They Rejected My Daughter novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Public Comment

The district boardroom held two hundred people, and by ten to seven there was nowhere to stand.

I sat in the fourth row in my gray coat with Ruby on my right and Chloe on my left.

Chloe's father sat on the aisle with his big hands folded.

The bus driver, the woman in scrubs and the grandmother with the cane had taken the row behind us.

Ms. Walmsley was three seats down, pale and upright, with her bag in her lap.

The math teacher sat at the end beside her and kept his eyes on the carpet.

Howard Haskins sat in the front row, in a good suit that was wet at the collar.

Two television cameras stood at the back of the room.

On the dais, five board members were taking their seats behind a long curved desk.

The center chair was the board president's.

The chair beside it was empty.

It had a small brass plate in front of it that read Superintendent.

I had asked the board president to leave it empty for one night.

He had gone gray in the face when I asked.

"You want to sit with the audience," he had said.

"Just tonight."

"Audrey, it's your chair."

"I know whose chair it is."

He looked at the empty brass plate now and then.

At seven sharp he rapped the gavel and read the first agenda item.

Lorna Staniforth rose from the second row.

She wore a navy suit and pearls, and her hair was perfect.

She walked to the podium with a folded paper in her hand and smiled at the room.

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