Monday's Child Read Online Free PDF Page A

be brave.”
    “So am I.”
    She stared at him. “I’m not sure I believe you.”
    “Kevin will be fine,” he said evenly. “He’s a tough little kid.”
    “Maybe he is. That isn’t the point.”
    “Kids break bones every day—”
    “He didn’t break his arm; his arm was broken for him. There is a difference.”
    “Look . . . he was horsing around and he got hurt somehow. It happens.”
    “Why are you doing this?”
    “Doing what?”
    “Covering up.”
    He laughed. It was not a pleasant laugh. “Now you’re being absurd.”
    “Then what do you call it?” she demanded. “You know as well as I do—”
    “What do you know? What exactly did you see that no one else saw?”
    Taken aback, Cheryl hesitated.
    Downs answered for her: “Nothing. You saw nothing. She wasn’t within two feet of him. She stood there with her arms at her sides and didn’t move.”
    “But—”
    He held up a hand. “That’s all you saw because that’s all there was. Kevin must have hit his arm on something, fractured the bone, and then displaced it when he was acting out.”
    “How could he break his arm and not know it?”
    “How,” he countered, “could she break his arm without anyone seeing her do it?”
    “God help me, I don’t know.” She felt as if tentacles of ice were snaking through her veins and she shivered. “It’s impossible, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “Unless . . .”
    “Unless what?”
    She didn’t know what. Perhaps, she thought uneasily, she didn’t want to know. She covered her face with both hands, pressing against her closed eyelids, trying to erase the images in her mind.
    Footsteps outside the door signaled the arrival of the fire department. There was a flurry of noisy activity and then, quickly it seemed, they were taking Kevin away.
    “This may not be the time, and maybe I shouldn’t be the one to mention it,” Downs said when they’d gone, “but you are new here.”
    “What does that have to do with anything?”
    He shrugged. “I understand you had some problems before you came to Meadowbrook.”
    “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
    “As a student teacher?”
    She felt her face redden. The principal had promised her that her teaching evaluations would remain confidential. “Who told you?”
    “It wasn’t Barry,” he said, too quickly. “I have a friend who teaches at Hillview.”
    “Oh?”
    “I heard you were asked to change classrooms in mid-year.”
    Cheryl searched his eyes. He’d spoken without a hint of censure, but she wondered. “Actually, I requested to be transferred.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m sure if you know about my transfer, you’ve heard the rest of it.”
    “A problem with one of the students.”
    She let her breath out in a sigh. “Yes.”
    “A girl, wasn’t it?”
    “A girl,” she acknowledged. “I gather you think I have a problem with Jill Baker.”
    “Don’t you?”
    “No.”
    He said nothing.
    “I suppose you feel close to every one of your students,” she asked, and was annoyed that she sounded defensive.
    Downs shook his head. “I never said that, and I don’t mean to imply that if there is a problem, you’re the only one. Jill was in my class last year, and I know women have a hard time warming up to her—”
    “Women?”
    “She is a pretty little thing,” he went on, “and although I don’t see why an adult woman would be jealous of a child, they sure act that way. I mean, if she were sixteen or even thirteen I could understand that some women might feel threatened having her around.”
    Incredulous, unable to believe what she was hearing, Cheryl was momentarily at a loss for words.
    “As for Jill, I know that she can be a bit standoffish now and then, but kids seem to sense when someone doesn’t like them. I’m sure she feels your resentment towards her and acts accordingly.”
    That did it. “Talk about bullshit!”
    He looked affronted. “I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
    “I really