“Probably that they want to be safe and heard when they’re in a learning environment.They want to get along with their classmates, and have those classmates learn acceptable and unacceptable behavior from an unbiased administrator.”
Otto sputtered and shook his head; the man was getting more ruffled by the second.“Clyde is agoodboy.”
“Is he though?”Gabrielle asked.“Or are you trying to convince yourself that because any other narrative paints your daughter out to be a bad parent, which then reflects poorly on you?”
Understanding—and rage—dawned in Otto’s eyes.“How dare you!”
“I do dare.I believe in pointing out injustices when I see them.I believe in exposing biases when they affect people in a negative way—and particularly, when I care about those people.Or when those people are minors who have no voice.”
“Dad!”came the nasally voice of Avelyn Whalley right before she showed her negligent parent face.She regarded us, standing there on her parents’ porch, as if we were gum on the bottom of her shoe.“Aren’t you that girl’s mom who won’t stop calling and messaging me?”
“It’s fine, angel.I’ve got this,” Otto said to Avelyn.
But just like her son never listened, neither did Avelyn, and she came to stand beside her dad.Was she hiding from me because of a bad lip filler job?It certainly looked like a bad job.Her lips preceded her like a duck’s bill as she stood next to her dad and let her gaze roam Tom’s body appreciatively.“What do you want?”
“Your son has been bullying my daughter,” I said.“Quite badly.”
Her thick, fake eyelashes fluttered as she narrowed her eyes at me.“Yeah?Says who?”
“Says my daughter.Who comes home in tears every day.He pulls chairs out from behind her, opens her backpack as she’s walking so everything falls out; he even put gum in her hair on the bus.He calls her stupid and dumb.And today he kicked sand in her eyes.”
Avelyn shrugged, then tossed her auburn hair off her shoulder.“Maybe he likes her.Boys do that when they like a girl.”
“That is not how a boy shows a girl he likes her,” Tom piped up.“No.No.I’m sorry.Unacceptable.And we need to stop telling children that.”
“Who are you?”Avelyn asked.
“Next-door neighbor.His donkey ate your mother’s tulips yesterday,” Otto murmured.
Avelyn shrugged again, causing her oversized gray hoodie to slide off her shoulder.Her legs were bare, and I wasn’t sure she wore any shorts beneath the hoodie.“Whatever.Boys will be boys.He’ll grow out of it.Maybe your daughter needs to toughen up.The world isn’t soft.It’s not easy.There are bullies everywhere.This is just teaching her to have a thicker skin later.”
“I disagree,” I said gently.“I think this is setting your son up with the belief that he can do no wrong.That how he treats girls—women—and people in general, is acceptable.And he will continue to do so.Aren’t you worried that he’s going to target the wrong person one day and get hurt?”
“Are you threatening my child?”
“No.”I glanced at Gabrielle.“Did that sound like a threat?”
Gabrielle shook her head.“You asked her a legitimate question.One I’ve been thinking myself.”Then she focused on Otto.“You, however, threatened our children today.Without a parent present.Without another adult present.You isolated our children and deliberately frightened them.You threatened expulsion if our family said anything about your family ever again.”
Avelyn’s expression turned smug as she cocked her hip against the doorjamb and crossed her arms over her chest, revealing long acrylic nails in hot-pink with pearls and jewels glued to them.I had no issues with women who got fake nails, but these looked too long and too pointy.How did she wipe her butt?How did she not stab herself in the eye or butthole with those sharp talons?
“Are you censoring your students, Principal Pickford?”Gabrielle asked.“Threatening themandcensoring them?”
Otto yanked hard on his belt loops to pull his waistband over his gut, but as soon as he let go, it fell again.“This is the problem today.Single mothers.No fathers.No men in their lives to show them the right way to behave.To lay down the law.If you had husbands, I bet they wouldn’t let you come to my house and throw accusations in my face.You’d be where you belong.”
“Which is?”Gabrielle asked, amusement in her tone.
Otto made a noise in his throat.“I am the principal of the school.Like it or not.My word is law.Your children will follow the rules, follow my word, or they can leave.Everybody has a choice.”
Avelyn’s light-blue eyes glittered in triumph as she smirked at me.
Gabrielle nodded.“Gotcha.Glad to know this was as useless as—”
“Tits on a bull,” Tom finished.
Even more ire filled Otto’s eyes.He was a pious man who didn’t like any kind of cursing, so Tom saying “tits” was basically the equivalent of me yelling, “fuck, shit, damn, tit, cock” on their tacky welcome mat.
“Off my property,” Otto finally said, spittle flying out of his mouth.“If you don’t like the way I run the school, you can homeschool your troublemakers.The McEvoys too.”
