thing …” Jordan says. “Margie’s parents say that if she has the baby she has to move out of their house and figure out how to support it. They want nothing to do with it.”
