Breakout

CHAPTER FOUR"Ms. Harrison, we have a problem."Marjorie Harrison, Washington Junior High Principal, put down the paperwork she had been working on diligently and looked up at her faithful secretary of five years. "Problem?" she repeated, her long dark hair cascading down over the shoulders of her gray suit. She removed her black plastic square frames setting them on a pile of paperwork.Problems? Marjorie was used to them. Every school principal deals with problems, right? In her eyes, dealing with problems comes with the job. Schools have problems, she reasoned with her staff constantly. The goal was to work through them."This is an unusual one, though."Marjorie smiled. Unusual? She had seen her fill of unusual problems. The first female principal in the small Virginia School District brought many obstacles her way. But, she was tough.Tough enough to stand up to a community that didn't always welcome her opinion. "What could be that unusual Kendra? We've seen it all, right?" she smiled warmly."Just come with me. I can't explain it. I'll have to show you."The two women left Marjorie 's big office, heading out of the administration wing towards a small classroom located next to the library."Uh, it 's been going on since about 7:45 this morning. You know that Bible Club we OK 'd last month to meet before school?""Uh huh," Marjorie responded."Well, I don 't know how to explain it. I'm wondering if it is a cover for some kind of cult, or drug ring. Whatever it is, the behavior is what I meant by unusual.""Behavior?"The two women turned the hallway corner. The entrance to the library doors was in view.Next door, a small group of students and teachers were huddled in a circle looking through the glass-paneled door."These students won 't leave. Some of them are lying on the floor. Donald Rutherland's daughter is crying uncontrollably. And the leader, Jim Smith, is singing songs with a guitar.Marjorie, honestly, it reminded me of when I went to Woodstock in High School. Something so out of the ordinary I can't explain it. I just can't explain."The group of students and teachers parted the group so Marjorie could get a front row glance.What she saw even she couldn't believe.Over in a corner amidst of some moved desks was a student dancing and jumping. She recognized his face. Peter Olmstead. Marjorie had suspended him earlier in the year for selling crack on campus. She wondered if he had been smoking it again. On the ground next to him was Mandy Forsythe. Both parents had died in a devastating car wreck nine months ago. She had been on so much medication to deal with the pain of the loss that she had been put into several special education classes just for extreme personal attention. Her eyes were closed. The look of peace on her face transcended any pain that had been there before. One student was praying loudly with his face in his hands, several others were crying what seemed to be tears of joy. The odd thing Marjorie noticed was that although every person was not reacting in the same way, the small group of students all had a look of concrete peace."Excuse me," Marjorie said slipping by a girl who was talking to a friend about how weird everything looked."Are they in trouble?" another student asked as Marjorie reached for the door handle."I don 't know, "she responded confused. "But, what I do know is that we are going to get to the bottom of this."Rempel, Mark A. is the author of 'Breakout' with ISBN 9780785265474 and ISBN 0785265473.