Spinning My Wheels

Most of the time, I'm easy going. Except when someone accuses me of something I did not do. It was the end of the school day and we all had department meetings to sleep through. The faculty was busy packaging midterm exams with test booklets, scrap paper, essay paper and scantron sheets. No one saw the culprit who had left deep tire tracks in the mud on the one, lone grassy square of the school's property. In fact, no one really cared until three teachers came out to find their cars spattered with thick mud. The unwinding of hoses started, the water flowed. It was an instant car wash setup. But, there were still those deep tire tracks. Perhaps someone could match the mystery car to the tire tracks. That was now the important job of the principal.
The next day, I got a note in my mailbox at school saying, "Please see me about the cars in the lot." So, being the easy going person that I am, I obediently went into the principal's office. She told me that she was "closing the back lot" because there were complaints. She also quizzed me on the time and place of my whereabouts the day before. Was I being accused of something I did not do or was I just the "fall guy?" I told her, truthfully, that I knew nothing about the incident. Later on, I realized that I was the only teacher who had gotten this note in the mailbox. Why me? Why was she accusing me?
The buzz around the school became louder. Teachers were now pointing at colleagues and hollering about this inhumane person who destroyed the grass. "Who would do such a thing?" they asked. The comments even went further. "What colleague would do something like this to another colleague?" "What the fuck!" echoed through the empty,after hours hallway. "What an asshole" could be heard even louder as you got towards the faculty dining room. Isn't it odd how the little things in life can lay hold of you and mess you up for the whole day? Countries at war, crime on the streets--these situations were nothing compared to what happened to the faculty cars and, let's not forget, the grassy square where children watched the occasional squirrel scamper.
We never found out who had the audacity to hurt another human being or destroy the grandeur of God's natural world. Luckily, the grass will grow back in the spring and those indelible tracks will have been erased forever. Fortunately, God will forgive. Will the incident be erased from the minds of the faculty? Never.