Alan Matthews shut the door firmly behind him. He held a rolled up newspaper under one arm and a cup in his hand. In the few minutes that it had taken to walk to the street corner where the paperboy insisted on dropping the circular, he'd had a very interesting conversation with several of the neighbors. It seemed that "Swamp Thing" was launching an all- out invasion on the neighborhood.
Amy looked up when she heard husband come into the kitchen. "What's wrong, honey?"
"Uh," Alan ran a hand through his sandy hair. "It seems that we aren't the only ones with a green sludge problem."
"Oh?" Amy looked concerned. They had been unable to use the showers due to the mess in the pipes.
"Yeah, Mr. Carson said that a nasty green goop was oozing out of their kitchen sink. It was coming out of Mrs. Steinberg's toilet."
Amy made a face. "How awful. Sounds like the same thing we're dealing with."
Alan nodded. "So it does."
"What on earth could have caused it?"
"Who knows? Carson said that he called Waste Management and they're sending someone out to look at the sewer system."
"I hope they can clean up the mess," Amy commented taking a jug of milk out the refrigerator. "That stuff could make the kids sick."
Alan nodded in agreement.
"Kids!" Amy yelled up the stairs. "Breakfast!"
_____________________________________________________________________________
Cory was anxious about the new batch of goop that he and Shawn had concocted the night before. As it turned out, neither boy had been able remember exactly what had been put into the original batch. In a panic, they had mixed together whatever they could get their hands on. Their miracle goo was now more like a minty paste.
"It was sure nice of Janitor Bud to let us put those boxes in the janitor's closet," Shawn said, randomly pulling books out of his locker and putting them in his bag. "I don't think I could have gotten them into my locker."
"I hope this stuff works the same," Cory replied worriedly. "It doesn't look the same as before. Or smell the same."
"So, we'll just add 'new and improved' to the sign and call it good."
"What if it's bad?"
Shawn shrugged and took a brown paper bag out his bag and stuck it on the top shelf of his locker.
"Since when do you bring lunch to school?" Cory jabbed at the bag.
"Since Audrey started making it," Shawn smiled coolly.
"What's this?" Cory's eyes lit up as he smelled some juicy gossip on the horizon. "You're on a first name basis now. Shawn? What haven't you been telling me?"
Shawn shrugged. "Nothing."
Cory just looked at him.
"I'm serious, Cory," he said slamming the locker door. Cory involuntarily flinched as something usually fell out of his locker and hit him when Shawn shut his door.
"But she's been over at Mr. Turner's a lot lately," Cory prodded. "Hasn't she?"
Shawn clamped his hands over his friend's mouth and looked about wildly, afraid that someone might have overheard. When he was satisfied that no one had been paying attention to them, Shawn answered him.
"Yeah, she has." He looked away briefly. "I think Jon really likes her."
"But isn't he seeing Miss Tompkins?"
Shawn shrugged again. "Yeah, but...I don't know, Cor. Things are different with Audrey around. I can't explain it. I think Jon feels the same way."
"Has he said something?" Cory was no longer interested in gossip. Jonathan Turner was one of the best teachers they ever had and one of the most caring, not to mention the coolest. Audrey had become a close second favorite teacher to Mr. Turner and if the two were to, well...Cory wanted the best for both of them.
"Not in so many words," Shawn replied quietly. "I mean he's never come out and said anything. But you should hear him, Cor. Audrey's all he talks about." He paused a beat. "How'd you know that she's been over a lot."
Cory smiled. ''Cause she's all you talk about."
The boys walked in silence to their next class.
"It'd be kinda of cool if they got together," Cory said thoughtfully.
Shawn looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "It would be, wouldn't it?"
They walked a little further.
"Shawn?"
"Yeah, Cor?"
"What if our miracle goo is bad?"
__________________________________________________________________________
"Finally!" Jon let out a breath of relief as the bell rang. He clapped his textbook shut and propped his feet up on his desk.
"What are you complaining about?" Audrey asked leafing through a stack of papers she had collected before the class ended. A few stragglers handed her their papers before the room was completely empty of students. "You didn't do anything. I had the class."
"I know," he grinned. "But I gotta say, Aud, you're sounding more and more like a teacher everyday." He reached for a sheet of scrap paper and slowly began to crumple it up. "It was hard to keep from throwing paper wads at you."
"Huh?" Audrey turned just as he launched the ball of paper at her. It hit her square on the nose.
"Hey!" she yelped as he laughed. "What if a student had seen you?" She retrieved the paper from the floor. "You'd be setting a lousy example."
"Ah, but no one saw!" Jon held his hands up to shield himself from the projectile that had been thrown back at him.
"Seriously, though," he said, picking up the paper wad once more and throwing it, this time, into the trash can. "You're doing great. And so agreeable, too. Being the cooperating teacher wouldn't be so undesirable if all interns were like you."
"Well," Audrey smiled, returning to her paperwork. "I've got a pretty agreeable cooperating teacher."
Jon stood up and walked over to her.
"You feel up to trying the cafeteria again?" he asked. "No pizza this time. I promise."
Audrey's smile tightened and her spine stiffened. She kept her eyes focused on the papers she was putting into her bag.
Jon noticed the change in her posture. He reached over and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Hey," he said, trying to get her to look at him. "It's okay if you don't want to."
"No, no." Audrey looked up suddenly. "It's fine. Really." She laughed nervously. "It's been two months. I can't stay holed up in here all year."
Jon let his hand drop from her shoulder. She was hiding something, he was sure of it. There was some reason why she had such an aversion to the cafeteria. But what was it?
"No," he said decidedly. "We'll eat in here."
Audrey looked at him in puzzlement. "We?"
Jon smiled in bemusement. "Yeah, we. You know, as in you and me."
"Okay." Audrey flushed, excited that it would just be the two of them. She figured it was a close to a date as she was likely to get with him.
Audrey was left alone while Jon went to get his food from the cafeteria. He had refused to let her fix him anything for lunch the night before, declaring that she was a guest, not a cook, and therefore didn't need to spend all her time in the kitchen. That was fine with her- she busied herself with cleaning around the apartment. Jon hadn't been too thrilled with that either. Shawn however, had been very happy that Audrey had uncovered his bed from beneath a pile of clothes and other miscellaneous items.
Audrey went to retrieve her own lunch from the refrigerator in the faculty lounge. It was a brown paper bag that contained a small Caesar salad minus the Caesar dressing and a half of a pint of skim milk. She clutched it tightly as she went back to the classroom.
She was only a few yards away from the door when Eli intercepted her.
"Hey, Audrey," he said, lightly touching her arm. He looked upset.
"Hi, Eli," she returned with a concerned smile.
"Look, I just want to apologize for yesterday." Sheepishly, he dug his hands into his pockets. "Jon told me about you getting sick after the pizza thing."
Audrey relaxed. "I'm fine. It's okay, Eli," she said sincerely. "Really. No harm done." He looked so distressed and remorseful that it pained Audrey. She admired Eli and didn't want him to worry over her. Besides, yesterday wasn't his fault; there was no way he could have known what pizza would do to her. "Apology accepted."
Eli let out a held breath. "Great," he grinned, sounding relieved. "So you'll join us for lunch again?"
Audrey froze. What could she say? That if it wasn't for Jon she would do no socializing during the lunch hour? How could she explain why that was? She couldn't, Audrey knew that much.
"Not today," she said, skirting around directly answering the question he asked. "Jon and I have some work to do." This wasn't actually true nor was it a lie; she had no idea why Jon wanted to have lunch in the classroom. He had never joined her before so she assumed that this was school related.
A slow smile spread across Eli's face. His eyes danced in amusement. "Oh, I see," he said with a funny, cock-eyed smile. "Well, that's a whole 'nother thing then. I'll see you later, Audrey."
Without waiting for her to respond, Eli walked away passing Jon in the hall on his way to the cafeteria.
"Hey, man," he greeted his friend with a sly smile and jerked his head in the direction of the classroom. "Have a nice lunch."
"Okay," Jon mumbled to himself, dismissing Eli's curious behavior.
"What was that all about?" he asked Audrey.
The student teacher could only shrug.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Eli wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from his plate of Salisbury steak. Or at least he thought it was Salisbury steak. The school menu said "mystery meat", so he couldn't be sure.
He set his tray down by Katherine Tompkins, who had the wisdom to bring her lunch from home.
"What's wrong, Eli?" she asked in reference to the look of disgust on his face.
"Oh, nothing," he said poking tentatively at the so-called meat with a fork. "I've just lost my appetite, that's all."
"Is Jon coming?"
"Coming where?" Eli opted for the mashed potatoes instead of the steak.
"To lunch," she replied, trying to keep a casual tone to her voice.
"He's eating with Audrey. They have work or something to do, I think."
"Oh." Katherine wasn't very happy knowing that. Lately, Jon was always working with Audrey or so it seemed. Though she was sure it was only her imagination, Katherine was almost sure that she could smell Audrey's perfume when she was over at Jon's place.
"Hey, Eli." Katherine leaned her elbows against the table. "What do you know about Audrey?"
Eli put his fork down and thought for a moment. "Not a lot. I haven't been around her a whole lot. You'd have to ask J-" abruptly he caught himself before he said "You'd have to ask Jon." That probably wouldn't be the best thing to say. "You'd have to ask her, I guess." He smiled. "I know she's from New York City- the same area Jon's from. Mom's been gone since she was thirteen. I don't about her dad. Um, she was valedictorian of her class. Oh, and she was a ballet student at Julliard."
That caught Katherine's attention. "Really?"
Eli nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. She was a real prodigy apparently. Didn't have to audition or anything. She was asked to attend after the department head saw her in some ballet while she was studying at the School of American Ballet."
"You're kidding." Katherine was incredulous. She had long been an avid ballet fan. In fact, years ago, she had been a dancer herself with a dream of dancing for the American Ballet Company. Unfortunately, that dream never came to pass- she didn't have the feet. There was no room in a prestigious company for a flat-footed dancer. "How did she end up student teaching?"
"I don't know," Eli shrugged. "Something happened and she left."
Katherine sat back in her seat as Eli became immersed in conversation with another colleague.
Unbelievable, she thought. She wondered what could have made Audrey leave Julliard. She didn't seem to have any family or medical problems that would have forced her out. Of course, Katherine didn't know that for sure. Or could it be that the girl just a spoiled brat who was used to everything being handed to her and when she tired of Julliard went onto something else?
What I wouldn't have given to have had an opportunity like she did, Katherine thought with a wave of regret. Nothing could have made me give it up.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Despite having no real interest in dance- he wouldn't be caught dead at a ballet- Jon was absolutely fascinated by the fact that Audrey was a ballet dancer.
"So you just gave it up," Jon said. "Just quit?"
Audrey neatly and methodically cut the lettuce of her salad into one-inch squares. "It wasn't that simple. Dancing was my life. I lived and breathed it. It's what I grew up doing. It felt like my legs had been cut off when I had to leave Julliard and ABC."
"Do you still dance any?"
Audrey nodded. "An hour and a half before school. Then three hours after I get off of work at Hannigan's."
"Man." Jon whistled low. "That's dedication." He shook his head in admiration, then said, "I didn't know you worked at Hannigan's."
"Yeah, well, I gotta pay bills someway."
"I guess so," Jon replied. "I go to Hannigan's all the time. You got the graveyard shift, I'm guessing."
"Yep," Audrey slowly closed her empty milk carton and set it neatly inside of the paper bag. "I like it there. Waitressing's what I know. I used to work at the Bavarian Inn back home."
"I know the place," Jon nodded with a distant look in his eyes. "You didn't work the bar did you?" He gave her a disapproving look. "I wouldn't want you to work the bar- some real weirdoes hang around there."
"No," Audrey pretended to be exasperated by his questioning. "I didn't work the bar. I was underaged. I couldn't have if I had wanted to."
"Good," Jon said putting Audrey's lunch bag on his tray to throw it away. "I would have had a problem with that."
Audrey laughed and shook her head. "And so what if I did? What could you have done about it? Huh?"
Jon grinned at her teasing. "Seriously, Aud, what made you leave Julliard?"
_____________________________________________________________________________
"Cory, I'm telling you to relax," Shawn said as the boys arrived at the Matthews' house. "There can't be that much difference in the stuff we used to make the new goo."
"Yeah, but Shawn, that new stuff wasn't the same as the old stuff and you know it." Cory worriedly wiped his brow as he opened the back door with his free hand.
"Okay, so it didn't smell the same. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The original stuff really stunk bad."
"I'm telling you, this is going to explode in our face."
"Why would you say that?" Shawn asked, dropping his book bag inside the door of the kitchen.
"Because when we first started this, I said that we'd be rich, famous. That we'd go from nobodies to somebodies. But I know something bad's going to happen because I'm absolutely wrong about everything. Do I have to remind you about the wrestling team incident."
Shawn cringed at the memory. "Yeah, you weren't exactly batting a thousand there."
"No, I wasn't." Cory opened the refrigerator door. "You want something?"
"Soda'd be great."
Cory grabbed a coupled cans of Pepsi out of the back of the refrigerator and rifled through the cabinets for a snack.
"Hey, Cor," Shawn said as he sat down. Cory handed him a soda and dumped a package of Oreos into a bowl. "You think your folks would mind if I stayed for dinner?"
"Nah," Cory replied through an Oreo stuffed mouth. "I take it Miss Andrews isn't going to be over tonight."
Shawn made a face and reached for the bowl of cookies. "No, Jon's got a date with Miss Tompkins. I don't wanna be in the way."
"Too bad," Cory said. "I mean about Miss Andrews."
"I know what you meant."
"Hey," Cory turned around suddenly. "I wonder where everyone is? Mom hasn't yelled at us for eating junk food yet."
"Yeah," Shawn said. "That is odd."
The boys got up from the table leaving a mess of cookie crumbs and soda drippings behind.
"MOM!" Cory shouted at the top of his lungs as they walked into the living room.
"I'm upstairs, Cory," came the response. "And don't yell. I'm on the phone."
As Cory and Shawn stomped up the stairs they could hear Mrs. Matthews' end of the phone conversation.
"Yes, I know that, Alan. But we have a serious problem. That stuff is backing up the drains and the toilets. NO, I don't want to pour anything down the drain- I don't know that that won't make it worse."
Cory and Shawn leaned into the doorway of the master bedroom. Amy waved to Shawn when she saw him. She rolled her eyes at something her husband was saying. She put one hand over the phone's mouthpiece.
"Staying for dinner, Shawn?"
"Yeah, if you don't care."
Amy gave him a thumbs up and returned to her conversation. "No, Alan, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to call a plumber. Yes. Yes, I love you, too. Goodbye."
"What's that all about?" Cory asked as his mother hung up the phone.
"Oh, we're having a problem with drains and sewer. You father wanted me to try pouring Drain-o down the drains to try to clear them out. But we need a professional to fix this."
"What's wrong?" Shawn asked. Cory hadn't mentioned that there were any plumbing problems at his house.
'I'll have to show you."
The boys followed her to the master bath.
A thick, green goop was slowly dripping from the faucet.
"Whoa, does that smell!" Shawn waved his hand in front of his nose. Cory pinched his nostrils closed.
"I know. It's in all the sinks in the house and in the neighborhood. No one knows what it is," Amy explained.
"I don't think I want to know what it is!" Cory exclaimed.
"It looks and smells like that nasty stuff Cory whipped up last week." Eric had just arrived home from school and joined the three of them in the bathroom.
"What stuff?" Amy asked eyeing her youngest son suspiciously.
"You know, Mom, that stuff that nearly burned my face off but cleared up my zit."
"You know," Amy paused thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it..."
Cory and Shawn exchanged looks. Neither one liked where the conversation was going. They pushed past Eric and high-tailed it to Cory's room slamming the door behind them.