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Explanation of this sample page...
On this sample page, the young coach's concern about the
well-being of his students places him in serious jeopardy. Yet
his conscience would not let him stop. The kids had real
problems, and they had to find real answers.
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Six
What you say can and will
be used against you!
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THE NOTE was written so lightly in pencil on the back of a little
card that John could hardly read it. He flipped the card over to see the front. There it was,
big and bold: Alfredo H. Rumley, Principal, Lincoln High School.
Ms. Gibson had written a note to John on the back of Rumley's business card and handed it to
him as he waited in her office. She didn't give the coach a chance to ask her anything. Her
eyes were glued to her monitor and her fingers tap-danced rapidly on her keyboard.
John was having second thoughts about the secret meeting with the students. He knew he was
teetering on the edge of a cliff and unemployment was written on the rocks below. He simply
couldn't believe that he and the students had to resort to hiding. He wanted to try to
reason with Rumley one more time, when Rumley wasn't already mad. That's why he had
requested this meeting with him. He was hoping he could appeal to him to arrange free
professional therapy for the kids. His mind wondered in frustration: Hadn't Mr. Rumley
heard that the Berlin Wall had come down, and that Russia was no longer communistic? Didn't
he know our country should also be free of oppression? Is he a total control freak, or what?
He noticed a picture frame on Ms. Gibson's desk between a bouquet of flowers and a small
fish bowl filled with pastel M & M's. On one side of the golden frame was a picture of
Kaprice, her mom, and Kaprice's little brother. The boy looked to be about eleven or twelve.
On the other side was a portrait of Kaprice in her cheerleading uniform. A small snapshot of her
brother in his soccer uniform was tucked into the left bottom corner of the frame, with the loose
edge curling. John assumed Ms. Gibson was a single mother. The warmth of her office felt good to
him as he shivered and rubbed chill bumps, dreading another close encounter with Rumley.
Ms. Gibson turned her computer screen toward John so he could see a message for his eyes only.
She had enlarged the letters to make them readable from where he sat. He read the screen to
himself:
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