“C’mon, yo, he ain’t that heavy,” one of them loudly whispered. Esteban saw that all three were still wearing their ski masks, concealing their identity.
“Shut the fuck up!” The third one commanded. Esteban could hear the third kidnapper, walking next to his horizontal body, carrying something that sounded like chains. He couldn’t see because it was too dark.
“You carry the little motherfucker then,” he retorted.
Esteban gave one more attempt at writhing himself free but the grips on his wrists and ankles were too strong. He could hear the feet underneath him scuffle along the infield of the baseball field. Clouds of dust began to simmer around him. Suddenly, Esteban was dropped near home plate. The thud temporarily knocked the wind out of him. It only took a few short inhalations to regulate his breath. He realized he was free of the vice grips and wanted to make a run for it but then he heard the click of the gun in his left ear. Esteban, for the first time in as long as he can remember, felt scared.
“Now, are you going to shut the fuck up?” The biggest of the three guys asked, still resting the gun behind Esteban’s ear. Esteban could do nothing but casually nod an agreement.
When the kidnappers ran back to the car and sped away, Esteban was chained to the fenced in backstop of the baseball field.
SIXTEEN
I woke up Wednesday morning once again feeling rejuvenated. I had my usual bowl of cereal, a yogurt, and a glass of orange juice. No coffee for me. Lindsey was back at work by the time I was out of bed but I was lying awake to see her leave. Over my bowl of Cocoa Puffs and strawberry banana yogurt, I sorted through Esteban’s incident reports. Principal Garvey was nice enough to let me make a copy of them to look over at home.
There must’ve been well over a hundred incident reports describing various situations Esteban had been involved in, either provoking or instigating a fight or argument. Each incident report was to be thoroughly completed by the staff member or members who witnessed the incident. The writer, who was usually the primary witness to the incident, had to fill out the student’s name, program, since they were sent to their home districts, the homeroom teacher, the reporter’s name along with date and time of incident as well as who, if any, were the victims. The location was to be checked off from a series of boxes listing everything from the bus to the cafeteria to somewhere in the community. The next section asked the writer to describe in a brief sentence of what initiated the incident followed by what types of behaviors were exhibited during this incident, such as disruptive or disrespectful behavior, fighting, bullying, or possession of weapons and stealing, among others.
The meat and potatoes of the report filled in the middle section. This is where the writer was to describe the incident and the observable behavior they witnessed. The bottom of the page was another check- box area for the writer to indicate what responses or consequences were given to handle the situation and a brief summary of what intervention strategies were utilized as well as the outcome. The outcome referred to how well the intervention strategies, such as a call to the parent or guardian, suspension, separation from the situation, inability to earn breaks, among others worked. I can always tell when Lindsey had to fill out incident reports at work because she would come home drained. She always complained about how time consuming they were and needed to complete them by the end of the school day so Garvey could have them to review. He would
“Shut the fuck up!” The third one commanded. Esteban could hear the third kidnapper, walking next to his horizontal body, carrying something that sounded like chains. He couldn’t see because it was too dark.
“You carry the little motherfucker then,” he retorted.
Esteban gave one more attempt at writhing himself free but the grips on his wrists and ankles were too strong. He could hear the feet underneath him scuffle along the infield of the baseball field. Clouds of dust began to simmer around him. Suddenly, Esteban was dropped near home plate. The thud temporarily knocked the wind out of him. It only took a few short inhalations to regulate his breath. He realized he was free of the vice grips and wanted to make a run for it but then he heard the click of the gun in his left ear. Esteban, for the first time in as long as he can remember, felt scared.
“Now, are you going to shut the fuck up?” The biggest of the three guys asked, still resting the gun behind Esteban’s ear. Esteban could do nothing but casually nod an agreement.
When the kidnappers ran back to the car and sped away, Esteban was chained to the fenced in backstop of the baseball field.
SIXTEEN
I woke up Wednesday morning once again feeling rejuvenated. I had my usual bowl of cereal, a yogurt, and a glass of orange juice. No coffee for me. Lindsey was back at work by the time I was out of bed but I was lying awake to see her leave. Over my bowl of Cocoa Puffs and strawberry banana yogurt, I sorted through Esteban’s incident reports. Principal Garvey was nice enough to let me make a copy of them to look over at home.
There must’ve been well over a hundred incident reports describing various situations Esteban had been involved in, either provoking or instigating a fight or argument. Each incident report was to be thoroughly completed by the staff member or members who witnessed the incident. The writer, who was usually the primary witness to the incident, had to fill out the student’s name, program, since they were sent to their home districts, the homeroom teacher, the reporter’s name along with date and time of incident as well as who, if any, were the victims. The location was to be checked off from a series of boxes listing everything from the bus to the cafeteria to somewhere in the community. The next section asked the writer to describe in a brief sentence of what initiated the incident followed by what types of behaviors were exhibited during this incident, such as disruptive or disrespectful behavior, fighting, bullying, or possession of weapons and stealing, among others.
The meat and potatoes of the report filled in the middle section. This is where the writer was to describe the incident and the observable behavior they witnessed. The bottom of the page was another check- box area for the writer to indicate what responses or consequences were given to handle the situation and a brief summary of what intervention strategies were utilized as well as the outcome. The outcome referred to how well the intervention strategies, such as a call to the parent or guardian, suspension, separation from the situation, inability to earn breaks, among others worked. I can always tell when Lindsey had to fill out incident reports at work because she would come home drained. She always complained about how time consuming they were and needed to complete them by the end of the school day so Garvey could have them to review. He would
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