Page 12 of Tamiko and the Two Janitors
“I’m Tami.”
“You’re Principal Reaverson,” he corrected.
“I’m Tami to my friends.”
Perfectly balanced on the uppermost rung, he spared her a glance.“I’m not really a friendly guy.”
His eyes were so dark, they might as well be black, and theway they glittered, she couldn’t decide if he was serious or not. Despite thewarning, his tone was polite, almost apologetic. It was the strangest case ofmixed messages.
Removing the light fixture’s cover, he proceeded to ignoreher completely. Tami supposed he was accustomed to being ignored as he wentabout his duties. Or maybe he was shy like Joe. She tried again. “Kip saysyou’re his friend.”
“That’s what he claims.”
Wait, no. This was more like Grandad. Did curmudgeons comethis young? She leaned back in her chair to watch him make handyman magic. “Kip’snot your friend?”
“Kip’s not fussy. He’ll befriend anything that moves and afew things that don’t.”
Tami smiled. This guy was dodging her questions like achamp, but he wasn’t actually denying anything. “He told me you two are awe,that you were childhood friends.”
“Something like that.”
“I haven’t seen you around.”
“You haven’t been around.” He slid the bulb back into placeand tapped it lightly. The light flickered once, then blazed steadily. “Justbecause you don’t notice us doesn’t mean we’re not here.”
Tami watched him whip out a cloth and dust the cover beforefitting it back into place. “How long have you worked here?” she asked.
“I forget.”
She supposed she could just check his file, but that wouldbe cheating. “I’m new.”
That earned her a flat look. “I noticed.”
Was this a problem? Tami sat forward. “You don’t likechange?”
“Nothing wrong with change, so long as it’s good.”
“I’ll do my best.”
He locked gazes with her. “I’m not holding you to anything.”
To keep him talking, she blurted the first thing that cameto mind. “How do you feel about the Amaranthine?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Landmark Elementary is going to become an integratedschool.”
“Kip mentioned that.”
She said, “He was all for it.”
“He’s enthusiastic like that.” Folding his dust rag andtucking it through his belt, he eased down a couple of rungs.
Tami pressed. “You’re not in favor of bringing Amaranthineinto the school?”
“I didn’t say that.” He tapped the pads of his fingers onthe side of the ladder. “It’s probably a good thing to let the kids meet allkinds of people. Let them see for themselves that they have nothing to fearfrom the clans.”
“Kip offered to be on my planning committee.”
