Emily sat nervously in the waiting area, her eyes darting back and forth between her phone, the administrative assistant who sat at her desk across from her, and the clock hung on the adjacent wall.
The phone rang on the admin's desk. Her appearance suggested clenched conservatism...hair up in a tight bun, white blouse button to the top, long black skirt to the ankles. Mid 20's maybe? She looked too young to be wound so tight. The admin answered the call with pursed lips, replaced the receiver and glared at Emily "He will see you now."
Emily walked through the door. Principal Hadley sat across the room at his desk.
"Mrs. Wiggins...please close the door behind you and sit down." Emily obliged, and slunk into the padded leather chair across from Hadley's desk. She had met the school headmaster a few times before. They actually belonged to the same gym and they would occasionally cross paths during early morning workouts. He was approaching 50 years of age she guessed, but he was fit and trim and looked years younger.
"Do you know why you're here, Mrs. Wiggins?"
"Please, call me Emily. Well...I'm not sure, I mean I think maybe-"
He quickly cut off her stammering.
"We know these documents you submitted for Nolan's residency are fake."
The blood drained from her face. Her breathing stopped. How could Hadley have found out? She had been so careful. She and her husband had been trying this school for years and finally as Nolan prepared to enter 2nd grade they thought they finally had it all figured out.
"We know the address you gave to verify residency is no good. That house is under construction, and you need to actually live there for 6 months in the county to establish residency."
The construction delays...her fault. She had agonized over every decision...every wall, every counter, every outlet...how would she ever explain this to her husband. Her body was in a panic. She could barely breathe.
"I...I...we just fell so far behind...when we got the conditional acceptance-"
He cut her off again.
"We can't have Nolan at this school."
Her heart...now racing.
"No please...I'll do anything! We've waited so long..."
"Maybe we should call your husband? So he can absorb the news."
"No...PLEASE! He cannot know. The delays were my fault. I have fucked this whole thing up. There must be something that you can do for me Mr. Hadley!"
His lips pursed, he stared down hard across his desk at her. She detected a faint glimmer in the back of his eyes.
"PLEASE!" she implored.
He reached for his desk phone. "Lori...please come in for a moment."
He set the receiver down. "It's not what I'm going to do for you. It's what you are going to do for me. "
Emily, panting now, stared at him...confused.
"I'm not sure I..." She heard the door swing open as Lori entered the room behind her.
"Lori...it seems Mrs. Wiggins has been trying to deceive the school. Provide fraudulent residency. We cannot have that here. Can you tell Mrs. Wiggins what happens here in this office when rules are broken?"
Lori stared at him. Her mouth slowly dropped open. She swung the door closed...and threw the deadbolt.
"Those people...people like Mrs. Wiggins...must be punished."