Good With Children

9780373714360_PL.inddExtracted 1 threads from 9780373714360-exw.PDFUntitled Article 01: UntitledSultan, Colorado JanuaryRORY GORENZI WAS on time for the 10:00 a.m. meeting with her father. She was usually punctual and shed never lost a job because of absenteeism or tardiness. Shed lost none of her previous jobs because of incom- petence, either. Instead, she had lost them for speaking before thinkingor, rather, for speaking her mind as her thoughts occurred. It was imperative that she keep her mouth shut now. She wouldnt sayanythingunless her father required her to speak. But shewouldfocus on the conversation at hand, rather than dwelling on her recent loss or on the other minor problem in her personal life. The problem wasnt reallyherproblem: a disagreement among her fire-dancing/belly-dancing troupe regarding a living creature in the household they shared. A living creature that had long since ceased to be useful to their troupe, a living creature that no zoo or reptile rescue facility had so far agreed to adopt. It was a bad situation, but Rory couldnt think about it now. Nor could she think about her beloved pet, Gandalf, now, or she would break down in tears. The vet had put down the old dog after a long illness only the day before. Now, he was out of pain, at last, and she mustnt cry about that. In his office at the Sultan Mountain School, Kurt Gorenzi sat behind a scarred walnut desk, a remnant of Sultans earlier mining days. His hair was thick, gray-flecked, wavy, a little long. Rorys curls, sun- lightened brown and reaching to her waist, had come from him, from her father. As had her nosestraight, lightly dusted with freckles. And her brown eyes. It was unlikely that her personality had been influ- enced by him, however, since shed had little contact with him over the years, despite having grown up in the town of three hundred where he lived. Kurt Gorenzi wore a plaid flannel shirt, Carhartts and Sorels. The driving force behind Sultans recently reborn economy looked like the unapproachable mountain man he was. He stood when she entered, considered her formally, did not invite her to sitand did the talking. oeYoull be forming the program for Seamus Lees family, he said. oeIve given them the Empire Street house, and theyre bringing a dog. A dog. Gandalf had been fourteen, old for a German shepherd. She blinked away the thought of Seamus Lees dog. Rory was unlikely to have another of her ownnot now, in any case. She lived with the two other members of Caldera, one of whom was allergic to both dogs and cats and had put up with Gandalf only because Rory had refused to live there without him. oeSeamus Lee is a cartoonist and animator, Kurt continued. oeHe employs five people full-time in Tel- luride and is considering moving his business and family to Sultan. He has four children. Rory understood the importance of all this. Four children was four childrens worth of funding for the public school. Five full-time employees meant popu- lEarly, Margot is the author of 'Good With Children ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373714360 and ISBN 037371436X.