Silent Heroes: Wildcat

Chapter 11: The All Girls Foxwood Leadership Academy

My mother looked completely flummoxed for a moment or two, then she slowly reached out to accept the business card.  "You're not a reporter, are you?"

"No ma'am," Deanna said.  "I assure you, I am nothing of the sort."

"But you want to talk about Eve?"

"If that's all right with you, ma'am."

My mother hesitated.  She glanced over her shoulder at me.  I got the feeling, somehow, that she knew I'd been watching the whole time. 

Trying not to seem too eager, I gave her a shrug and inclined my head in a "well, let's just see where this goes" type of gesture.

"All right, come on in," my mother stepped aside and Deanna walked smartly into the front hallway.  I noticed she was carrying a briefcase in her left hand.

"Much obliged, ma'am.  By the way, is your husband around?  We generally like to include the entire family in these discussions."

"He's just upstairs," my mother still appeared utterly bewildered.  "I'll have him come down."

"That would be splendid.  Thank you."

With one last sideways look at our guest, my mother retreated back down the hallway.

Deanna caught my eye and gave me a wink.

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Minutes later we were all gathered in the living room.  Deanna occupied one full-sized couch, while my parents sat across from her in the other.  I curled up in the love seat that ran across from them.  It seemed like a good observation point.

"Well, shall we get started, then?"  Deanna picked up her briefcase and extracted a number of glossy brochures.  They displayed a network of handsome brick buildings set among lush green grass, stone walkways and huge, overhanging trees. 

"As you can see, The Foxwood all Girls Leadership Academy is a private school located in South Carolina," Deanna explained, handing the brochures out to my parents, who accepted them in a bewildered sort of way.  I could tell my mother wanted to ask a few questions about what exactly was going on here, but Deanna had taken full control of the conversation.

"It's one of the top private schools in North America," Deanna flipped open her own brochure and began pointing out various buildings.  Her French manicure gleamed almost as brightly as the pages.

"We have a beautiful campus.  Over a hundred-thousand square feet sitting on about five acres of rural land. Private dorms will accommodate up to three thousand students, give or take.  Separate building here," she pointed, "to accommodate staff, guest speakers and other visitors."

My mother opened her mouth as if to speak, but Deanna was already moving right along as if she hadn't noticed.

"Our math and sciences building—that's page three to five—includes a fully updated lab.  The arts and humanities building—pages five to eight—features a fully equipped studio, audio-visual room and a lecture hall which will comfortably seat up to five-hundred people.  Over here is the athletics building—that's pages eight through eleven.  Olympic sized swimming pool, tennis court, track and weight room of course.  Baseball diamond and soccer field in the back, there."

I felt a smile creeping onto my face as I watched my parents' stunned expressions.  They clearly had no idea what to make of the situation.

"The library is three stories tall and holds about ten-thousands volumes.  Many of them rare books and first editions.  And, of course, we've got the computer lab with over a million e-books on hand and readily available to our students.  Our professors are some of the top experts in their given fields.  We have several laureates from Harvard and Yale, as well as a best-selling author and a well-known humanitarian and human rights activist on staff."