Six years of college and two years of real world experience, she was one of their favorite teachers. She made music theory fun. For kids in high school, she considered that quite an accomplishment. She had the experience to know how to teach in a way that they could grasp the concepts, and was still young enough to relate to them. She liked their music, knew the slang, and could keep the attention of even the most boisterous student.
There was only one problem. She was gay.
As a young boy, she knew she was different. She liked things that the other boys thought was strange, but she didn’t care. She figured it out in high school during drama class. She was cast as female and it was the first time she was comfortable with herself. She went on to college where she studied music and acting. She performed Broadway plays and soon met others that she clicked with.
After graduating, she found a job teaching at a small school in northeast Oklahoma, where she excelled in everything she did.
At first nobody seemed to care. She was professional, well dressed, and was an asset to the school. However, that changed once people began to learn that she was secretly a he.
It started off as subtle harassment in the form of sexist jokes. She was used to that though. As her third year progressed. Some of her students began mimicking the parents behind her back, but she still remained in control. Most still adored her and more, they enjoyed taking her class.
There was that one though. His parents were ultra-conservative. They had a high disdain for the gay culture and passed that on to their son. He couldn’t understand why they liked her so much. He wanted her gone, so he concocted a plan that was simple and sure to get her fired he claimed she molested him.
She denied it, but to the district attorney, the proof was clearly evident. She had some of him on her scarf in her office. The scarf she always wore.
At least, almost always. She hadn’t seen it in about a week and since the suspension, it had been longer.
What the district attorney didn’t see, and what her accuser never admitted, was that the student had went in her office while she was out at lunch. He left himself on the scarf and then and then hid it. When asked, he told the investigators where to look, saying that was where she hid it.
Kids never lie, and when the parents started coming forward, the outcome was inevitable. It was obvious that the gay teacher couldn’t be trusted. At least, that’s what the district attorney said. Both the judge and the public defender agreed.
It took her seven years after she was first incarcerated before she became comfortable with herself, almost half way into her sentence. She was teaching again. Music theory. Trying to help the other inmates gain a little more knowledge. She ran a small drama club and participated in a couple small prison bands. It still wasn’t easy, but at least she was being productive and had a tiny piece of her life restored.
Still, she remembered her students. She could still name them off one by one. She remembered all of their talents and how proud she felt when they finally got it.
There was only one that she wouldn’t name, never again. He destroyed her life with a lie just because she was different. She would never teach again. She would never feel that pride again, would never witness the raw talent of a child blossom into something beautiful again.
For her, this was fine. Because of him, all she felt now was hatred. A deep, penetrating hatred that would never end. All that remembering only caused her pain. All because of a lie.
