“Yeah, I was in a chat room a few weeks ago with a couple of friends of mine, and some other girls came on and they’re the ones who started talking about it.” He continued to stare at her in disbelieving silence, so she pressed on. “You know, ever since you started teaching those couple of classes in criminal justice this semester, well they just started saying how...” she trailed off, not sure how to interpret his sour expression.
“Tell this to me all over again...” he said. “Start from the top, nice and slow...”
Just as she was about to launch into her tale one more time, Buck stepped into the house from the deck. “Hey darlin’!” he greeted her with fast hug as he headed for the kitchen. But the look on their faces made him stop. “What’s going on?”
Casey looked from Chris to Buck and back again.
“Well, umm... I was just telling Chris that I was in a chat room, with some other girls from the University. They were just saying how...they were talking about... honest I thought you knew Chris...”
“What?” Buck insisted.
JD came into the family room through the sliding glass doors. “Hey Chris – did Casey tell you about that Egroup some girls at school started about you?”
Buck’s jaw dropped in amazement. “Way to go Stud!” he thumped him on the shoulder. Chris turned his glare on Buck, for which Casey was grateful.
“What exactly does this all mean?” he asked, his voice grave.
“Well...” Buck started. “It means...” he began to see that Chris might not take it well. JD jumped in with the explanation.
“People – well, in this case probably just ladies – sign up to share email messages. It used to be Egroups, now I think it’s called Yahoogroups. Whoever posts a message, it goes to everybody on the group.”
“So why would they want to talk about me?” Chris asked. JD rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen, leaving Buck and Casey to explain the realities of young women to Chris. “Casey? Did they say what they were saying about me?”
“Um, well...” Grateful for Buck’s protective presence, Casey explained. “I went into it, to see what it was all about and umm...” Both Buck and Chris leaned closer, anxious for her explanation. “You remember how hot it was, back in April? Umm, well...there was a whole bunch of posts – messages – about how during the class you took off your jacket and rolled up your shirtsleeves...”
“And?” Chris was so completely in the dark.
“And...umm...they said...well one person said and everybody else agreed, well anybody who posted a reply agreed...” Neither of the men was saying anything, so she pushed on. “They said you had sexy arms...”
Buck whooped and Chris winced. “What else did they say?” he asked. His voice sounded tight with pain.
“Umm...well...this one girl, I think maybe she’s the one who started the group, she’s big stuff on the group because she’s a work study student in Security, so she sees you and talks to your almost every day...?” And Chris’ eyes narrowed, trying to work out who that might be.
“Dorcas?” he finally exclaimed. “Dorcas Dittlemeyer?” Now Buck snorted in delight.
“Dorcas? You gotta sweet little thing named Dorcas eyeing you up?”
“She is not eyeing me up!” Chris insisted, but turned to Casey. “Is she?”
“Umm...” Casey cast her eyes to the floor. “Well...kinda?”
“What – are – they – saying?”
“Umm...well...when you put your car into the tree that last ice storm, there was a whole lotta posts about what happened and why and were you all right and Dorcas posted updates every day on you, and then they took up a collection to buy you a get-well bouquet of flowers? And, umm... one girl posted that she walked past you on the quad, and you smiled and said “hi” to her and she was just in heaven for the whole rest of the week. And then the one lady – at least I think it’s a lady – likes to post in haiku...and that one day you wore the blue shirt they just went crazy...”
“What d’you mean haiku?” Buck asked.
“What do you mean you think it’s a lady?” Chris was getting more than a little disturbed.
“They’re mostly harmless Chris.” Casey tried to reassure him. “I joined just so I could check the messages everyday. You know, just in case they ever did say anything bad about you or anything. I never post anything. What they post is mostly what you wore and what you said in class and how you helped some poor student who thought she was going to fail. They mostly try to outdo themselves on who knows you the best or has spent the most time with you, or has talked to you the most recent. You know, they try to impress each other that they’re ‘friends’ with you. That’s all.”
Buck laughed again, slapping Chris’ shoulder before he went to join the others in the kitchen. Chris sighed and seemed resigned to his cyber-fate. “Well Casey, I reckon you know me the best of all those girls, why don’t you ever post anything?”
Casey smiled at him. “I know we’re friends Chris. I don’t need to prove it.”