Free Reason To Believe by Kathleen Eagle

library?"
    "If he's not gonna let me go to the bathroom, do you think he's gonna let me go look at the newspaper? Anyway, with guys like Kraus, it's always why, why, why. I don't see why they have to know everything. And Kraus hates my guts anyway, so why should I tell him anything?"
    "Mr. Kraus called me at work," Clara volunteered. "I must say, I didn't appreciate his attitude. I didn't like the way he spoke to me. I found his... his suggestions to be totally inappropriate."
    Her carefully controlled tone set off an alarm inside Ben's head. "What kind of suggestions?"
    "Well, he—" Clara cast a quick glance Anna's way. "I really don't want to get into it now, but suffice it to say that I think Anna may have a point about... about her math teacher." She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in her chair, looking Ms. Turnbull in the eye as though the probation officer and the teacher came from the same camp. "But I made it perfectly clear to him, as I have to Anna, that I don't condone rudeness, and that I expect my daughter to afford him due respect... and vice versa."
    "He needed to be told this?" Ben asked, trying not to sound too menacing, not in Turnbull's office, anyway.
    "We probably should have discussed this matter before we..." Resentment drew Clara's tone in tight. Dirty or not, this was laundry she was opposed, simply on principle, to airing. She gave a deep sigh. "Well, I guess Anna will know soon enough. I've asked that she be removed from Mr. Kraus's math class. The situation has become untenable, and I've come to realize that it isn't altogether Anna's fault. But that doesn't mean—"
    "Ha, see?" Anna clapped gleefully, as though she'd beaten Clara's hand. "He even gave you some kinda bullshit on the phone, didn't he?"
    Clara rolled her eyes heavenward. "Anna, please don't use that kind of language."
    "I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't believe me about him. Nobody likes him. He's always got this miserable look on his face, like he ran out of Preparation H or something. He can't control the class, and if I just barely crack a joke or something, he's all over my case like the Gestapo."
    "I never met a math teacher yet who had a sense of humor," Ben said with a deferential smile. "This one maybe doesn't appreciate"—he arched an eyebrow— "Indian humor?"
    "He did make a comment that..." Clara's frustrated gesture and the guarded look in her eyes reflected a struggle that left her no room for humor. "Actually his rather rude remark led me to think..."
    "But you've asked for a different class for her, so that should solve that problem," Officer Turnbull determined, turning abruptly to Anna. "The important thing now, Anna, is that you must not skip school. You've had a serious run-in with the law, and you don't want to add truancy to your record. Or anything else, for that matter." She flipped through the pages of her Anna Pipestone file. "Has there been anything else?"
    "Skipping class was the major problem we've had this week," Clara said quietly as she, too, turned to her daughter. "I'm really pleased that you told Mrs. Turnbull about that yourself, Anna."
    "Might as well," Anna said with a shrug. Then she turned wide, innocent eyes on her probation officer. "I've got a question."
    "Ask away."
    "If I wanna go out of town, or even a little ways out of state, like, to see my grandfather, can I do that without getting arrested or something?"
    "I think it's a good idea for you to visit your grandfather. Your parents can certainly take you..." Turnbull glanced from one parent to the other. "Or a parent, either one."
    "Yeah, but what if I just wanna, like, go on the ride with my grandfather? It lasts two weeks. But it'll be during Christmas vacation."
    "A two-week trail ride in December?" Turnbull did a little shoulder shimmy and set her cheeks ajiggle with a mock shiver. "Brrr."
    "Anna..."
    Anna shot her mother a warning glance. "No, I'm serious. I really wanna go."
    "That's up to your parents. I would need to