The Cover Up Novel Part Thirty By Ken David Stewart

“It very well could be, Drake. A lot of it is going to depend upon you and how much progress we make in today's meeting,” said Meyers.

Drake could feel his face redden and the muscles all through his body tighten up. It was like he was watching an old movie replaying itself once gain. He had been fired twice before in his adult life and the result for Drake was always severe trauma and a pain that never seemed to go away. His present situation triggered what had happened to him in his past.

When he taught a class of special needs students eleven years ago his life had started to unravel. That academic year he had another challenging group of students with two extra children that had severe behavioral disorders. The only thing that saved Drake's sanity during the first five months of that year was that his principal had applied for a government grant and had obtained a teaching assistant for Drake's class.

The teaching assistant was a shy, introverted twenty year old welfare recipient named Russel Trane. The government grant was intended to be a stepping stone in Russel Trane's working career. Somewhere along the line Russel had lost his self confidence in his ability to hold a job. Russel had always liked children and his welfare worker thought that this paid working assignment could be just what his client needed to regain his self esteem.

Russel's worker, Dave Hebert, had done his homework on this case. When he interviewed the principal of the school, he asked him a critical question, 'Which one of your teachers has the temperament to work with a client like Russel'?

The principal, Bob Hanes, took one second to think about his answer, “Drake Stephens. I hate to say it, but he is probably the only one of my teaching staff who has a personality suited for this type of challenge.”

It didn't take any more than a few weeks for Mr. Hane's instinct to prove correct. Drake was so elated to get a teaching assistant that he went all out in accepting Russell Trane as his next major project. During the first two days Russel was very nervous. The underarm areas of his shirt became soaked with perspiration. This was another reason for Russel to feel self conscious but fortunately none of Drake's students commented on the embarrassing wet spots on Russel's shirt. For the first morning Drake asked Russel just to walk around the classroom and observe the dynamics of his classroom. During the afternoon session Drake gave Russell his first assignment. It was to help Reggie with his oral reading. Drake gave Russel a short run down on Reggie's background and then gave Russel some suggestions as how to work with the boy. Russel felt good that Mr. Stephens had placed enough confidence in him that he would be allowed to work with one of his students on his first day on the job.