File it away under case closed, and give it no more thought. You were fine, he was fine. If he were some kind of a master manipulator he would have needed some kind of god-like power to get things to work out the way they did. You, young lady, are off the hook, and this is baggage you don’t need to haul around with you anymore. Put it down and walk away.

That being said, there are indeed such predatory types out there. In your current role as a teacher please keep an eye out for those inappropriate behaviors among your colleagues.

I do relate very much to your tale as I spent five years as a high school teacher back in the 80’s. My first full-time gig was very challenging: four basic math courses populated by folks who couldn’t pass the basic competency test, and one trigonometry course with actual students.

In the course of my very brutal days I would need to make a trek across campus one period. On that trek I would see a very lovely young lady who I thought was about the most beautiful girl I had seen. I don’t think we ever even exchanged glances or words, but I would look forward to seeing her in passing.

Then one day I felt a tug on my sleeve. I turned and it was her. She introduced herself as Brigit and asked if it was true that I had been a gymnast in college. She had a favor to ask: she was on the gymnastics team but their coach was out on an extended leave and the school was going to disband the team. Would I be interested in being their coach?

It was a pretty sweet deal! I got to trade the zoo that was my sixth period basic math class for a girl’s gymnastics class, got to be Brigit’s coach, and got an extra stipend. I took the job.

Brigit was a senior, and one of the 17 valedictorians that year. She was a brilliant young lady and we grew pretty close. Her parents fell in love with me. They were from Czechoslovakia, thought I had a good Czech name, invited me to dinners, and plied me with Mai Tai’s. I had the feeling they would be glad to have me as a son.

Brigit graduated and went to college. We sent letters back and forth a few times. I went to her graduation, and then we lost touch. She started her career, and I went back to graduate school. Both very busy.

A decade passed, and I had one of my near-death experiences. I’ve had a few. This time I was going to conquer Mt. Whitney. I left LA at midnight, drove to Whitney Portal, drank a whole lot of water, and embarked on the trail at 4 am. After a couple of hours I started having to pee a lot, but I kept going. Made it up to the final ridge but was feeling too dizzy to proceed and turned around.

By the time I got to about six miles to my car I was in bad shape. I was dehydrated and out of water. As I stumbled down the trail I encountered a young couple going up. Just after we had passed I heard “John?”.

I turned, and it was her! It was Brigit, and the young man with her was her boyfriend. I am pretty fuzzy even now on the details, but I think she saved my life, maybe for the second time.

Sometimes you need an angel in your life. I think that Brigit is one of my angels!