ON MONDAY MORNING, G-ma walks with me to school again. She wants to meet the new principal, somebody named Dr. Yetty James.

I know that “Dr.” doesn’t have to mean like “stick out your tongue and say ahh,” or “you only have fourteen hours to live.” But still, I’m wondering if this new principal’s going to be good news, bad news, or something in between.

When we get to school, there’s a lady out front saying good morning to everybody. She’s tall, and has this huge smile, and she’s even really pretty. I’m talking Beyoncé/Alicia Keys/Rihanna pretty. Like that.

G-ma walks right up to her and says, “Dr. James, I presume?”

“Everyone calls me Dr. Yetty,” the lady says, and shakes G-ma’s hand. “And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting here?”

“I’m Kenny Wright,” I say.

“And what are you good at, Kenny?” she asks me.

I’m not really sure how to answer that one. It seems like a weird question, but G-ma answers for me.

“He’s an excellent student,” she says. “And he’s quite the chess player, too.”

“Ah, a kindred spirit,” Dr. Yetty says. Whatever that means. “We’ll have to play sometime.”

“You play chess?” I ask her. I don’t mean it to be rude, but G-ma shoots me a look that says otherwise.

“Kenneth, you go on inside,” she tells me. “Dr. Yetty, if you have a moment, I’d like to chat a little.”

And I think, Uh-oh! This is exactly what I was afraid of. G-ma’s been waiting all weekend to fill the new principal’s ear. It also puts her one step closer to finding out whatever Mr. Diaw wrote in my file before he left.

“G-ma, Dr. Yetty’s just getting started,” I say. “Maybe you should cut her some slack and talk later.”

“Nonsense,” Dr. Yetty says. “What better way to start than by getting to know the people in the community?”

G-ma smiles back at her like Dr. Yetty just won the Miss Black USA contest, or invented electricity, or something. So I slide on out of there, but even while I’m walking away, I can hear G-ma starting to ask questions.

In other words, this whole new-principal thing is starting off exactly the way I was afraid it might: Sometimes even the beautiful ones bring you the most heartache and trouble. I can feel it in my big toe. It tingles sometimes when trouble is about to pop off.

And it’s tingling.