Page 18 of Small Sacrifices

He figured. Still. "Couldn't we just—"

There's a knock at the door and Mr. Wright holds up his hand. Not that it makes a difference—Reid has already stopped talking.

"Come in!" he says. His voice booms so loudly that Reid almost flinches.

The door swings open, and Lieutenant Governor Clarice Coleman enters with long strides, her cerulean scarf swishing behind her. When she sees Reid standing by the desk, she pauses. "Am I interrupting something?"

And Reid would like to continue this, but he knows that question. You should never answer that question honestly unless it's an emergency. Even among friends and family, it's perceived as rude to say you're busy.

Thankfully, Mr. Wright is all too happy to speak for him. "Of course not! How can I help you?"

His eyes twitch between Reid and the door for a moment, as if he's searching for something. And maybe he finds it, because soon enough, he focuses on Ms. Coleman again as she starts speaking.

"I wanted to ask what exactly we're doing because I keep getting questions. That statement clearly wasn't enough. And Raymond seems to be too busy to catch me up."

Oh. It makes Reid a bit giddy that someone else is asking the same questions that he is, and that he may now even get an actual answer. But also… Governor Mackenzie isn't even updating his lieutenant governor on this? How is he too busy for something this important? But Reid remembers how he himself avoids the people who could help him when he isn't doing well. A situation like this must be horrible to deal with. He doesn't envy the man.

"Right now, we're waiting for the test results to come in. That's what the reaction from CalEPA is going to be based on. And we can only follow their lead once they announce their plans."

She cocks her head. A metal prong glints in the light where she's put up her tiny box braids in an updo. "What I know is that we could have dispatched aid by now if Raymond hadn't somehow gotten himself tangled up in this. When are the test results going to be in?"

Mr. Wright leans forward and steeples his fingers on top of each other on his desk. "We don't know that yet."

"Actually—" The word is out before Reid can stop himself. But now, Lieutenant Governor Coleman is looking at him, so he kind of has to continue, doesn't he? "Well, I asked Mr. Swayne, and he said that the lab claimed the results would be ready tomorrow. But I don't think he completely trusts them on that count."

"You asked Mr. Swayne? Why?"

The confusion in her voice confuses Reid in turn. He looks to Mr. Wright for help, but the man just shrugs. Reid decides that it's best to just be honest and tells her.

"They just sent you out with nothing?" is her first reaction. Then, after a second. "And what else did Mr. Swayne say?"

Reid shrugs, uncomfortable. "Basically, the same as Mr. Wright said just now. We're all still researching how this came to be, so we can't even make any statements about that."

"So we have nothing," she states. Then she turns towards Mr. Wright again. "That is not acceptable. The parents aren't the only ones who need answers. The voters deserve to know what happened. And our colleagues are getting nervous, too. Everyone is being asked all these questions. Apologies andI-don't-knowswon't cut it for much longer."

Mr. Wright squares his shoulders. "I'm not the one who has the answers. You should probably ask Governor Mackenzie about the things you want to know."

"It's yourjobto have the answers! Why haven'tyouasked him these questions?"

Reid thinks that's a fair question. But Mr. Wright seems to be so surprised by it he just opens and closes his mouth like a fish. It takes too long, apparently, because Ms. Coleman moves onto Reid.

"What do you need to do your job?" she asks.

Oh. That's… He wasn't expecting that.

"Ideally?" he wants to know. She nods, so he takes a deep breath. "Ideally, I would need an explanation of what happened, a proposal of how to make sure it doesn't happen again, a fund set up for healthcare costs and someone to take responsibility." He hesitates. "Do you think Governor Mackenzie would be willing to call for criminal prosecution of Agrifarm executives?"

This is likely much more initiative than Mr. Wright would want him to show. But the quirk of Lieutenant Governor Coleman's mouth tells him she isn't mad at him.

"I don't think that's likely," she says.

Reid agrees. Unless Governor Mackenzie can prove he knew nothing about the pesticides—which is likely to be close to impossible—he probably won't do that. It's too risky.

Coleman issues an aggravated huff. "So what you're telling me is that there's reallynothingthat anyone can do until the test results come back and CalEPA acts on them. Or unless Raymond stops hiding."

Mr. Wright has the grace to look contrite. "I'm afraid so."

"Well, if you lay eyes on him, please tell him to come talk to me. Going it alone is not a good idea. He should know this."

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