A Better Conversation

I was super worried that I would find a ticket on my windshield.  While hiking down from a morning exploring Lower Twin Lake on Mt. Hood, I had the realization that my parks pass was hanging in Derrick’s window and I hadn’t paid the 5 dollar day pass fee.   Luckily, there was no ticket on my windshield.  I was relived and happy that a morning spent decompressing from what I considered a “failed” interview didn’t end with a flapping yellow citation.


Once I turned on to Highway 26, I finally got a few bars of cellphone signal.  My phone pinged with a voicemail from Jeremy Garcia asking me to call him back. I wasn’t expecting this, so I called once I had a full signal.  The boys were entranced with a movie in the backseat, so I has some time to kill on the 45 minute drive back into town.


From the minute the call connected, I could tell this conversation would be more casual.  There was no recording necessary and Jeremy was just calling to update me.  He had interview my mom that morning which had gone well.  Both her and I had mentioned how The Coach had been fired from his job in Artesia for inappropriate communication with a sophomore girl. However, my mom and I were convinced that Artesia Public School had done nothing other than let me go quietly.  We didn’t think they had reported anything to the PED.  Jeremy informed us that after some digging, he found that Artesia did in fact report him to the PED in 2001 and that “something had happened to his license”.


He also mentioned that my mom had given him the name of a man a few years older than me who was suspected of having suffered abuse from The Coach as well.  I confirmed what I had heard of this man, but also let Jeremy know that a statement would be a long shot.  This man was from a super conservative family with very strong religious beliefs.  I mentioned all this to him and wished him luck.  Jeremy told me that between the report to the PED in 2001 as well as the interviews with my mom and I he felt he had enough to send to his department’s prosecutor to make a determination on any actions on The Coach’s license. However, he did mention that the other man’s statement would be a great help to his investigation.  I wanted to tell him not to hold his breathe.


The call ended and a smile spread across my face because Jeremy has left me with one other anecdote.  He had interviewed The Coach the day before. Without giving any details to their conversation, he let me know that he was panicked.  Good, I thought.  It is his turn to live with anxiety.  I hope he lost every bit of sleep that night knowing a storm was building on his horizon.