Mr Lewis was walking to the post office in town when he heard a
raucous female laugh from across the road. He looked over at the bus
shelter where the noise had come from recognized his teenaged neighbor
sitting on the knee of a college-aged young man. Mr Lewis walked quickly
over as Lolli once again let her head back and roared with laughter,
this time nearly falling off the boy's lap and onto the woman next to
him.
"Lolli!"
exclaimed Mr Lewis. "What are you doing out of school?" As he asked
this he grabbed the girl by the arm and yanked her so she had no choice
but to get off the young man's lap.
"Mr Lewis, dooon't," whined Lolli, trying to pull down her school kilt and get loose of Mr Lewis's tight grip.
"What
did I tell you last night about skipping class, young lady? What did I
say?" he boomed, his grip only getting tighter as she squirmed.
"Lols, is this guy your Dad or something?" interrupted the young man with a sly grin spreading a cross his handsome face.
"What? No! Else I would have called him Dad, wouldn't I?"
"Alright
well, he seems to have you under control so I might just see you later,
babe," he said as he planted a kiss on her velvety cheek, and tipped
his imaginary hat to Mr Lewis who
just glared after him still holding tight to Lolli's slim forearm.
"You are coming with me, right now," said Mr Lewis to Lolli, his face looking more stern than ever.
"No, I'm not!" said Lolli cheekily.
"You
are" Mr Lewis repeated as he began to drag her across the road to his
car, the letter he'd meant to post still in his other hand.
"Okay,
okay, you can drive me home if you want!" said Lolli gaily, hopping
along beside him and trying to keep up with his long-legged stride.
When
they got to the car he finally freed her arm and he waited as she got
in, then closed the door for her. Mr Lewis got in too and set off --
silent, but clearly still seething. Lolli sat in the front seat
contemplating what she would say to her father about why she was home
early from school, in case she ran into him at home. She was so lost in
thought that she didn't notice that they were not driving in the
direction on her home, but rather the direction of the Girls' Reform
school where Mr Lewis was the principal. When Mr Lewis began to park the
car, Lolli came to and looked out the window in awe. It was a beautiful
old building that had once been the state supreme court. It had
sandstone columns in the entry way and ornate windows and doors.
Lolli
had been here only the night before when she had also run into Mr Lewis
by chance. She had been out with friends in a nearby park and as she
walked past he was coming out. He had been unsettled to see her, a
fifteen year old child wandering the streets past midnight. He had
questioned her on her bedtime and let her know that the girls in his
institution were safely tucked in bed by 10pm, even the older girls.
Lolli had been surprised and had asked him many more questions about the
school and his role there. It seemed his was mainly an administrative
position, a head of the school who saw to funding and management, but
who left the care of the girls to the rest of the staff. That is, except
for the strict discipline sessions that were due for
particularly severe or repeated offenses. Those were dealt with by Mr
Lewis downstairs in the private discipline basement. It wasn't a regular
school, after all. This school was for young ladies (if they could be
called ladies) who had been in trouble with the law early on in their
lives but who, by the grace of a kind judge, had been sentenced to do
their time, not in one of the state's prison facilities, but instead
here at the Girls Reform Academy.
Lolli
got out of the car thinking this was a detour before they set off home.
But instead she felt Mr Lewis's grip on her already sore arm, as he led
her up the steps of the pretty
building.
"Where are we going, Mr Lewis?" asked Lolli.
"Inside."
He replied. After a moment, he stopped and turned to Lolli. "Lolita,
I'm going to call your father and ask that you might stay a night in my
school so you will learn what awaits you if you don't learn to behave
yourself and stop your truancy and bad behaviour. Do you hear me, young
lady?"
Lolli
heard but she was aghast. She had heard only dreadful stories about the
lives of the girls in the school. Surely she wouldn't be made to stay
here. Surely not! As she contemplated he fate, Mr Lewis lead her the
rest of the way into the school and on seeing Mr Palmer, the head
"nurse" as the staff were called, and handed Lolli off to her.
"Have
her prepared and brought to me," Mr Lewis said firmly. The woman just
nodded, took Lolli, again by that sore part of her arm, and led her down
a hallway to the bathroom.