When the Ground Turns in Its Sleep by Sylvia Sellers-Garcia

Author:Sylvia Sellers-Garcia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

NOONE CAME to confession on Wednesday, and Xinia didn’t appear in the vestry. There had been days in the past when only a few people came to confession, but it was the first time no one had come. On Thursday it was the same. I went so far as to stand in the doorway, looking out over the soccer field, as if by standing there I might see what had taken everyone away. Xinia had nothing in particular to do at the church on those days, but I still noticed her absence, and I couldn’t remember whether she’d stayed away on other weeks.

It had been similar during my last month as a teacher in Rhode Island. They were days in which I had a lot of time on my hands, and the people I knew were unaccountably never around. I’d only talked to a few people about the conversation with the new principal, but I knew that among the teaching staff the outcome of it was common knowledge. When she’d first called me in to meet with her I’d assumed it would be like the personal meetings she’d been having with the other teachers. They were friendly, informal chats. With me the conversation immediately took a different turn.

To begin with she sat behind her desk, not next to me, and she crossed her arms the moment I walked in. “Nítido,” she said briskly, “as you know I have some plans for us to be more competitive among private schools. I want us to really draw students from all over New England, if not from all over the country.”

“Yes,” I said to her. “I think it’s a great plan.”

She smiled. “One thing that really draws students, apart from the facilities and class size, is the quality of the teaching. Of the teachers.”

“Of course.”

She looked directly at me and held her pen up, as if checking an imaginary box that hung in the air in front of her. “As you must know, advanced degrees are really a large part of what makes a teacher attractive to prospective students and their parents.”

I was silent, suddenly realizing what the conversation was about. “I think experience counts for a lot as well.”

She nodded. “It does, and I know how many students have benefited from your teaching over the years.” She gave me a tight smile. “Nevertheless, it is one of my goals to have a teaching staff entirely composed of teachers with advanced degrees.”

“I see.” But I did not, entirely. “I would be glad for the opportunity to work on an advanced degree. As I understand it, some people get advanced degrees by correspondence.”

The principal put down the pen and opened a folder that was sitting on her desk. She looked through it, frowning, as if my proposal to take a degree by correspondence lay in front of her. “Nítido,” she said, looking up. “I really want to have a teaching staff with impeccable credentials, to meet the highest standards. I’m looking at your file,”

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