The School for Good Mothers(88)

Cleaning crew sits together at dinner. Charisse wants them to make a plan. “We need to talk to Ms. Knight. We can get Meryl out.”

If they don’t try, Charisse says, cleaning crew will be like the Germans who turned a blind eye when the Jews were rounded up. This line of argument is not well received. Everyone thinks it’s unfair to bring up the Holocaust.

Charisse wants to call her lawyer, have her lawyer call the ACLU.

Frida warns her not to jeopardize her case. “I’m just as worried as you are, but we have to leave this alone.”

Charisse gives her a long disapproving look. “That’s pretty cold, Frida. She was your friend.”

“She is my friend, but we have to think about our kids. The registry, remember?”

News of Meryl’s confinement spreads quickly. Everyone is concerned about what’s being done to her. They don’t understand why the school brought her back. They worry Roxanne is being held somewhere else on campus.

Frida knows Roxanne would want her to do something. She’d want Meryl to be safe. She was so angry that they hadn’t done more for Lucretia. Several times, when Frida sees Ms. Gibson or one of the women in pink lab coats, she wants to say something, wants to ask if they can at least move Meryl to a regular dorm, to one of the empty buildings. But then she thinks of Harriet and holds her tongue.

Charisse continues her campaign. She tells Frida to remember when she was nineteen, a college student probably, not locked in a dark, damp basement. She brings up the case of Kitty Genovese and the innocent bystanders. Frida tells her that case has already been disproven.

At lunch the following day, Charisse makes a beeline toward Frida’s table. Frida leaves before Charisse can shame her further, tells Charisse to ask Beth. Charisse follows Frida back to Kemp, follows Frida to her room.

“We have to take care of her,” Charisse says.

Frida says, “Get out. Get out, or I’ll tell the guards.”



* * *



With Meryl in the basement, everyone is watching their table again. Beth spends all of Sunday sobbing. She says her parents used to lock her in the basement to punish her. She tells Linda to think about what happens to kids who get locked in dark places. What it does to their minds. Their souls. Linda responds by pouring water on Beth’s food.

They don’t have to worry about Meryl for long. The girl shows up at breakfast on Monday morning. Her hair has been cut into an unflattering shag, dyed a severe shade of auburn. There’s a patch of hair missing above her left ear. Her hands shake. Her wan smile seems like a show for Charisse, who sits next to her and pets her arm and seems to expect continuous thanks for obtaining her release.

Meryl’s mother reported her, refused to let her see Ocean when she showed up at their apartment after managing to stay away for her first two weeks of freedom. Meryl could hear Ocean crying through the door. She parked herself in the hallway and refused to leave.

The school is letting her finish her training. Linda says, “Of course they’d bend the rules for a white girl.”

Charisse says the issue isn’t rule-bending. Someone needs to make sure the school respects basic human rights.

“Lady, don’t even,” Linda says.

Meryl scowls at Linda, looking momentarily like her old self. “My mom told me I had to finish. She said she wouldn’t consider me her daughter anymore if I didn’t finish. You think I want to be back? She said she was ashamed of me for quitting. Said I was just like my loser dad.”

Ms. Gibson came to collect her. Ms. Gibson and a guard. It was fucking weird to see the school’s assistant director shake hands with her mother. Ms. Gibson was wearing normal clothes. Jeans. Sneakers. So was the guard. They looked like normal people. They thanked her mother for respecting the rules.

“All our ladies should be so lucky to come from such a supportive family,” Ms. Gibson said.

“What about the registry?” Until now, Frida has been afraid to speak, has avoided looking Meryl in the eye.

Meryl isn’t sure. She doesn’t want to think about it. They pester her for stories. Beth wants to know what’s happening in the news. If details about the school have been leaked.

Meryl has no idea. That’s not her problem. Linda asks whether she sealed the deal with Colin.

Meryl ignores Linda’s question.

“I missed you, asshole,” Beth says, trying to hug her.

Meryl pushes Beth away. “Give me a minute.”

Frida asks about Roxanne.

“We split up when we got to the highway. No one would take all three of us. The uniforms didn’t help, you know. We were going to meet in Atlantic City and hide in one of those abandoned buildings. Colin had a place picked out. But I wanted to see my kid. Stupid, stupid me.”

On the walk to class, Frida asks if Roxanne will be allowed to return too. Meryl doesn’t think so. She doesn’t know where Roxanne might have gone.

“I hope she’s with her mom,” Frida says.

“Right, because a cancer ward is exactly where you want to go after this place.”

“That’s not what I meant. Anyway, I don’t think her mom is in the hospital.” Frida asks Meryl if anything happened in the basement, if anyone did things to her.

“They don’t have to do things. They’ve already done plenty to us.”

“I’m sorry.” She tells Meryl about Charisse invoking the Holocaust. “It should have been me. Not Charisse… You know, you’re in my file. So is Roxanne. I was supposed to report you.” She puts an arm around Meryl’s shoulders. The girl is different now. Thinner, more fragile.