Respecting Mr. Ravi

CHAPTER NINE: Disrespecting Mr. Ravi

The storm worsens, and Mr. Ravi is injured as a large branch crashes through his house. When Henry and Daisy rush to his aid, Alex freezes. By Monday, Alex is frustrated with Henry and Daisy’s interest in Mr. Ravi and decides to take a break from the project. As he wanders around by himself at recess, he bumps into Damian Dermite.

Alex snapped his head back and jumped. Behind him stood Damian Dermite and his weaselly friends, Austin and Jared. They stood by the old fence behind Mr. Ravi’s house. “Why?” Alex asked.

Damian lifted his chin and nodded. A blade of grass hung from his lower lip. “Just come here.”

Ever since the bull-nosed giant threatened to throw him in the washroom sink the month before, Alex managed to stay away from him and his gang all together. He had managed to avoid eye contact with all three of them, with the exception of last week. Principal Gordon forced Damian to apologize to Alex for throwing his gym shoes on the roof.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said, dragging his feet through the damp weeds and drooping dandelions.

“Sorry for what?” Damian replied. He pulled the blade of grass out of his mouth. “You didn’t do anything.”

The smell of wet leaves and rotten wood crept through the air. The laughter from the little gymnasts faded.

“I thought maybe, or perhaps there was a chance I was standing in a spot where I shouldn’t have been standing. Like out of bounds or something for like a person in the sixth grade.”

Damian narrowed his eyes. Plucking a hair from his neck, he looked at it for a second before letting go. “Am I, your teacher?” Alex swallowed. “No.”

“Are you a moron?”

“No.”

“Good. Then let me ask you something.” Alex scratched his nose. “Um, okay.” The water from the damp grass and mud seeped through a hole in his shoe.

“It’s actually more of a favour.” “Um—what kind of favour?” asked Alex. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the grass.

Damian eyed Alex for a second. “Relax— I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

“I am relaxed. I’m fine.” Mud squished under his foot, soaking through his sock. “I couldn’t be better.”

Damian bobbed his head for a second before moving away from the fence. He took a few steps toward Alex, stopping in front of the muddy puddle. He looked down at Alex’s feet and grinned. “Well, I hate to tell ya this, but my friends here think you’re a wimp.” He tilted his head and focused on the thick gelled globs in Alex’s hair. “Personally, I disagree.”

“Well, I’m not a wimp.”

“I hear ya, but they don’t believe me. So, I need you to do me a favour.” Damian crouched down and picked up a stone from the puddle, picking off the bits of dirt from the cracks. “Um, okay,” Alex replied.

Damian tossed the rock up into the air, catching it again. He rolled it around in his hands for a second before throwing it high over the tree line. He watched it disappear behind an old oak before stepping back toward the fence line again. He mumbled something in Austin’s ear and turned to Alex. “You see that dog over there?” Damian pointed to Sonny sitting comfortably on the grass under the big old tree. He wagged his tail, nibbling on a knotted piece of rope.

Alex nodded. “Yeah.”

“I need you to take his little chew toy, climb that tree, and hang it from that branch there.”

“What? I can’t do that. That’s Mr. Ravi’s dog.” Alex shook his head. “Sorry, man, I guess you’re gonna have to find somebody else.”

Damian looked over at Austin and Jared again and sighed. “I guess you’re right, guys; he is a wimp.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Alex replied, kicking a stone into a puddle. He turned away from them and marched through the grass.

“Too bad he’s not cool like his brother,” Damian muttered. “His brother wouldn’t wimp out like that—that’s for sure.”

A twig snapped below Alex’s feet, echoing through his ears, bouncing about inside his head. He whipped himself around, eyeing the tree in Mr. Ravi’s yard. A warm glow filtered over his eyes, burning his thoughts. Alex stormed over Mr. Ravi’s fence and across the yard. He stopped several feet in front of Sonny and crouched down to his knees. Crawling wildly toward Sonny, Alex yanked the squeaky chew toy from the dog’s playful grip. Alex rose to his feet and eyed the tree towering above him. In the corner of his eye, Sonny sat upright and wagged his giant tail. The fury still raged inside Alex as he stared back at the innocent dog. He dangled the chew toy above his head for a moment and shouted. “You want this? You wanna play with this? Look at you, you sit there without a care in the world, but you don’t get what’s going on around you, do you? You don’t care if people laugh at you. You’re just a stupid dog.” Alex stepped back and tossed the chew toy high up into the tangled branches. He watched it bounce around before snagging on a thin branch.

He looked at it for a moment. “Nobody compares me to my brother,” Alex mumbled to himself.

He turned back toward the fence to see if Damian was still watching. A sharp, sinister smile grew on his face. “How’s that?” Alex shouted.

However, Damian was no longer there, nor Jared or Austin. Standing in their place, holding on to Sonny with one hand and the stick with the other, was Mr. Ravi.

Alex’s face trembled—his hands, his body— felt heavy. Mr. Ravi stood there for a long time, looking at Alex. He wanted to drop to his knees and disappear.

As Alex stood under that tree, staring into the eyes of his favourite adult at the school, he wondered if he had just broken somebody’s heart.

Alex’s insides pulled and squeezed his chest and stomach, sort of like butterflies. He had felt them a hundred times before, like when he was about to talk to Daisy, but this was different.

“I’m—I’m—um.” Alex inched forward. He looked down at the grass and slowly, painfully turned to Mr. Ravi. Alex’s head filled with images of Damian hiding in the bushes with his buddies, watching the horrifying event go down. Alex stretched his gaze from side to side, wondering where they were hiding. He looked back up to Mr. Ravi. His white bandage was still wrapped tightly around his head. The glow in the custodian’s eyes, the permanent smile he walked around with for the past two months, was completely gone. “Damian Dermite made me do it.”

Mr. Ravi knelt down and scratched the back of Sonny’s head. He slipped his leash onto the collar and walked his dog back to the house. Alex turned back to the school and dragged himself across the playground. It was the most challenging walk he had ever done.

“You okay?” Henry asked, turning his enormous body around. The two sat in Mrs. Oxford’s class.

“It’s been four days,” Alex mumbled. “What’s been four days?”

Alex twisted his pencil around in his fingers. “Nothing. Never mind.”

“Seriously, what’s up with you?” Henry checked the front to see if Mrs. Oxford was watching. She sat at her desk, playing with her phone while eating a container of Blackberry Yogurt.

“Mr. Ravi. He’s been away for four days.” Alex dug his pencil into his eraser. “I’ve knocked on his office door like every period since Tuesday, and he’s not there.” “Maybe he’s sick,” Henry replied.

Alex flicked bits of eraser onto the floor. “Yeah, just my luck too. When is this rain going to stop? I can’t even go to his house with all of these stupid indoor recesses.”

Leaves blew across the playground outside. The swings rocked wildly back and forth. The students in the class glanced back to the window after every crack of thunder shook the sky.

“I like the rain. It means I can read during the break,” Henry replied. “It’s all cozy like.” Alex closed his eyes tight and heaved out a big breath. “This is nuts.” He raised his hand and coughed. “Miss? Can I go to the washroom?”

“What are you doing?” Henry asked.

“I can’t take this anymore. I gotta find him.” Mrs. Oxford nodded and stuck her nose back into whatever was so appealing about her phone.

“He’s not here, Alex. What’s the big deal? We can still work on the project without him.”

Alex turned to Henry, standing beside his desk. “I don’t care about this project. I care about him!” He pushed Henry’s pencil case off his desk and marched out of the classroom. Stepping through the door, Alex scanned the top of the junior hall and walked down toward the caretaker’s office. Mud and water coated the floors.

Mr. Ravi’s sad face sliced into Alex’s thoughts, eating away at his guilt. Near the back entrance, Principal Gordon stepped out of the music room with a mug of coffee in his hand.

“Excuse me?” Alex hustled down the hall. “Mr. Gordon? Can I ask you a question?”

The principal sipped the last of his coffee and placed it on the water fountain. “James, right?” he said, snapping his fingers.

Alex dropped his shoulders. “No.” “Ryland?”

“No.”

“Rebecca?”

“What? No, I’m Alex. Alex.”

Right, yes, what can I do for you?” “Where’s Mr. Ravi?”

“Mr. Ravi is at home. He hasn’t been well and won’t be coming in today.” Mr. Gordon stopped by the display case next to the gym and looked at his reflection in the glass. “I am one handsome specimen. Look at those teeth.” “Pardon?”

Principal Gordon smiled and then brushed his beard with his fingernails. “Your friend, Mr. Ravi has been ill all week. With all of this rain we’re having, the kids are tracking in all kinds of mud into my school too. He has a lot of cleaning to do when he gets back.” He fixed his tie and turned to me. “We’ll see how long he keeps this job for. You can tell him that.” “Tell him what?” I asked.

Mr. Gordon wiped his finger along the edge of the display case. “Look at this dust. Atrocious, I tell you. And, look, who left that mug on the water fountain?”

Alex shook his head and trotted down the hall to class.

“I hate the rain,” Alex said to himself.

To Be Continued: Thursday February 18