Trinity of Desire

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December 21, 1981

"... and thank you so very much for coming," Kathryn Grant said as she gently guided Mrs. Columbo toward the classroom door.

It wasn't until she'd closed the door behind the older woman that the twenty-six-year-old redhead allowed herself a sigh of relief. She was certain the talkative mother of three was going to come up with yet another 'one more thing' that she wanted to discuss. Parent-Teacher's Night was supposed to have ended an hour ago, but so many appointments had gone over their allotted time that the new teacher had run far behind schedule. The worst offenders had been those parents who simply couldn't accept that their son or daughter was anything less than exceptional. The woman who had just left had been a prime example, refusing to believe that her son was only an average student. It took nearly a half hour for Kathryn to make her understand that even an average student at a school like Fisher Prep was a notable accomplishment.

One of the most prestigious schools of its type in New York City, the small citadel of education had been a fixture in Brooklyn Heights for nearly a hundred years, and Kathryn had been fortunate to have secured a position at it. Back when she was studying to become a teacher, the running joke was that someone had to literally die for an opening on the staff to become available. When she'd first heard the line, Kathryn thought it a bit extreme, yet, in the end, that was exactly how she'd gotten the job.

Two weeks before the start of the semester, there had been a sudden death among the staff and, by a fortunate coincidence, Kathryn's resume had been sitting in the inbox of the school's personnel director. It also just so happened that the director was scheduled to leave on a long-delayed vacation the following morning. Unwilling to put off her trip a second time, the woman had deemed Kathryn's qualifications acceptable and, after a hastily arranged interview, hired her -- on a provisional basis, of course.

It was the provisional nature of her employment that made Kathryn more willing to put up with some of the school's more eccentric quirks. Having Parent-Teacher Night on the last day of school before the Christmas Break had been one of those, although it being a progressive institution, the break needed to be referred to as Winter Solstice so as to be more inclusive. Another of the foibles she had to get used to was that not only did the school have a dress code for the students, it had one for teachers as well. They didn't make the latter wear uniforms as the former did, but they might as well have. Ties and jackets were mandatory for the male instructors and modest dresses were greatly encouraged for women. Skirts were tolerated if of respectable length, while slacks were frowned upon. Jeans, of any kind, were strictly forbidden. Being new and wanting to make the best impression possible, Kathryn had showed up each day in a dress that would've made the sisters at her parochial grade school proud.

As she cleared the small table that had been used for refreshments, Kathryn again noticed the small stain on the hem of her dress, the result of one of the fathers accidentally spilling his cup of coffee on her. In truth, it hadn't been so much an accident as a reaction to her substantial bosom when, in turning away from the table too quickly, he had found himself with a close up view of it. One that startled him so much that he lost control of the cup in his hand. Conservative as her dress might have been, nothing short of wearing heavy bindings beneath it was going to hide her 38C bust. Thankfully, the dress had taken the brunt of the damage, and as she once more examined the small discoloration, she wondered if the school might foot the bill to have it cleaned.

"Probably not," she told herself as she tossed the last of the refuse into the waste pail.

With the school scheduled to be closed for the next two weeks, Kathryn thought it a good idea to empty the pail into the larger trash receptacle outside the registrar's office. The cleaning staff had already made their rounds, at least of the classrooms, and she doubted they'd be back a second time. The small pile of stained cups, paper plates and leftover pastries might not have amounted to much, but the redhead didn't want to find out what they might smell like if left until after the break.

After taking a last look around the room to be sure she hadn't missed anything, Kathryn paused and used the mirror by the door to check her appearance. The head proctor was a stickler about appearance and had the mirror installed so that students could check their uniforms before leaving the classroom. Few actually did, but it was helpful for teachers, who were more likely to draw the ex-military officer's disapproval anyway.

A quick glance confirmed that all was well, even though there was probably no one still in the school to care. The more experienced teachers knew how to keep things moving during these events and had doubtless left at the scheduled time, if not before. Reaching up to the barrette that held her shoulder length hair in a more acceptable styling, Kathryn was about to remove it but found herself hesitating. Normally, she didn't do so until she was off school grounds, so it somehow felt wrong to do so now.

"I guess I really have settled in here," she said to her reflection before removing her hand.

Stepping away from the mirror and reopening the door, pausing only long enough to pick up the trash pail liner and her overcoat, Kathryn considered how much the woman in the mirror had indeed changed in only a few months. Her friends from her weekend clubbing days would barely recognize her and, in a transient thought, she considered that if she ever wore one of the outfits from those forays to class, well, it would be more than coffee that her sex-on-the-brain students would be spilling on the floor, or at least in their pants.

'Well, at least you still have a dirty mind,' Kathryn thought with a smile as she headed down the empty corridor.

-=-=-=-

Lifting the lid of the large trash container, Kathryn was about to toss the small plastic bag inside it when a voice from behind the counter of the registrar's office suddenly startled her. So much so that she dropped the bag on the polished floor instead. Thankfully, it didn't break.

"Kathryn, what are you still doing here?" the strong yet feminine voice had asked.

Turning in the direction of the voice, the redhead saw an older woman wearing a light gray business jacket over a ruffled white blouse. As she came around the divider, a matching skirt came into view, one that extended well below her knees.

"Natalie, you startled me," Kathryn said, catching her breath.

Natalie West had been a teacher at Fisher Prep for twenty-seven of her fifty-nine years. A gray tinged brunette who wore her short hair in a tight bun, she was a few inches taller than Kathryn's five six as well as about ten pounds heavier. One thing they shared in common, however, was impressive busts. A mathematics instructor, Natalie had been one of the first staff members to befriend the new teacher and was always offering advice on how to navigate the sometimes byzantine rules and regulations.

Picking up the bag from the floor and dropping it into the container, Kathryn explained that her interviews had run late, ending only a quarter hour before.

"Ah," Natalie replied with an understanding smile, adding that that was something she'd be better able to control once she had a bit more experience.

"That's assuming that I'm here long enough to gain that experience," Kathryn said as she replaced the lid. "I might not even make it past probation."

"Oh, don't think that, you're doing a fine job," Natalie countered.

"I'm glad you think so," Kathryn smiled. "I hope the board feels the same way when they do my quarterly evaluation."

"Well, I'm not really supposed to tell you this," Natalie said after a moment's hesitation, "but it's already been done."

"How do you..." Kathryn started to ask, then paused as she realized the answer.

Even though she had turned down several offers to sit on the board, Natalie had been at the school long enough that there were few things she wasn't privy to. If she wanted to take a look at someone's personnel file for example, there were few people in the office that were going to tell her no.

"And...?" the younger woman cautiously asked.

"Let's just say that I don't think you'll be disappointed and leave it at that," Natalie answered.

"How come you're here so late?" Kathryn asked, thinking it best to change the subject.

"Oh, just finishing up a few things for the headmaster, that's all," the older woman said, dismissing the importance of any of it with a wave of her hand. "He decided to start his holiday a little early and left for Hunter Mountain on Friday night, and I said I'd make sure all the reports that needed to go out did so, with all the T's crossed and the I's dotted."

Kathryn nodded her head. She'd had little contact with the headmaster since her hiring, with the exception of her 'welcome aboard' speech, but he seemed a nice enough sort.

"That reminds me," Natalie said, "you had a call earlier, from someone named Rachel. Mildred took the call and asked if you'd left for the day yet. I told her that I wasn't sure and that she should stop by your classroom and check. Did she find you?"

"Rachel is my roommate," Kathryn replied, "but no one came looking for me."

"Damn Mildred, she probably couldn't find anyone else to send and was in so much of a hurry to leave herself that she couldn't be bothered," Natalie noted with a touch of annoyance. "I wonder if... wait a second, let me check something."

With that, Natalie again disappeared behind the long counter, walking over to the multi-tiered organizer that served as in-house mailboxes for the staff. There, resting atop a few memos, she found the bright pink sheet of a telephone answering pad. Glancing at it only long enough to see the name Rachel on it, she carried the note back out into the hallway.

"I don't know what good she expected putting it into your mailbox was supposed to do, if you didn't see it until the New Year," Natalie said in exasperation as she handed Kathryn the slip of paper. "I swear, if that airhead wasn't blowing the vice-principal on a regular basis, she'd have been out on her ass a long time ago."

Kathryn tried not to react as she digested that little tidbit, certain that Natalie hadn't really meant to share what was obviously privileged information. Even so, she had to smile, at least a bit, at the image of the thirty something office secretary down on her knees servicing the vice-principal -- who was not only old enough to be her father, but was very much married.

"I hope, whatever the message was, it wasn't important," Natalie said, making a mental note that if it was, she'd be having a little word with Mildred after the break, vice-principal or no vice-principal.

It only took Kathryn a few seconds to read the hastily written note, but in those brief moments her expression turned from curiosity to dismay.

"Fuck me!" the younger woman said loudly before remembering where she was and apologizing for her language.

The school also had a thing about inappropriate language, especially when used by teachers. After all, they were supposed to be setting an example for the students.

"I've heard the word before," Natalie said, brushing aside Kathryn's use of it, adding with a mischievous grin that she might've used it herself a time or two. "I take it that it's not good news."

"No, no it's not," Kathryn said as she read it a second time.

She went on to explain that the furnace in their apartment building up in Sunset Park had gone out and the superintendent had told the tenants that he couldn't get a replacement part until tomorrow. With the temperature expected to drop down close to freezing tonight, Rachel was going to spend the night at her boyfriend's apartment. She also suggested that Kathryn find someplace else to sleep as well.

"You've never mentioned it before, but from your reaction I'm guessing that you don't have someone to spend the night with," Natalie said.

"No, I had a boyfriend, but we, well, things didn't work out," Kathryn replied. "My parents are down in Florida and my brother lives out in New Jersey. I don't even have a car."

"No friends that could put you up for the night?" Natalie further inquired.

"I only moved to Brooklyn when I got the job," Kathryn went on to explain. "Other than Rachel and the people here at school, I really haven't had the time to make friends."

"Well, I guess then there's only one thing for you to do," Natalie said. "You'll have to come home with me."

"Don't you have a roommate?" Kathryn asked, remembering Natalie having once mentioned having one.

"Yes, and there's only one bedroom, so you'll have to settle for the couch," Natalie pointed out. "But you'll be far from the first person to have spent the night on it, and I'm told it's actually quite comfortable."

"Are you sure your roommate won't mind?" Kathryn asked. She was extremely grateful for the offer, but at the same time, didn't want to just show up unannounced.

"Trust me, it'll be fine," Natalie insisted.

"Then I gratefully accept," Kathryn said, thankful that she wasn't going to spend the night in a cold apartment.

-=-=-=-

From previous conversations, Kathryn knew that Natalie lived here in the Heights, in a brownstone down by the Promenade. It only took them about ten minutes to walk there, but given the chilly wind coming off the East River it was ten minutes too long as far as the younger woman was concerned. Still, she wasn't about to complain, especially once they found themselves standing in front of the three-story structure.

"I'm down on the garden level," Natalie said as she opened the wrought iron gate that led into the entrance under the stoop.

Most of the buildings in the area had been built back in the 1920s, and Kathryn had often admired many of them when she'd gone on lunchtime walks during warmer weather. She often wondered what they looked like inside and confessed a small excitement that her curiosity was about to be answered.

"Jayne, I'm home," Natalie called out loudly after hanging up both Kathryn's coat and her own on a rack by the door, "and I've brought a guest."

After a few seconds, Kathryn caught a flash of movement as a door, which she later learned led to the bedroom, slowly opened. From within emerged a woman about her height, with short hair, a mixture of blonde and white, done up in a curled-out bob. At first impression, Kathryn would've said that Jayne Baxter was in her mid-forties and was later surprised to find that she was actually fifty-four. Slimmer than her roommate, Jayne nevertheless had a bust only a cup size smaller. As she came closer, Kathryn saw that she was wearing a dark pinstripe business suit similar to Natalie's, but with a low-cut top beneath it that showed off more cleavage than would've been acceptable at Fisher.

"I was beginning to get worried," Jayne said as she came to a stop only a few feet away from them. "I'd thought you'd be home before me."

"Sorry, I got tied up with a few things," Natalie apologized.

"Who's your friend?" Jayne asked, seeming to only now take more than a glance in Kathryn's direction.

Natalie quickly introduced Kathryn, explaining both that she worked with her at the school and the problem at her apartment. She ended the short narrative by saying that she was sure that Jayne wouldn't mind her offering the younger woman the hospitality of their couch.

"Of course not," Jayne replied. "She's more than welcome."

Jayne then inquired if either of them was hungry, saying that she'd made up a plate knowing that Natalie never ate at those Parent-Teacher Nights.

Kathryn was, to be honest, more than a bit hungry, but too polite to say so. Thankfully, Natalie said that she could use a bite, adding that they should also open a bottle of wine.

"Already chilling in the bucket," Jayne smiled. "Just let me get another glass from the cabinet."

As Jayne went to do just that, Natalie told Kathryn to make herself comfortable. In the center of the room was a coffee table paralleled by a couch and a loveseat. Leaving the larger sofa to the older women, the redhead took a seat on the smaller settee. As she did, she also took a moment to take in the rest of the small apartment.

Other than the room Jayne had emerged from, the apartment was basically the large common room they now sat in. Subdivided into three parts by a low countertop next to the kitchenette on one side and a long folding partition that created an office space on the other, it was both comfortable and functional. At the far end of the room stood a sliding glass patio door which led out to a good-sized garden space where one might enjoy the outdoors in more clement weather. It also afforded a magnificent view of the river and lower Manhattan on the other side of it.

"I love your apartment, especially the view," Kathryn said, comparing it in her mind to her own place which, while it had a second bedroom, only had a view of the side of the building next to it.

"Thank you," Jayne said as she laid a tray with the now chilled wine and three glasses on the table before taking a seat on the opposing couch.

"Have the two of you lived here long?" Kathryn asked.

"I've been here over twenty years," Natalie said as she laid another tray with the cheese and meat slices that Jayne had prepared next to the wine, "and Jayne moved in with me, what has it been now, sixteen years ago?"

"Closer to eighteen," Jayne corrected her roommate. "It was a few months after Kennedy was shot, don't you remember?"

"Of course, it just doesn't seem that long," Natalie said as she took a seat next to Jayne.

Jayne, it turned out, had also been a teacher at Fisher, but had left the school about ten years ago, taking early retirement to form a company that specialized in corporate training classes, that had proved quite successful over the last few years. In fact, she had been having drinks with a potential new client this evening, which explained her dress. The days of them needing to share expenses had passed long ago, but they had become so comfortable in their surroundings that they couldn't imagine moving to larger, but less enjoyable, accommodation.

As they enjoyed the snack and the wine, all three women soon fell into a free-wheeling discussion during which Kathryn shared a bit about herself, much of which was already known to Natalie but was all new to Jayne. It quickly became apparent that Jayne wasn't the least bit reluctant to ask questions that some might find inappropriate.

"I can't believe that a pretty girl like you doesn't have a boyfriend," Jayne said as, after refilling their glasses, she shifted from the couch to the smaller space next to Kathryn.

"She had a boyfriend," Natalie interposed. "It didn't work out."

"But you must still date," Jayne said.

"Well, I've been concentrating on work a lot," Kathryn noted. "So, it hasn't really been a priority."

"How about girlfriends?" Jayne asked.

"Pretty much the same," the younger woman repeated. "In fact, the only friends I've made are at the school."

"That's not what I meant..." Jayne started to say, only to be cut off by Natalie.

"Jayne!" she said in a sharp tone, causing the blonde to snap her head in her direction.

"Oh," Kathryn said, finally realizing what Jayne had been implying, adding after a long moment's pause. "No, I don't have a girlfriend."