Chapter 41

At Father Pringle’s invitation, Chris sat in one of his side chairs next to Mrs. Jackson and waited politely until one of the educators spoke.

Father Pringle finally broke the silence. “We invited you here today, Mr. Bottoms, because we have some concerns about Ted’s performance.”

“Really? He’s getting straight As, despite the fact that he has to miss school every Wednesday. What more could you ask for?”

“He doesn’t seem to pay attention in class,” Mrs. Jackson said.

“He seems to pay sufficient attention to keep his grades up, so what’s the problem?” Chris said.

She rambled on and on for quite some time, assisted by an occasional prompt from the headmaster, until Chris finally raised his hand to stop them.

“You’ve talked in circles for five minutes without really saying anything,” Chris said. “Why don’t you cut to the chase?”