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She liked a great deal about her life, especially her work, but that ache told her it was far from complete, and no matter how many children she helped, she needed something more. Maybe she needed something quite like Ronan Vonn… and his friend. The thought made her shiver, and she wasn’t sure if it was from horror at the idea of having two men at once or the delicious taboo of the thought.
When the lastchild had left, Tessa turned back to the classroom to do the inevitable paperwork to satisfy the bureaucratic monster schools had become. In addition to grading papers and doing evaluations, there always seemed to be a new form or two in her inbox with items to be checked or new rules or procedures to be acknowledged.
Jimmy sat just outside the door, his back to the wall, reading a book. She had been glad to learn he was an avid reader. The quiet ones sometimes compensated by turning to books, and that was a good thing, as far as she was concerned. Often, she wondered about his book choices, however. They seemed to be awfully serious and rather eclectic for a young boy. She’d seen him reading books propounding theories about the Kennedy assassination, titles on currency manipulation, and others on the perils of world government. She’d checked with Mr. Affir, the civics teacher, and found that none of them were on the reading list for his class, or even titles he had mentioned.
As she approached Jimmy, he looked up at her and gave her a bittersweet, apprehensive smile. Those stunning green eyes of his, framed with jet-black hair, accented his sad, subdued expression. Given half a chance, as a young man he’d develop the look of a brooding artist.
“What are you reading today?”
He looked guilty. “It’s calledShadow Government. It’s by a man named Grant Jeffrey.” He showed her the cover. “It’s about how the secret elite keeps track of people and spies on everyone.”
“Secret elite? Who are they?”
He scowled. “It’s the people who really run the governments of the world for their own interests.”
“Is that something that interests you?”
He shut the book. “I don’t know. I don’t think I understand much of what they’re talking about. I mean, why would the government let these other people tell them what the laws should be?”
She sat beside him, noting the way the book cover was crowded with short blurbs in large type: ‘An ultra-secret global elite, functioning as a very real shadow government, controls technology, finance, international law, world trade, political power, and vast military capabilities.’
“I’m not sure, but then I haven’t read that book.”
“Is it true? Does the government hide things from the people and work for a secret group?”
She considered her reply, not wanting to talk down to him. “I’m sure there are people who, because of their money or position, have more influence on what governments do, and there are people who spy on others. I would think that if they were that powerful, they wouldn’t let this man publish that story. That’s something to consider.”
“My dad says… this book says these people use the FBI and CIA to secretly spy on people who aren’t even doing anything wrong. Do they do that?”
Tessa felt a bit trapped. “I don’t really know, to be honest. But even if they spy on me, they won’t find anything interesting. I’m just a teacher. The worst thing they could learn is that I sometimes coach my favorite students a bit so they do better on tests.”
“You help all the kids.”
She grinned. “Because you’re all my favorites.”
“My dad says this stuff is important.”
She nodded, glad to know where the interest came from. “Does he give you these books? Does he expect you to read them?”
“No.” He closed the book. “My dad believes these things. He believes things Mr. Affir says are just silly.” He scowled. “But Mr. Affir says some things that don’t make much sense sometimes, too, so I want to find out for myself. My dad talks about this kind of stuff all the time. Sometimes he gets really, really angry about it, and when he talks to me, I want to understand why he’s so angry. He thinks it’s really important.”
“Do the books help you understand him?”
“Sometimes. But some of the books don’t agree with his ideas. Some mostly agree but not with all his ideas, and if I ask him about it, he tells me they’re propaganda. So it’s confusing. How do you know which books are right and which are propaganda? How do you know what is right or wrong?”
Her heart went out to him. Jimmy was a logical kid, and she could see him having trouble accepting radical opinions. “That’s a pretty complicated thing to figure out, Jimmy. Different people have their own ideas on almost every topic. With things that are hard to prove, like talking about something that’s secret, it can be hard to know the truth, simply because some of the facts are secret. When you read a book, the rule I use is that when the writer says things and claims they are true but doesn’t explain why they’re true, then doesn’t let you see their reasoning, and they won’t discuss the ideas, that’s usually propaganda. Discussion is important because even scientists will disagree about what’s true or false.”
“Do the scientists get angry with each other?”
She laughed. “I imagine some do. It isn’t usually helpful. It’s better to talk things through.”
“I wish I understood my dad. If I try to get him to explain things, he just repeats the same thing that’s in the books. That doesn’t help.”
Tessa had zero interest in politics, but the hope she saw on his face was compelling. “I can see that. Why not ask him to loan you the books he thinks tell the truth? After you read them, you and I can discuss anything that doesn’t make sense to you.”
He grinned. “You’d do that?”
“Sure. I might learn something too. I don’t know much about any of this.”
