The Parents Counted Their Votes While Conrad Counted His Warnings

I put the court papers in a clean sleeve before I let myself cry.

It seemed foolish afterward. The sleeve did not change the words. But grease from my gloves would not help, and saving one small thing gave my hands a task.

Ruth called back before dinner.

"We'll answer by the deadline," she said. "Send every page, including the envelope."

"Will this stop the member meeting?"

"His complaint doesn't order anyone to cancel a meeting."

Conrad had also asked the court to make me remove my correction while the case went forward. A hearing date would follow. Ruth told me to keep working and let her handle the filing.

I tried.

Before I left for the meeting, I sharpened three waiting pairs. I checked each edge twice, then stopped. Fear could make me grind away good steel if I let it. I filled out the work tickets, put the guards back on, and called the owners to say their skates were ready.

At the special meeting, fourteen days after the notice went out, fifty-eight members signed in. Beth checked each name against the paid list. Pilar arranged chairs, then moved two farther apart for a parent using a walker.

Nobody stood at an empty locker that night.

We met in the same church basement. A printed agenda waited on every chair. Conrad sat in the front row with his arms folded.

The other officers had asked a retired school secretary, Elaine Moss, to run the meeting. She read the rules aloud before anyone spoke.

Conrad would have time to answer. Members would vote by paper ballot. Two members who were not officers would count them together.

"This has become a mob," Conrad said.

Elaine looked around at the folded coats and paper cups.

"Then we'll give everyone the same three minutes."

Daniel went first. His report was six pages long. He had kept it plain.

Of the $18,600 raised, $2,400 had bought the walkway mats. The $6,600 reserve payment had left the rink account and had now been returned. The $9,600 reimbursement had no valid bill behind it.

"That last payment is still owed back unless records establish a proper rink expense," he said.

"It was site work," Conrad said.

"The named contractor denies doing it. Her statement is attached."

A father lifted his hand.

"My daughter sold cookies for those mats and a better fence. Why was any of that money in your hands?"

Conrad said volunteers sometimes covered costs themselves.

"Then show what you covered," the father said.

When my turn came, I laid out one skate, one profile photograph, and receipt 407.

"He said my van had no real system. I held the delivery record for every pair. So did the donors. Those records led us to the skates."

I showed the code inside the holder and the short flat at the heel. Beth passed around the signed custody list.

All eighteen pairs had come back. The family returning from Vermont had brought the last two on Sunday.

Owen stood near the door.

"I refunded $390 to the buyers," he said. "That included the sixty I kept. My uncle still has the three hundred thirty I sent him."

He handed Beth copies of the refund records.

"I should have asked for the board's approval before I sold anything. I'm sorry."

Pilar nodded to him. She had plenty of anger left, but she did not spend it on someone trying to make a thing right.

Conrad used his three minutes to describe winters he had shoveled, pipes he had thawed, and calls he had answered after dark.

I had seen him do some of those things. That made listening harder.

Then he pointed toward me.

"You'll close this place yourselves if you keep letting outsiders run it."

The mother of the twins stood up.

"Shira fitted both my girls. I let you make me afraid of her. She's not the outsider here."

Elaine called for the ballots before the room could turn into another argument.

The count took eleven minutes.

Fifty-four voted to remove Conrad. Three voted against removal. One left the choice blank.

Elaine read the numbers twice.

Beth collected the locker keys and committee binder. Conrad put them down hard enough to make the table shake. He left without looking at me.

Members chose Elaine as temporary chair until the next regular election. They also approved having the board seek repayment of the $9,600 and request all records of the reserve transfer.

Pilar walked outside with me. Down the street, a plow's yellow light moved across wet pavement.

"I wanted to clap," she said.

"So did I."

Neither of us had.

My phone rang while I was finding my keys.

It was Ruth.

"The court set the hearing on his request to remove your post," she said. "Next Thursday. Bring your original binder."