C. L. Grant - The Rest Is Silence

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C. L. GRANT

The Rest Is Silence

C. L. Grant is executive secretary of the Science Fiction Writers of America.

Like all SFWA's officers, he also is a working science fiction writer. He

lives in New Jersey, has a bachelor's degree in history, a wife, two years of

service in Vietnam, a teaching position in high school (until recently), and

has sold twenty-three science fiction stories in addition to the following

novelette, a story that suggests (like Tom Reamy's "Twills") that more goes on

in high school than any of us remember.

Beware of dreamers: that would be my epitaph if I could have a grave to go to

when 1 die. But all there is now is a rambling, shrinking house, and a fog

that wisps away my words as I speak. 1 have committed suicide (unaware) and

have been murdered for it (all too aware); but if I have to shift the

unbearable blame for this madness elsewhere, it has to go to Julius Caesar,

late of Rome and the Elizabethan state. After all, if he hadn't gotten himself

so famously killed, Shakespeare would have never written a play about it nor

would I have had to teach it. Yet he did, and 1 did, so here we are. And now I

know all too well just where that is.

After the fact, events have a diabolical way of falling into place that makes

a curse of hindsight and hell for the present. Case in point: a Wednesday in

October and a perfectly ordinary English Department meeting. Chandler Jolliet,

the commandingly tall chairman, was quietly and efficiently razoring our

confidence in our collective abilities. Apparently a virgin member of our

troupe had decided not to concentrate on Julius Caesar's examination of power,

but rather on the in-depth characterization of the conspirators, Brutus in

particular. God forbid that we should deviate from the chartered lanes of the

courses of study, but this youngster, fresh from college with stars in his

eyes, had taken it upon himself to do just that, and we were all suffering for

it. Jolliet's sycophants and friends were murmuring and nodding; and the rest

of us, who had endured this

brand of tirade before, were daydreaming, planning our Christmas vacations and

plotting assassinations of our own. And when the hour-and-a-half tantrum was

over, we nodded our heads in sage obeisance and shuffled out, as slaves must

have done before the overseer's whip. In the hall, however, the culprit, Marty

Schubert, cornered me and Valerie Stem to press his case.

"I don't understand, " he said. " What's so holy about Caesar that I can't

tally about something new for a change? I'm not saying Jollie's way is better

or worse, but for God's sake, what the hell does he have against me? What did

I do that he hates me?"

"Not a thing, " Val said, guiding him gently by the arm away from Jolliet's

open office door. "It's just his way of breaking you in." She looked back at

me and smiled. "Eddie's been through it. So have I. You just have to grin and

bear it."

"Why?" he demanded as anguish and anger gathered in his features like

thunderclouds.

"Because we need the jobs, Marty," I said, not liking the sound of my voice,

so recently like his, so recently crushed. "'There are too many teachers and

not enough jobs. Val, me, and a few others, we've been around much too long to

go hunting for other positions. Who'd hire us when they could have newcomers

at half the salary? The only thing we can do is play the game, Sam. Play the

game and hope he has a heart attack, or a lingering case of diarrhea. "

Marty stared, not quite sure if I were serious. Finally he decided I wasn't

and laughed. But his cheeks were still flushed and his eyes glinting, as if

he'd been repeatedly slapped. W

signed out in silence, and in the parking lot Val and I watched him slump to

his car and drive slowly away. Val, her eyes hidden by uncut bangs as black as

my mood, shook her head. "He's a smart kid, Eddie. It's a shame to see the old

bastard do him in like that."

I could only shrug and she accepted that as a sign of the times under which we

lived. We parted, silently, and I drove home much faster than I'd intended,

for there was nothing for me there. The apartment was still the

hospital-white, bare-floored cell I'd resigned myself to when I finally

realized there was no place else for me to go. I wasn't clever enough to quit

and enter business, nor was I ambitious enough to climb out of the classroom

into administration. Sometimes I entertained the

spirit of Mr. Chips and envisioned thousands of ex-students tearfully waving

goodbye at my retirement. A farce for all that: I could barely remember the

names of kids I'd taught the year before, much less those I'd challenged in my

virgin year.

It rained that night, if I recall correctly. My unlisted telephone continued

collecting dust. The end of a perfect day. And the world kept spinning.

The following morning, however, with the sun barely risen, the telephone

scared the hell out of me by working.

"Eddie?"

"Marry, that you?" I was still asleep. I must have been, or his actor's deep

voice would have identified him immediately.

"Eddie, listen, I can't go back. Not after what he's done to me."

That woke me up. "Whoa, son, hang on a minute. Don't let that creep get to you

like that."

"I'm sorry, Eddie, but I can't do it. I understand your position, really, and

I'm not kidding, but I've been thinking it over In fact, I haven't slept all

night. I just can't go back and face him. Would you do me a favor and stop

over on your way in? You can take my books and stuff in with you. My

resignation too. "

Since I was still rather foggy, all I did was mumble an agreement, take a

shower and fix myself some instant breakfast. I made a quick call to the

school, telling the secretary I might be a little late, car trouble, and hung

up before she could get too nosy. On the way to Marty's rented duplex, I kept

the window rolled down. to wake me up. I was worried. Marty was one of the

brightest, most dedicated teachers I had known, and somehow I had to keep him

with us. If for no other reason than he actually liked the kiss he worked

with, and they, in turn, held him in enormous respect.

He opened his front door immediately when I knocked. He was dressed for work,

but unshaven, and his breath as he welcomed me told me what he'd been thinking

with. He was sober, though, and solemnly waved me to a chair.

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