Margaret Walks Across the High School Stage on a Warm June Morning
Kayla looked at the legal page, her glasses slipping slightly down her nose. “Vance knows about this rule. He has to know.”
“He did not mention it to me,” I said.
“Because he wants us to stay quiet,” Kayla said, tapping the blue pen against her knee. “But the senior class is already talking, Mrs. Campbell. We are not going to let them act like Olivia was never one of us.”
“What are you doing, Kayla?” I asked.
She adjusted her glasses again and looked down at her sneakers. “Just making sure people remember.”
The front door remained closed, but the kitchen was warm when Brian started peeling potatoes at five. He did not look up when I sat at the table with the photocopy of the state code.
“Arthur found a law,” I said. “The school has to issue an honorary diploma if we ask for it.”
Brian kept his knife moving, thin brown skins falling into the sink. “And what does that change, Margaret?”
“It means her name has to be part of the official record,” I said. “It means they cannot pretend she did not earn her place on that stage.”
