The Ada Decades by Paula Martinac

Author:Paula Martinac [Martinac, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612940861
Publisher: Bywater Books
Published: 2017-02-14T23:00:00+00:00

§ § §

For Ada, Principal Riordan had been a refreshing addition to the Central administration. He told teachers to call him “Jack,” was hands-off when it came to faculty, and brought new ideas from his most recent post. A few veteran teachers, however, viewed him with suspicion. “He’s from New York!” was the charge leveled by some. “You know that old joke,” Cam said. “A Yankee’s someone who lives north of the Mason–Dixon line. A damn Yankee is a Yankee who doesn’t leave.”

So Ada wasn’t expecting trouble when the principal poked his head into the library during seventh period, noted the room full of students, and asked if she had “a few minutes” to spare after school. “Stop by my office, would you? Even if I look busy, please just barge right in.” There was no hint of menace in his voice, no tightened facial muscles. His tone and manner were almost breezy.

“I’ll be a few minutes late today,” she told Cam, who waited so they could drive home together. “Jack Riordan wants some sort of favor, I think.”

“Maybe it’s the chess club,” Cam said. “They never replaced Burnside.”

“If that’s it, I’ll be forced to volunteer for some other activity, like Future Homemakers of America.”

“You are a fine cook.”

“Close the door, if you don’t mind,” Mr. Riordan said when she appeared soon after the final bell. It was her first clue that something wasn’t right; the second was that he didn’t look her in the eye, but instead kept writing something on a notepad. She took a chair with a cushion that was starting to fray along the edges, and saw a copy of The Fire Next Time on his desk. It had the clear wrapper she put on all the library’s new hardcover books, to protect their jackets.

“You know this book,” he said.

“James Baldwin, yes. That looks like our copy.”

“You ordered it, then.”

“I did.” This would have been the time to add, “Mr. Browne requested it,” but she held back the information.

“Have you read it, Ada?”

“I have not,” she admitted. “I have read other work by Mr. Baldwin, though, and he is a very fine writer. Clear and concise. Thoughtful.”

The principal examined the book as if she had just handed it to him. “A parent brought it to me. She wanted to know what this particular book was doing in a junior high school library.” Ada wanted to ask how the mother got it, but kept her silence. “I took the book home last night and read quite a lot of it, and frankly, Ada, I wonder what it’s doing here, too. Not only is Baldwin overly critical of religion and of Caucasians, but I’ve heard he’s a homosexual.” The word sounded uglier than it did when she or Cam used it.

“It was ordered, along with a number of other books on black issues.” She kept her words passive, as if the book had found its way onto the shelves on its own power. “No more than twenty in all.

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