Abstract
In the course of her lunchtime hall duty assistant principal Laura Whittier approaches a group of girls who are late for class. When they do not immediately depart, she touches one of them on the shoulder to encourage their prompt exit. A little while later the principal curtly informs Laura that the girl’s mother has come to school demanding that Laura be punished for shoving her daughter. Once she hears the girl’s name, Laura recalls that this was the same girl whose father had claimed last spring that his daughter was a runaway and insisted her absences for morning sickness not be excused despite Laura’s decision to excuse them. Laura ponders the reason for Lisa’s current behavior towards her when previously she had behaved politely to Laura. When Laura sees Lisa’s reaction to her in the mother’s presence, Laura suddenly thinks she understands what Lisa is doing. She doesn’t know how she will be able to convince the mother and the principal of her interpretation.
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