A Child's Wish

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  “I had,” Mark said. “Of course. But I was thinking more along the lines of moving when Kelsey did.”

  “That’s in what, two years?”

  He nodded.

  “There might not be an opening then.”

  And they didn’t want him to go anywhere else. He understood the logic. And hell, what was his problem? He’d been offered a great promotion sooner than he’d expected. What kind of man had a problem with that?

  “Tell me this doesn’t have anything to do with Larry Barnett.” Meredith had mentioned the coincidence in timing and damn it, he couldn’t get her words out of his head. And not just the ones about this appointment.

  “We were going to make the offer anyway, but when Larry suggested to me over lunch last week that he thought it would be better to make the offer now, get you away from the Foster mess before it taints your career, I thought he made good sense.”

  Of course he did. Larry Barnett was a master debater, convincer of juries, smooth talker. Was there anyone in this city that the man did not know?

  “We’re offering you a way out,” Daniels said. “If you take the offer, we can have you moved by early next week, give you a few weeks with Blakely before school’s out for the summer and he retires.”

  “Who’ll cover my position?”

  Daniels named a couple of possibilities. “We’ll put it out for applications.”

  “Shouldn’t both positions be posted?”

  “Technically,” Daniels said. “We’ll post it, take apps, but yours will be one of them and since you’ll be over there, helping Blakely, you’ll be the obvious choice.”

  When one had a will, and power, there was always a way.

  “I’d like a couple of days to think about it.”

  Nodding, Daniels didn’t pressure Mark any further.

  “HOW ARE YOU EVER going to be happy with me if you won’t go to the bathroom in my house or eat any of my food?”

  Kelsey had a headache. She was tired, from bad dreams, and scared. She’d told Josie about the drugs when they went to the slumber party. She’d had a nightmare and Josie had woken her up because she’d been crying in her sleep and she’d just blurted it all out. Josie told Kelsey it was bad and she had to stop, and every day she worried that Josie was going to tell her mom—or worse, quit being her friend. Kelsey had broken her word to her own mother. She was sneaking around behind her father’s back. She didn’t mean to do any of it, but it didn’t seem to stop.

  “How will the judge know I can provide for you, if you don’t give me a chance to show him?” Mom was still talking about food.

  Kelsey couldn’t figure out how the judge was going to see her eating a snack at her mom’s, anyway. “I’ll eat.”

  “Every time I offer you a snack you say no.”

  The living room was cleaner, so you could see the rips in things easier. But at least there wasn’t any food trash and junk like that. “’Cause it’s always so close to dinner.”

  Mom didn’t say anything, just flipped on the television and changed stations a lot. Kelsey thought about laying her head down on her mother’s shoulder and taking a nap.

  But Don was in the garage. She didn’t think she should sleep with him there.

  There was news on about a fire someplace near Tulsa. And then a woman crying about what her husband did to her. Mom didn’t say anything for a long time and Kelsey got scared that she was mad.

  She counted the throbs in her head. “I will next time I come here, I promise.”

  “Will what?” Her mom glanced over at her, not mad but not happy, either.

  “Have a snack. And go to the bathroom, if I have to.” Like she did right now.

  The worry left her mom’s eyes. She’d had her hair done, and even though it wasn’t like before it was pretty. Mom was pretty today.

  “What would you like?” she asked. “We can make a list and when I go to the grocery, I’ll buy it all so you can have choices when you come.” She smiled the smile that always made Kelsey feel good and warm inside. “I’d love to shop for you again, sweetie, and have food in my cupboards for you. I’ve missed it so much.”

  “Me, too,” Kelsey said, too tired to watch every word. “I have to go with Daddy every week and help decide stuff and it’s hard to know what we should have for dinner so many days away. I’m just a kid. I shouldn’t have to decide what I want to eat some other day. Mostly I just know what I want that day.”

  “That’s right, you shouldn’t.” Mom’s words were loud. She pulled Kelsey over, holding her head against her shoulder. “Poor baby. We’ll take care of all that soon,” she said. “Then you can just be a kid again.”

  Being taken care of was good.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE SPECIAL HEARING of the Bartlesville school board was being held in the city council meeting room. Meredith arrived alone—dressed in black, a suit with a narrow knee-length skirt, and power red, her silk blouse—and took a seat on one of the wooden pews. Members of the board were filing in, sitting up on a dais in front, with the president standing behind the podium in the middle. She set her bag down on the floor, adjusted a couple of pins in her hair, and waited.

  Mark came in, taking a seat in the front row. She’d never seen him in a suit and tie before. He looked impressive—and distant. Turning, he saw her a few rows behind him. Nodded. And turned back.

  They hadn’t spoken since she’d walked out of his office the week before. Kelsey hadn’t been all that forthcoming, either. Because her father had warned her off or because the trouble was escalating, Meredith didn’t know.

  More people filed in. Some looked at her. Many didn’t. A few greeted her effusively. No one sat with her.

  She wished she hadn’t told Susan not to come. Her friend had rounds that evening, but she had offered to get someone to cover for her.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get started, shall we?” Meredith’s heart grew tight in her chest, and her skin was covered with sweat. The walls of the small room closed in around her, imprisoning her like a criminal.

  And someone slid in close beside her. And then, on the other side, someone else.

  “Susan?” Thank God her friend hadn’t listened to her. And… “Mom?” She couldn’t believe it when the familiar face beamed back at her. Dressed in a forest-green suit with matching pumps, her mom looked every bit the Phillips Petroleum executive she’d once been.

  Squeezing her hand, Evelyn Foster whispered, “You didn’t think we were going to let you do this alone, did you?”

  She hadn’t been thinking all that well lately. With her chin high and tears brimming in her eyes, she listened as the proceedings against her began.

  AT FIRST the testimonies were much the same as those in the newspaper, television and radio events. Barnett’s side. Her side. People represented both—some she knew, some she didn’t. If not for her mother and Susan holding her hands, she didn’t think she could have sat there, listening, feeling the emotions being sent in her direction. It was too much, too overwhelming.

  Too draining and damaging. She wanted to go home, crawl into bed and stay there.

  Barnett’s experts were there. She hadn’t seen them and supposed they must have come in late. They pretty much repeated what they’d said on Delilah White’s radio show. Almost as if they’d been coached. Not that she’d ever be able to prove as much.

  Susan let go of her hand. She wasn’t surprised. She’d have let go, too. “I’d like to speak.” Susan’s words registered at the same time that her friend rose and went forward to the microphone that had been set up for the public—less so that those in the room could hear than to ensure that any comments would be on the official transcript of the meeting.

  “My name is Susan Gardner,” she said, looking impressive in her sleek black pinstriped pantsuit, her hair and makeup as chic as always. “I’m a physician on staff at Jane Phillips Medical Center. My life’s work is in the science field. I’ve taken all the classes, participated in all th
e labs. I rely every day on what the test tubes and microscopes show us. I could prevent or cause deafness with one movement of my scalpel. I only act when I can clearly see the direction to take.”

  Members of the board were nodding, eyes open, receptive.

  “You’re going to be fine,” her mother whispered. Meredith nodded. Of course, “fine” didn’t mean you had a job.

  “And what I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen of the board, is this. If I had to rely solely on my own cognitive skills, if any of my peers had to, we’d all be dead long before our time. Do you know what we, the physicians, the scientists, were talking about at lunch today? The presence of miracles in our work. The intangibles that we cannot predict, control, see, that save lives when we can’t. The miracles wouldn’t happen without our hands, our learning. But neither would they happen if that was all we had. Whether a heart beats or it doesn’t is not something we can necessarily predict. It’s not something we can control. We do what we can, we hope, we wait. And we cheer when the outcome is positive.”

  A cough in the room sounded sharply, testimony to the silence that had fallen. “I’ve known Meredith Foster for more than fifteen years,” Susan said softly, leaning down to speak directly into the microphone. “And I’d trust her with my life. The woman is no different than any of us. And she uses nothing we don’t have. You hear about women’s intuition all the time. Well, men have it, too. They use it every time they listen to that little voice in their heads that warns them of danger or nags them to do something they’ve thought of putting off. Meredith’s gift to all of us is the fact that, even if most of us ignore that voice within us, she listens to hers. And most particularly with children, the voice is loud and clear. She’s more aware of others than we are because she cares enough to listen. Surely you won’t penalize a person for being less selfish than you are.”

  It felt as if the whole room sighed when Susan sat down. Except for Meredith. She was biting her lower lip, holding back the tears.

  She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. But she would never forget what Susan had just done for her—or the message that she’d sent. No matter what happened, Meredith had just won.

  AN HOUR AND A HALF into the hearing, Mark could sit still no longer. “I have something to say.”

  The president of the school board recognized him. Called on him by name, a frown on his face. Mark still hadn’t given them an answer regarding the job offer. He hadn’t felt that any decision would be fair until after this hearing. He hadn’t known whether he’d speak or—if he did—what he’d say. And whether the board would still want him. He’d figured he’d save them the trouble of having to withdraw the offer by not accepting it.

  Daniels, who’d seemed more impressed than disappointed by his non-answer, had granted him another week to make up his mind.

  Avoiding even a glance at the bench where Meredith and Susan sat with a slender older woman who wore her graying hair in a bun, Mark stepped up to the microphone. He’d left Kelsey with a teenage sitter and was anxious to get back to her.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.” He made eye contact with each one of them before continuing. “I have been Ms. Foster’s immediate supervisor for four years. I haven’t always agreed with her, nor do I believe in psychic phenomena. I’m not here to discuss esoterics, philosophy or science. I want to tell you about a teacher.”

  He hadn’t rehearsed. He’d pretty much decided not to speak at all, suspecting that, since Meredith’s most recent intuition involved his daughter and he knew she was wrong, he’d hurt her more than he’d help her. Still, he opened his mouth and the words came.

  “I delivered to each of you a folder containing confidential information regarding this employee’s accomplishments. It would also have included any warnings and disciplinary actions had there been any. The fact that there aren’t any is significant. If you were to inspect the files of most of my employees, you would see at least one suggestion for improvement in their work. I believe in managing with an eye to greater accomplishments, which means to me that no matter how good someone is, there is always room for improvement. It is my job to find that room and to help my employees see it in themselves.

  “I tried to do so with Ms. Foster. But how do you improve on scores like hers? Every avenue I have for review, parental dissatisfaction, barring this one episode, student test scores, disciplinary problems in the classroom, tardiness, lesson-plan schedules—she receives top scores over and over and over again. What she believes, how she perceives, what instincts she uses or doesn’t use, all seem irrelevant to me in this discussion. Her spiritual life is not an issue. Her intelligence is not in question. To us, she is a teacher and in four years’ time, she has fulfilled the requirements of her job above expectation and beyond reproach. Ladies and gentlemen, what you see before you is as close to a perfect teacher as I’ve ever met.”

  Making eye contact with no one, Mark spun around and returned to his seat.

  Half an hour later, Superintendent Daniels stepped up to the microphone.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.” He looked across the front of the room, and then turned and included the people on both sides. “I think we all know that this is a very delicate, very difficult decision to make. One that has been deliberated over a period of many weeks, and with heavy hearts. There is much to consider, much information to process and I can assure you, firsthand, that the members of this board before you have suffered a great deal as they’ve considered all of the information presented tonight and previously.”

  Cut the crap and get to the point, Mark thought. He could feel Meredith behind him. Was impressed as hell that she’d remained in the room. He didn’t think he could have done so.

  And more than that, he was made uncomfortable by the conviction that kept her strong. She didn’t waver. Ever. He’d never met anyone like her.

  He didn’t know how the board was going to vote—he suspected that it would not be in Meredith’s favor. What he did know was that they’d all put her through enough. The woman deserved resolution. She deserved peace.

  “I think the one thing that no one has mentioned here, the one thing we must all consider is the elephant on the table before us, the big ugly thing that we are not acknowledging, but that is as real as all of us sitting in this room. Fear.”

  He turned again and it seemed to Mark that he looked him right in the eye before he realized that Daniels was making eye contact with as many people as he could.

  “Let’s face it,” Daniels said, sounding like a good old boy. “We all fear the idea of someone knowing our innermost secrets. We fear the idea of anyone having the ability to know them without our telling them.”

  From what Mark could tell, every eye in the room was trained on the man.

  “Even if Meredith Foster does not have this ability, even if she cannot know what we feel, the fact that she believes she does gives life to the possibility, and to living in constant fear when we’re around her.”

  Mark could relate. He hated it. But he could relate.

  “We are all here, without fail, to serve the children of this community. Our children have been made aware of Ms. Foster’s beliefs. They know that she goes to parents when she suspects something wrong with a child. And if we, as adults with full faculties of rationalization fear her, can you imagine how the children in her care must feel? Or could grow to feel?”

  The room was silent. Mark was suffocating. And burning with a need to grab Meredith and run.

  “This is our bottom line, ladies and gentlemen. We are not God, or spiritual advisors, or scientists, or doctors. We are educators and our goal is to provide our children with the best education possible. The question is, will they be able to continue to open their hearts and minds and trust this woman whom they may also fear?”

  Mark remembered Kelsey’s reaction when she’d first heard about Meredith’s trouble with Larry Barnett. She’d been outraged. Ready to do battle for Meredith Foster. Until her friends had gotten to her and filled her
head with confusion, based on the opinions of their parents who didn’t know Meredith. Or what they were talking about. And still, while Kelsey had played the social games and appeared to go with the crowd so she’d be accepted, the second she’d thought Meredith needed a friend, she’d insisted on being that friend.

  His daughter was a very smart little girl. And this time, it wasn’t a trait she got from him.

  A member of the board called for a vote. Roll was called. Mark sat straight and tall, when all around him he felt the tension. He wished he could see Meredith—that he’d had the courage to sit beside her.

  The board did not call for dismissal—a token gift. They voted instead for non-reemployment, which for all intents and purposes, was the same thing.

  He didn’t wait for the official words to conclude. He stood, needing to get to Meredith immediately.

  But he was too late. The bench where she’d been sitting was empty. Meredith was gone.

  “HOW SURE ARE YOU?”

  Meredith peered frantically between her mother and Susan, dread weighing so heavily within her that she could barely stand in the hallway outside the board room.

  “Ninety-five percent,” she said, finding it so hard to breathe that the words were only a whisper. “I wasn’t even thinking about her. I was sitting there listening to the trial and suddenly it didn’t even matter. It’s like she was calling out to me. Me, specifically. That’s never happened before.”

  She could feel her mother and Susan exchange glances.

  “I’m not crazy,” she whispered. “Nor am I buckling under stress.”

  “Who said you were?” her mother asked. “I’ve been living with your uniqueness your whole life, Meredith Ann Foster. I recognize the signs.”

  “Me, too,” Susan said softly.

  That was all the encouragement she needed. “Go get Mark.”

  “WHAT’S GOING ON?” Meredith didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was too long.