Chapter 1 - The Liar

Margaret waited in the lobby and watched the clock on the wall tick downthe seconds in a minuteMargaret waited in the lobby andwatched the clock on the wall tick down the seconds in a minute. Mrs. Minoltawas a fowl woman with unlimited power over the lives of her students, her wordwas law and thusly she wasn’t challenged, until now. “Ms. Andrews, come in,please.” Margaret’s heart skipped a beat when she was addressed, fear imposeditself unto her. She quickly stood up and almost ran after the instructor. Shesaw the look in Mrs. Minolta’s eyes, they were disappointed and unbelieving.She stood in the door waiting for her teacher to address her.
“Sit,” Mrs. Minolta ordered, “Now,why don’t you tell me in your own words what happened.” By this time Margaretwas seated.
“Well, it started yesterday,” shebegan, “and I was in my room, there was this sound outside.”
“What kind of sound?” Her teacherwas already looking dulled.
“Like a big crash.” She tried torecreate the sound but failed at the attempt.
“So it sounded like a dying whale?”
“More like, the crunch of plastic.”She tried to smile but was shot down by the stern look given to her by Mrs.Minolta. “So…anyway, I…uh…went downstairs and heard my mother yelling.”
“And…,” the instructor was tappingher fingers on her desk expectantly.
“And I went outside to see what shewas screaming about, and it turns out that the garbage man had backed into thegarbage cans after he emptied them.” She had stopped and seemed as if she hadfinished.
“This relates to the incident todayhow?”
Margaret looked at her indisbelief. “Well…My mother was out in her robe of course.”
“And…”
“She was in her bathrobe and it isshorter…than most…and…” Margaret’s voice trailed off and she looked down inshame.
“Was anyone else on the street?”
“Little, Jamie Miller,” Margarethad venom in her voice.
“That wouldn’t happen to be thelittle sister of Laura Miller, the one that you…well…”she smiled to herself. “Letme guess, Laura heard from her little sis that your mother was scantily clad,yelling at the garbage man in the middle of the afternoon.”
“Called her a slut.” she whispered.
“So you were just defending thehonor of your mother, and you hit Ms. Miller.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Go back to the lobby”
Margaret made her way out the doorback to her seat. The clock was still ticking away the moments. At the otherend of the lobby sat Laura, a black eye and a cut lip, she was a pitiful sight.“Laura Miller,” Mrs. Minolta called from in her office. Laura made her way pastMargaret, making sure that she was outside a five foot radius around Margaret.

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