The music teacher was playing a medley of Gershwin tunes on the piano, but the students, though previously quieting to the gentle nature of the music, had discovered that the program was delayed and were soon chatting again. Nigerian and American, Israeli and Indian, they were nevertheless all speaking good English, as easy on the ears as the music that they heard. Their teachers, who were nearly all American, were standing behind them and chatting too. The principal was uncomfortable with the idea of the installation of the three panels of art, though not with the art itself. He was uncomfortable because the school board had purchased the art as some kind of tribute to him, an act insisted upon by the school board president, though the principal had several times discouraged it, saying that he simply wanted to continue on with his life, letting the events depicted in the art affect him, if they would, in a strictly private way. The principal was sitting with the school board president and other board members on a makeshift stage at the center of the courtyard, but he felt completely alone in his loose-fitting suit, and he looked into the audience to see if he could find a friendly face among the adult Nigerian guests.
