Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Mrs. Warlow looked to Dr. Voy. His forehead wrinkled, and he licked his dry, thin lips.
“That is up to you. Legally, you do not have to share your medical records with anyone. We can’t demand them. However, it is the only way we can tell the concerned people whose money keeps these doors open that you aren’t pregnant and have not had an abortion.”
I laughed. It was hard and as cold as I felt. “No, it isn’t legal. Just like you firing me over a lie isn’t legal.” When pushed in a corner and tears threaten me, I tend to bow up and fight back. It was a product of surviving my mother.
“Might I remind you, Miss Gerard, that this isn’t just a private school; it is a Christian one that is owned by the church. Laws that apply to other institutions do not apply to us. The law allows religious institutions to hire and fire employees based on their adherence to our religious beliefs and practices. This is all clearly stated in the contract you signed when hired,” Dr. Voy informed me, sounding like an attorney.
“But I am not pregnant. I haven’t broken any of your standards,” I stressed.
“Miss Gerard, without proof of this, others will believe what they want. This will put a dark cloud over the school and our environment. It will affect the children. Parents will pull their kids out, and we will lose enrollment. This accusation wouldn’t have been placed without a firm belief. It is up to you as an employee to keep your name free and clear of any such questions on your integrity. You have done something to led others to believe this is true. We have the right to let you go, and if you fight to keep your job, you’ll only be ostracized. The parents of the kids in your classroom will pull them out. You will have no classroom to teach.”
This lie, whoever had said it—they had me in a corner, and they knew this would be the outcome. It wasn’t that I had anything to hide on my medical records. They would prove my innocence. It was that they had the power to overrule my rights because of religion. They claimed that they didn’t judge, yet I had just been judged thoroughly and found guilty without any proof.
I sat there silently. The entire staff believed this. To keep my job and get back my reputation here, it would require I hand over my medical records for them to see. The right to my privacy snatched from me. Why was one person’s word more powerful than mine?
I stood up. I looked at each one of them directly with my shoulders back and my head held high. I wouldn’t walk out of here a victim, although that was what they had made me. “While I have nothing to hide from you, you’re asking that I give up the rights that I am given as a United States citizen. I don’t know if I want to work under leadership such as this one. Where one person’s word is more powerful than another. When something is shared and it is repeated and spreads without evidence or facts, such as this has, it’s called gossip,” I told them.
“‘Do not spread gossip and rumors’,” I said with a tight smile. “It’s in Leviticus. Maybe you should all go read it because you seem to have forgotten. Whoever came to you had no evidence. No recording of me saying it, not my medical records, not even a text. So, they were spreading gossip, yet it is them you believe.” I stopped and saw something flicker in Principal Clairton’s eyes that I believed was remorse, but he said nothing.
“I’ll see myself out and get my things from the classroom. My lesson plan is uploaded to the server, and all the copies for this week are paper-clipped and in order on my shelf before my desk,” I said before walking to the door, opening it, and leaving.
None of them called me back.
Twenty-Six
Winslet
It seemed they hadn’t been exaggerating about everyone having heard the lie. Toby had all but run in the other direction when I was walking out to the parking lot. That was a first. It didn’t bother me. If anything, it was a relief I didn’t have to deal with him.
Meg’s door was closed when I walked by, and I considered knocking and seeing if she knew who had started this, but didn’t. There was no need to bring anyone into this. And even if I did know who had done it, what good would that do? The powers that be knew who it was. That wasn’t what had been in question.
When I opened the door to my apartment, I dropped the box of my things I’d taken from the classroom onto the floor. I’d left behind over a thousand dollars’ worth of things I had paid for. It was for the kids. They shouldn’t suffer because of this.