Chapter 3 The Academy

The wine academy stood huge among the other buildings in St. Arches. Oenology required space and Fountain Academy was generous.

Blair Thompson walked the yard, nodding to the greeting students muttered to her as they passed. She loved making her inspection rounds, it was the highlight of her day. She smiled to herself as she inspected the beds where the budding grapes lay. The new students would be in soon and she knew the chaos would come with them, so she needed to enjoy the calm before the storm. It was like that every new school year; the yelling and repetition of instructions.

As exhausting as the whole process was, she loved it. She loved seeing students who couldn't make a simple cocktail graduate to own wineries, create wines that leave footprints, and climb high on the brewery leaderboard. She loved being part of their success story.

The list for this year was ready, and as usual, the students were much. The shortlist was always hard on the panel. She wished she could embrace the whole applicants, give everyone a chance, and let the world know oenology was magic, but they had to consider their capacity. She always had to keep that in mind.

She sighted May Davids helping two students on the harvesting field and her heart skipped a beat. She knew May was next, she knew the time for next was so soon, it was always at the beginning of every school year too. She wondered why they didn't notice.

Accidents happen, no doubt, but assuming everything is an accident is a big mistake; one Blair was never going to make. One she feared so much that made her do what she had to. It takes more than passion and a good heart to run an institution. It takes courage, dark courage. She reminded herself of this every day and felt good about it but each time she saw May, she didn't know how to feel good.

As if on impulse, May turned and smiled as she saw her.

"Hello..." She waved, then turned to issue out instructions to the students.

Her chest heaved as she watched May carefully move around the ridges and onto the sidewalk.

"Good thing I saw you, VC." She managed a smile as she approached Blair, holding a palm over her forehead. Her eyes were reduced to an unusually small size. "I was going to stop by your office after work."

"Good thing, I guess." Blair returned her smile. "What do you want?"

Her voice reduced to a whisper. "The fund account is not adding up. I've brought this to Harold's notice and he's not listening to me." She sighed. "The inspection team will be here any day and we do not even have a story to tell."

Blair looked at her in pity. There was a story to tell, only that the story involved her death and here she was, being bothered about the wrong thing.

"Submit the necessary files to my office. I'll talk to Harold." She fiddled with her phone as she could no longer maintain eye contact. "Anything else?" She knew May still had a lot to say but was taking it one day at a time and said no, there was relief all over her face, so Blair called it a good talk.

When she saw two other staff approach her, she was reminded of why she chose to stay in her office sometimes. Her secretary blocked out a lot of meetings and so in the field, everyone wanted to table their matters. She had no breaks but today, she was in a good mood so she motioned for them to hurry up. In a minute, two staff turned into three, and then they were six, and then eight.