The Richest Woman in Town Claimed Me as Her Lost Daughter on Stage, Then I Read the Date on Her Lab Report novel · Chapter 6 of 24
Chapter 6: Consolidation
My mother was sitting at the kitchen table in her robe, with the Times face down in front of her.
Her reading glasses were on, and there was a single sheet of paper next to her coffee.
"You didn't come home," she said.
"I fell asleep at the firehouse. Tom drove me back. I'm sorry, Mom."
"Don't be sorry." She slid the paper toward me with one finger. "Read that. It came by courier yesterday at two, before Barbara got here."
It was a letter on Washington County Schools letterhead.
It thanked Margaret Weber for twenty years and four months of service.
It said the district was consolidating its cafeteria operations at the new year.
Her position as head cook at Putnam Elementary would end on December thirty-first.
I read it twice.
"They can't do this."
"They can, baby. They voted on it last Tuesday." My mother took her glasses off. "Item nine, consent agenda, between the bus contract and the parking lot."
"Last Tuesday was before the breakfast."
"It was," my mother said.
We looked at each other.
My mother had read this letter before Barbara ever sat down at our table.
She had listened to an offer of a scholarship fund in her name, with a plaque, knowing it was in the drawer.
"A plaque," my mother said, and for the first time since Saturday, her voice wobbled. "She was going to put my name on a wall and take my job off it."
"Mom."
"I get my pension at fifty-five, Hallie. I'm fifty-four. I'm six months short."
I put my arms around her from behind and put my chin on top of her head.
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