The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

Author:Meg Wolitzer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

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Though they did not like each other, they were both in desperate, shaky need of decompression, so Noelle Williams and Zee Eisenstat found themselves sitting together for a very early dinner in a nearby restaurant after the workday, which ended for both of them immediately after Shara’s grandmother arrived and everything was revealed to be stable, at least medically. Zee tried to go to the hospital with her frightened student, but Jean the nurse said no, she would go instead. There was nothing more for Zee and Noelle to do.

Noelle chose a small soul-food restaurant called Miss Marie’s with wood paneling and an excellent soundtrack featuring Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. A tin bowl of pickled green tomatoes was placed on the table, and Zee sliced one hard, feeling the give of the skin, knowing that even though her knife was dull, she could cut this. She had nearly delivered a baby today, after all. The baby of a baby.

Poor Shara Pick, she thought. Poor Baby Girl Pick. There was nothing she could do for her students but buy toothbrushes and tube socks and assist at a delivery, and feel a constant sadness or anger or fear. “What’s going to happen?” she asked. “Her family is such a mess.”

“Oh, I know. It’s as sad as it gets,” said Noelle. “Her parents came to school once and they could barely stand up. I don’t know what they’re like now. The social worker is heading over to the hospital tonight, and we’ll follow up tomorrow, but it’s all very bleak.”

“Will she be allowed to come back to school?”

“Sure, there are various options. But I have no idea what she’s going to do. We have a program for mothers, but honestly it all kills me. Why did no one see that that girl was pregnant? Oh, that was a rhetorical question. It’s a question that will be put to the entire faculty and staff when we meet next. And I’m going to suggest we have an emergency meeting, because none of us noticed it. We can’t just say, ‘She was carrying small,’ though clearly she was. That baby was like a hand puppet. And yet the EMS team said she was fine. Small but fine. Her lungs sounded good.”

“I feel terrible that I missed it. But I couldn’t see anything. Shara wore a parka to class every day,” said Zee.

“That in itself was a warning sign.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Of course you didn’t.”

At which point Zee wondered how much shit she was meant to take from the guidance counselor. Why did Noelle dislike her with such ferocity, even after everything they had done together today, and the raw drama of it?

“What did I ever do to you, Noelle?” she asked.

The waitress appeared then, cutting off the confrontation, so they ordered dully from the menu. Chicken for Noelle, a vegetable medley for Zee. When you were a vegetarian your restaurant meals were heavy on medleys.

Then Noelle looked up at her with an expression that was surprisingly not hostile.

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