Covering the business of education and training

    At meetings like this my mom generally made me wear my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, usually a plaid flannel shirt, corduroys and today, a pair of new black Converse sneakers. A picture of Jesus walking on the water hung over my right shoulder. Did these people expect me to be as perfect as him, I wondered?

     Jackie sat nearby. She wore something pink with white lace and other frills. She smiled a lot and her eyes had their usual sparkle. But the smile seemed the nervous type. She was her usual happy self but also fidgety.

     “You’ve created enough problems, Billy” the principal chimed in. “Now you sit there.”

     I was already sitting so I grabbed the sides of the fancy wooden chair with its engravings and the plastic covered cream seats and tried to sit more down. My knuckles turned white and the corners under the seat cut into my fingers.