Elvira
felt the sudden rush of anticipation for her evening’s activities. She
could take all night going through
Kathy’s untidy desk. And she’d need lots of time to get everything back in
the same mess it always was. It was one thing to poke through their desks,
but she didn’t want what she had done to be obvious.
It didn’t matter what time she got home for
supper. Her husband was used to
Elvira
staying
late at school to finish her work.
Elvira’s
thoughts moved to that interfering old busybody, Molly
O’Connor, the
librarian.
Molly
seemed
to think she was in charge of the teachers and the school. She’d soon have
to be put in her place. Elvira didn’t approve of those after-school
string classes Molly and her side-kick were running in the school,
either—all those extra people traipsing in and out, dirtying up the
place—especially when they weren’t totally under her jurisdiction. She
would soon be telling the O’Connor
woman
that her classes could no longer be held at
Driftwood
School. She
had other plans for the rooms and the spaces.
Molly
would
be upset. She was so drippy about ‘her children'. Silly woman. But it
would get rid of her. She’d want to move to another school if she
couldn’t have her cello and bass classes at this school.
And the library. What a colossal mess. Every surface
covered with half completed projects and stuffed animals
Molly insists
on collecting to give to kids she thinks need something to cuddle. She’s
such a sot. She seems to think school
is a haven for the children, so the whole library is filled with displays
of junk and what she calls “feely toys.” Posters cover every available
wall surface and easy chairs and cushions litter the room so the children
can “get comfortable with a book” as signs tell them to. Such gooey
sloppiness. Elvira
shook
her head as she thought about it. One way or another,
Molly
would
be gone next year for sure.
When she was certain everyone had left the school,
Elvira
went
quickly and quietly up the stairs to
Kathy
Grossbar’s
room. As she passed the library, she glanced in and curled her lip in
distaste before moving down the hall to Kathy’s
room.
It was barely half an hour after she began
pawing through the papers on
Kathy’s
desk when Elvira
found
the tantalizing letters. As she read them, she licked her lips, like the
butcher’s dog seeing a big juicy bone. She became excited. This was
better than she’d hoped for. It was all the ammunition she needed to
keep
Kathy under
her thumb for the rest of the year and to get rid of her at the end of the
term.
