“I’m very sorry to have called you out of work, ma’am,” the principal began, “but, as you can see…”

“Yeah,” Tiffani replied slowly.

She looked over at her second daughter, whose face was bleeding and beginning to scab over. The child’s hair was a wild tangle. Her lips trembled, and tears collected at the corners of her eyes, prevents from falling only by the sheer willpower of the girl. With a short, chewed up fingernail, the child picked at the flesh around a fingernail. Tiffani inwardly sighed and thought, Where is your strength? Your willpower? Your backbone? Why are you letting this happen, Eva? Why do all of my children remind me of some flaw or failure in my own life? Jane inherited all of the foolish vanity of my youth. Eva inherited the weak will of my early years. And… and Leah… she’s a reminder of how I’m not the woman my husband wishes I was.


“So, how did it happen?” Tiffani finally asked.

“We found her like this on the playground after the others went back to class,” the principal responded. “She said some of her classmates did this to her. We questioned the students, but they claimed to know nothing.”

“And you’re going to believe them?” Tiffani asked incredulously.

“Well, a child can easily get these types of injuries simply from running around on the playground. Perhaps that’s what happened, and she and the accused students had a disagreement earlier in the day, and she wanted to--”

“Are you calling my daughter a liar?”

“No, but…”

“Now, look, I know that Eva is not a liar. She wouldn’t say someone did this if they didn’t.”

“Please calm down.”

“Like hell I will! Look, are you going to stand there and look at my child and say this is normal? You’re supposed to protect the kids at this school, and instead, all you’re going is enabling the bullies. How many times must my child sit in here, looking like she went five rounds with Ali before you believe she’s being bullied?”

“Ma’am, if you do not settle down, I’ll have to call the security team.”

“Call them! I’m tired of my daughter coming home upset, with blood and dirt in her clothes!”

At this, Eva looked up in astonishment at her mother. She did not realize that her mother had known all along what she’d been trying to hide. Eva felt both relieved and enraged. She knew! she thought. But, if she knew, why didn’t she say anything?


Tiffani set her hands firmly on Eva’s shoulders. “Look,” she said, struggling to regain some sense of calm, “I just want my daughter to be safe. I’m sure you want the same for your students. But it seems to me that protection here seems to be somewhat lacking.”

“Well, Eva strikes me as a rather passive child. Perhaps that makes her stand out as a target.”

“Are you suggesting my daughter deserves to be bullied and that she brings it on herself?”

“I’m just saying that perhaps your child’s lack of confidence makes her seem weak, and--”

“Tell me,” Tiffani interrupted, “how confident would you feel if you were regularly ganged up on, if you had several of your peers hurting you and beating you up on a regular basis?” The principal stared silently at her. Tiffani smiled slightly and continued, “I thought as much. I’ll be taking my daughter to the doctor’s office to be checked out, and then home.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “And if my daughter ever comes home again looking like this… well, you’ll have a lot more problems on your hands than you do now.”