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Emily had just dropped her purse in her bottom drawer when her intercom buzzed. “Emily?”
Emily tried to hide her annoyance that Julie was calling her by her first name while Chloe and Thomas were in her classroom. Of course, Julie didn’t know they were in her classroom before school had even started.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Hogan would like to see you.”
Emily looked at the clock. “Now?”
“Yes.” The intercom clicked off.
Emily peeled off her winter coat.
“Are you in trouble?” Thomas asked. He was smirking. He obviously didn’t think she was in trouble, but Chloe’s face was pale.
“No, I’m not in trouble. Be right back.”
Emily weaved her way through the hallway toward the principal’s office. There weren’t very many kids in the school, but apparently every one of them was between her and Mr. Hogan. When she finally got to his office, his door was open. This was strange. His door was never open. She knocked on it anyway. He nodded an invitation and then motioned for her to close the door behind her. A lead ball settled somewhere low in her stomach.
“Yes?”
“Have a seat.”
She sat.
“I’ll cut to the chase.” He leaned forward in his chair, his forearms resting on the top of his desk, his hands folded neatly together.
Emily tried to comfort herself by acknowledging that he didn’t look menacing. Only tired. It didn’t work. “OK,” she said, her voice only a little shaky.
“It’s come to my attention that you have been prophesying the students.”
Emily’s brows scrunched together involuntarily. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Have you been trying to convert your students to Christianity?”
She thought she understood then. “Oh, you mean proselytizing?” He pursed his lips then and she regretted the clarification. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to correct you. I was just trying to understand.”
“And do you? Understand?”
She forced herself to think before speaking, but her mind was a swirling jumble of a thousand defenses trying to force their way out. “No, I don’t, exactly, but I can tell you that I haven’t been proselytizing anyone.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“Is this about Milton?”
His eyebrows flew up. “Why do you ask that?”
“Because he apparently told one of his girls not to talk to me anymore. Look, Mr. Hogan, I don’t want to waste time with this. My faith is a huge part of who I am, it’s true. In fact, I became a teacher because of my faith, because I wanted to help young people, but I also respect the boundaries of this job, and don’t want to put myself, or you, or this school in an uncomfortable position.” She waited for him to respond. When he didn’t, she added, “I do go to church on the island, and there are students who go to church with—”
“The ‘church’ that meets in Abe Cafferty’s basement?” He couldn’t possibly have sounded more sarcastic when he spoke the word “church.”
She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She was proud of their subterranean flock. “That’s the one.”
“We do have a real church on the island, you know.”
Again, she forced herself to think carefully before replying, and she felt the Holy Spirit suggest she not reply at all. So she sat there, trying not to look defensive.
“It would be completely inappropriate for you to try to force your religious beliefs on any student here.”
“I understand.”
“And while I can’t stop you from going to the basement church, I would also suggest you consider the cost.”
This confused her, and her face showed it.
“What I mean is, some people find it odd to forego a perfectly good community church to meet with a bunch of radicals in a basement. People may make unpleasant assumptions about you because of your associations.”
She bit her tongue. Literally. She had to bite it in order to keep quiet. There was so much she wanted to say to this man.
“But for now, let’s just focus on the accusation at hand. I will make a note in your file, and don’t forget that your current contract is only good for one year. Not only can we terminate it at any time, for any reason, in fact, we don’t even have to give a reason, but if you want to be invited to teach here next year, I suggest you take these allegations seriously.”
“Yes, sir.”
He stared at her. She stared back.
“You may go.”
As she stood to leave, he added, “We may be a remote school, Miss Morse, but we are not some missionary project.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, when what she wanted to say was, “Sir, every school in America is a mission field.”
Thomas was champing at the bit when Emily returned to her classroom, but she told him nothing. She did, however, put a hand on Chloe’s shoulder and whisper, “Everything’s fine. I promise.”
She only partly believed this. In the big picture, she knew that God was in control, and that to be fired from a teaching job for allegedly speaking Jesus’ love would actually bring her blessing. But on the small scale, the idea terrified her. She didn’t want the embarrassment of such drama. She didn’t want to be fired from anything, let alone her first real teaching job—she had never failed at anything. And most importantly, she didn’t want to have to leave James. She couldn’t imagine staying on an island that had fired her, and she knew James would never leave the island. So she fervently hoped that this would all blow over and she would keep her job.
