She was expected to smile at the rudest tenants in the building; she never talked back to her teachers. Being a good girl is a habit that’s hard to break, so when she walks into the principal’s office for the school board meeting, Polly quickly sits down between Ivan and Ed Reardon, and when anyone stares at her, she lowers her eyes. The five members of the school board already know that Polly and Ivan’s daughter has AIDS, but no one offers condolences. They don’t say they’re sorry. They just keep looking at Polly, and, in spite of herself, Polly feels as if she is guilty of something, as if she somehow let her daughter get sick. Linda Gleason, who has curly red hair that cannot be tamed by headbands and silver clips, has been the principal of the Cheshire School for two years. Everyone loves her, not only the teachers and the parents but the students as well. She has an enormous amount of energy, and she loves the kids, even the wild ones, who are sent regularly to her office for misbehaving.
