Graf #2

He was 5’9” and so slim that when he turned sideways he literally disappeared. He had a presence that preceded all his entrances. It was an eerie presence, almost like a scent you can’t identify; he was always there lurking around a corner patrolling the hall like a sentry guard. He had dark thin hair with a receding hairline and he was all arms and legs. He wore corduroy trousers and corduroy blazers with shirt and tie and cowboy boots always on his feet. He was so pale you often wondered if he was malnourished and he wore dark small wire rimmed glassed along his nose of his long thin face that further enhanced his small beady eyes. His voice was loud and booming so much you wondered how it exploded from this wisp of a man with a 27 inch waist. He always wore those cowboy boots so your only protection was you could always here him coming if he was moving rather than standing behind a locker or an edge of the wall. (He was so thin he could conceal his presence).You would hear a methodical clomp, clomp, clomp as his boots thumped down the hall almost if the heavy boots were too heavy for the skeleton like man who was directing them down the long corridors of our high school. Back to his voice the constant “let’s move along people you have appropriate places to be, let’s move along keep moving” boomed into our consciousness and instilled fear in all the inhabitants of the halls. He demanded respect and was all serious business all the time no other dimension of personality did he possess. He was both dreaded and feared. He used that fear to keep us all in line. He was a teaching Vice Principal and a Business Education Teacher.

He wielded his power with an iron fist both in his role as teacher of your typing, accounting, business education, or office practice class or in his role of vice principal which included all disciplinary issues and truancy. If you dared to speak in his class instant demerit and detention. His pet peeves were people who weren’t grown up and serious (all us teenagers), people who were hats inside, gum chewers, and anyone who disrupted or distracted from the process of his view of education. If a student dare come in without a note after being absent they sat in his chair in his office until he could confirm with an adult or guardian the reason for their absence even if that meant sitting there all day. Students were very cautious to have their notes in order rather than be sentenced to a day of jail in the. dark dank office of the wolf. The worst for most students was the dreaded intercom announcement calling you to his office. It was small and all dark brown and had no windows. It always smelled of coffee and was organized with the sparseness of military like precision. There were no signs of him having a life outside this job. There were no pictures or personal items. The office had all office equipment, calendar and a few perfectly arranged pencils. No awards or diplomas or posters just dark brown wooden walls that made the room feel even more suffocating and unfriendly. Any unfortunate student that was called to his office walked slowly toward his lair sweating and going over there day in their head trying desperately to find what sin they had committed and worse what would be the punishment the wolf would impose on the guilty party.

The stories of Mr. Seeley long preceded us meeting the real man. The stories of his punishments filtered all the way across the street to the elementary school. We would hear about how an older brother or sister was banned from basketball games for the season for misbehaving or how they had detention for 3 months for fooling around in the hall. He instilled fear before we crossed the road to his high school. Rumors prevailed about him being so strict and focused that he never left the high school building. He was there to catch you sneaking a smoke, a kiss, driving your car fast or fooling around with your buddies in the hall. We heard the rumor that he had hidden cameras, was able to read minds, lived in the school and we believed bits and pieces but most of all we feared the wrath of Mr. Seeley.

Then came the first day of high school all the freshman were required to stand in lobby and register and wait to be escorted in groups to our homerooms. We stood there huddled together already filled with anxieties about starting high school. We were listening to the principal speak about all we did in high school would shape the rest of our lives speech when we heard clomp, clomp, clomp. We all froze in place and it was so quiet you could hear the rapid breathing of your friends. The wolf needed no introduction and he was giving us a speech about being serious when all of a sudden came the words of a heckler. An upperclassman who dared say in an imitating voice “let’s move along people you have appropriate places to be.” We all looked in horror at the perpetrator of this joke and silence ensued as Mr. Seeley moved with wolf like precision and speed to grab him. The boy was literally dragged to the front of the room and the wolf held his hand like a child while he finished his spiel and used the guilty party as an example of inappropriate behavior for a young adult. The boy was red faced and we all were frightened to hear his fate. The wolf explained he was going to enjoy 3 months of detention and the luxury of helping him with a special project on the next 6 Saturdays. The guilty party was so mad but dare not protest for fear of more punishment. Needless to say our first day was filled with many other things but our introduction to the real man not just the legend of the man haunted us and many of us vowed never to cross his path.

He grew in legend each year as I progressed through high school and his punishments grew in severity as the time passed over those 4 years. We saw him yelling in the halls, dragging people away, and he was ever present at all events be they dances, band concerts, plays, or basketball games like an ever watchful eye directing the pulse of our reality. We feared him and most hated him but few dared cross him and those that did well let’s just say it was usually their first and last offense. I avoided him like the plague I avoided the hall and if I was in the hall I always had my pass firmly clutched in my hand stating my official business.

Of course the inevitable did happen one day and I crossed paths with the wolf. It was a sunny day in May 1989 the end of my senior year with less than a month to go and I would be graduating and free of Mr. Seeley’s world forever. One of Mr. Seeley’s most hated rules and most punishable sins was touching, hand holding, or physical contact of any kind especially kissing. I committed the most heinous of crimes in Mr. Seeley’s world; my boyfriend kissed me on the cheek as we rushed our different ways to class and there he stood like an impermeable wall with the snarl of a very angry wolf. We had been caught red handed and there was nowhere to go except to his office with him. His words were like bullets and I remember holding back tears and the speech was endless about inappropriate behavior and the humiliation permeated my soul. The verdict detention for both for the rest of the year and if we were caught again we couldn’t march at graduation. I was even more embarrassed to be in detention and so was my partner in crime but we survived.

Then came graduation day the day we had been waiting and lusting for all these long four years. The wolf in the role of Vice Principal was in charge of all the ceremony, marching practice and such pomp and circumstance. We were threatened for weeks about conducting ourselves as adults, and to not throw our caps because that took the dignity out of the ceremony. We were lined up waiting to march into the auditorium and orders were yelled by Mr. Seeley like a drill sergeant. We graduated and began our march out of the auditorium beaming with joy and hope headed toward the outer lobby where family and friends were already gathering to congratulate us and share this moment. As we exited the gym the loudest booming voice in perfect imitation of the wolf shouted ”let’s go people keep moving,you have appropriate places to be.” The laughter erupted from the crowd in the auditorium and outer lobby. Many of us laughed as we exited and formed our receiving line that we had practiced for weeks with our drill sargeant. Then we waited many with baited breath as Mr. Seeley was always the first with the Principal to go through the receiving line. The brave ones of us giggled the others prayed for Earl the boy who had done the perfect imitation. The wolf approached and walked directly to Earl and broke his own rule and said “congratulations son you do me so well, good luck next year.” We all stood in awe and then we all began to laugh, the kind that hurts you stomach, and so did he and his laugh was louder than his normal yell. He quickly organized the line directing our parents as many had been his students in past years and still feared his wrath. There were tears of joy, hugs, kisses, embraces and laughter and I was thinking how this must be hard for the wolf to endure. I waited with trepidation for my dad and the wolf approached and embraced me tightly in his tiny arms and kissed me on the cheek, I felt my knees go weak and the love that enveloped me was overwhelming and all encompassing. For me it remains one of the most defining moments in my life that was the moment a daughter realized her father was more than the wolf and that she was loved. My worst teacher was Mr. Seeley, the wolf, and my dad.