Chapter 119 Section 1

Ling Dan Garton took a deep breath, picked up the receiver, and pressed seven keys according to the number he looked up in the "Phone Yellow Pages".The bell rang only once before I heard a soft female voice: "Child Protection Office. Are you—" It was too fast, Ling Dan seemed not ready yet.She hurriedly reported her name, and then said hurriedly: "I want to report something..." Ling Dan thought, I'm really not ready yet, I don't know whether to call this an "event" or a "case". The other party waited patiently for a while, and said softly, "It's okay, please tell me."

This seemed to give Ling Dan a little courage, and the words that had been accumulated on the tip of his tongue slipped out: "There was a boy in the seventh grade, who was only 12 years old, and his teacher...and his teacher...in short, That teacher is pregnant, his child. That teacher's name is Mary Catherine Letourneau." After listening to Ling Dan's story with great interest, the other party seemed to discuss with the person next to her for a while before saying, "I'm sorry, you should report to the relevant school district because she is a teacher." What?Ling Dan thought, I told you that a teacher had an improper relationship with a student, you asked me to find the school district?

After a few polite words, the phone hung up.Ling Dan was still holding the microphone in his hand, a little at a loss. Ling Dan only heard about this incident a month ago when she attended a relative's engagement ceremony with her husband Carl Gardon.Speaking of which, Ling Dan and Mary Letourneau are two cousins, because Carl and Mary's husband, Steven Letturne, are aunts and cousins ​​who grew up together.Ling Dan didn't see the Letourneaus at the party that day, she just asked casually, and a cousin was dragged away by the aunt standing next to her just as soon as she said something.I asked a few more people, all of whom were evasive.When I got home and asked Carl again, I found out that the husband's up and down had been known as early as last autumn, and only a few daughters-in-law and son-in-law with other surnames were hiding the truth.

Carl said, "You've got to swear you won't tell anyone. You swear to me first." Ling Dan raised his right hand seriously, with his index and middle fingers crossed together. "Mary Kay is having an affair." Among relatives, Mary is called Mary Kay to distinguish her from her eldest daughter, Mary Claire Letourneau. This is not surprising, Ling Dan thought to himself, it was already an open secret that Steven himself had an affair. Carl added, "She's pregnant." "Really?" Carl's next words were like a bolt from the blue to Ling Dan: "With a 12-year-old boy."

Ling Dan was so surprised that he couldn't speak. There was only a repeated voice buzzing in his head: "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Carl said the silence was only for the sake of Stevin's face, and for the Letourneau's four children: Steven Jr., 11; Mary Claire, 9; Nick, 5, and Katie ,3 years.Steven has gathered some relevant evidence, including Mary Kay's diary and her correspondence with "the boy".Another reason is that everyone is actually hoping that Mary Kay will have an abortion, but now it seems that this possibility is getting smaller and smaller, because the baby in Mary Kay's womb has been more than five months.

Ling Dan was even more worried. 35-year-old Mary Kay is a sixth grade teacher. There should be at least a dozen boys of this age in her class. Will she have similar sexual assaults on other children?And her own two sons? Ling Dan did not keep her oath to Karl, and she told other people in private.But this is not because Ling Dan is keen on spreading pornographic news, but because he can't make up his mind.After hearing this, Ling Dan's brother said to her: "Ling Dan, if you don't report it, I will report it. This kind of thing must not be allowed to develop." Ling Dan finally made up her mind, and she told Carl her thoughts.Carl knew his wife's temper very well, and said, don't ask me what you want to do, just don't tell me, don't let me know.

Sure enough, Ling Dan didn't tell Karl.She made the call while Carl was at work.Ling Dan was very scared, and felt sorry for Steven and the children of the Letourneu family.She knew that if this call was made, Mary Kay would definitely lose her job, maybe go to jail, and the Letourneau family would be broken up. Ling Dan took another deep breath and dialed the office of the Heinlein School District.There are five or six middle schools and a dozen elementary schools under the jurisdiction of the Heinlein School District. Ling Dan doesn't even know the name of the Mary Kay School, and she can't guarantee that every detail she heard is true. The only thing she can be sure of is The person's name was Mary Catherine Letourneau, and the boy's name: Bailey.

Fortunately, the other party didn't ask much, but simply said: "We will investigate." Today is February 25, 1997, Tuesday. The elementary school where Mary Kay works is called Shorewood, which is located in the south-central part of Seattle, the largest city in Washington State.There are two places in the United States called Washington, one is the capital Washington, DC, on the east coast, and the other is Washington State, on the west coast, the distance between the two places is more than 3,000 miles, and each is at two ends of the United States. .Washington State is well-known among the Chinese in the United States, because the first Chinese-American governor, Mr. Locke, was born here.Seattle is also very famous. When people mention Seattle, they will think of the world-renowned Boeing Aircraft Company, Microsoft Computer Company and Amazon.com, and then think of thousands of millionaires.But this area in the south of Seattle called "White Center" is not only far from the word "rich", but also, as the local residents said in their early self-mockery, "You just turn over every piece here. stone, and not a single white man." The "white center" is populated by people of color, most of whom are black, mixed with South Americans, South Asians and South Indian Ocean islanders called "Samoans".Nobody with a modicum of money would want to live here because there is a huge noise source nearby - Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, or Sea-Tac International Airport for short.Every time a plane takes off or lands, its shadow sweeps across the ground, and the roar of its engines is so deafening that residents have to turn up the volume on their TVs and teachers have to suspend their lectures.But in recent years, the demographics of the "white center" have changed somewhat.With the involvement of Eastern European immigrants from countries such as Russia, the number of white people here is increasing.