Up in Smoke

by T. M. Frazier

  against the linoleum.

  Principal Gregory holds the door open, and I follow her silently to her office with my head down and my long hair draped around my face like a shield.

  She allows me to go in first, and it’s not until my knees have brushed one of the two chairs in front of her desk that I look up to see a police officer standing at the window with his broad back to me. Colorful tattoos take up every inch of space on his arms.