WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

Chapter 5 The Inside Scoop

Joan didn't really want to talk to this pair, but it seemed to be part of the mission, so she let them in.

Mr. Terrant seemed tired and glum, no longer like The Heavy. He nudged his daughter. "Katie, apologize for being rude to the lady."

"I apologize for being rude lady," said Katie rather mechanically.

"Katie--!" began the father in exasperation, but Joan, not wanting to listen to an argument for the second time this day, said hastily: "Apology accepted."

Mr. Terrant looked relieved, but also seemed to feel that nothing else was gained by keeping his daughter here. "Katie, wait in the car."

"Yes, Dad."

The girl went out, and Mr. Terrant still at a loss as for what to do next. Time to go outside the box, thought Joan, or this will go on forever. Taking a big guess, Joan ventured:

"It was Katie who frightened the horse, wasn't it?"

"I don't want to talk about it," said the father.

It was Joan's turn to be exasperated. "No, nobody does. And the few who do talk about it don't want to be quoted. See, the thing is that a little thrashing out might clear up this entire situation!"

Mr. Terrant stared at Joan a long time, as if trying to size her up. Finally he said: "There's an air about you. I think I can level with you, and trust you not to abuse the information."

"You can definitely trust Jane," assured Adam, who was of course rather biased on the subject.

Joan fetched some soda for the three to drink – it served that potty-mouthed girl right if she was missing out on the service -- and they sat down. She wondered if God had done something to make her look good to the visitor, or whether she really did project an air of dependability nowadays. She definitely hadn't in high school.

"Okay," said Mr. Terrant. "To start with, this isn't the best town to do real estate. Property that would ordinarily change hands often gets bought by the college for later expansion, and in the meantime they rent it out. Perfectly logical from the school's point of view, but not good for my business. Some time ago I had to stop employing a receptionist, and started using Katie part time in the office after school." He thought a minute. "Did your parents discuss family money matters with you when you were growing up?"

"Not really," said Joan. "During the biggest problem, I was recovering from a serious illness. They didn't want to worry me."

"My Dad did," said Adam.

"Well, Katie learned pretty soon that the deal with Axme Corporation, buying the farmland, was crucial to us. When I saw the protesters outside, disrupting a perfectly legitimate transaction, I was furious, but I knew the situation had to be handled carefully. Any mistake and I could be in legal trouble, or raise public opposition. First I tried to negotiate with that girl on the horse, who wouldn't listen. Then I called my lawyer to find if there was a legal way to get them off the sidewalk. But Katie decided to do something more aggressive. She would drown out the speechmaking by turning on the radio with the loudest rock station she knew of. She didn't know much about horses; didn't know that they could be spooked by sudden loud noises."

"I can understand that," said Joan. "I made the mistake of trying to ride a horse without any training, a few months ago. It ran away with me, and I never did figure out why. So Agnes's falling off was a pure accident?"

"Yes – though Katie has been reluctant to own up to her mistake, and has tried to convince herself that it was all the girl's fault."

"Actions can have bad ripples that we can't predict," said Adam. "And the younger we are, the less experience we have with making judgments . Just a couple of years ago I – well, never mind that. It seems to me, Mr. Terrant, that if you explain this to other people as you explained it to us, people would understand. Nobody intended any harm; it was just a matter of poor judgment."

"No! I'm not going to expose my daughter to public ridicule or criticism. And I demand that you not betray what I have confided in you. Do you promise?"

"I – I promise," Joan said reluctantly.

"So do I," said Adam.

"Thank you. Stay aside and let us handle the problem ourselves, please." He put down the soda, got up and started for the door.

"Um – pardon me for being nosy – but I've got a question," said Joan. "Why did you set up in real estate here, if there wasn't much market for it?"

Mr. Terrant sighed. "My wife grew up here, didn't want to leave. I loved her."

Joan realized that the bald, middle-aged guy in front of them had once been a sentimental young man, perhaps as much in love as Joan and Adam. And someday, if luck went wrong, they could end up in unhappy middle-age themselves. Joan remembered a literary quote from her bookstore: there but for the grace of God go I. But was God going to guide them?

"What a mess," moaned Joan once he had left. "God wants us to intervene, Mr. Terrant wants us to stay aside, and it's nobody's fault."

"Which is why God wanted us to prevent the confrontation in the first place," said Adam.

"Well, we can't undo that. Now what?"

" Maybe God intended this as a lesson for us, that sometimes problems simply don't have a good solution."

"Maybe. But we can't rely on that and cop out. Elizabeth has organized a protest tomorrow, to demand that Mr. Terrant pay the medical bills. I guess we attend, and we improvise." Joan shrugged, knowing that it wasn't the best solution, but their only solution at the moment.

"Yeah, since that's worked so well so far ---"

TO BE CONTINUED