How you were hired

"So this is background, right? Like Mason said? No names or no way I can be identified?"

"Absolutely, if that's the way you want it," she replies, putting her notebook away. "Does that mean you'll talk to me?"

"I don't see what harm it can do. I don't know anything much."

"So tell me about being hired."

"Not much to tell. I applied for a whole bunch of jobs after I graduated. I got a few offers to be a supply teacher, you know a substitute? But this was the only place that offered full time work."

"You went to school in California, right?"

"Arizona actually. It's where I played college ball and it was easier to go back there."

"What made you apply for a job all the way across the country?"

"I just applied for everything I could find. I figured that improved the odds."

"How did you even hear about a job at a private school for girls? As far as I can tell they barely advertised the position."

You think back, trying to remember. You had sent out over two hundred applications and resumes, to school districts all over the western states, getting most of them from information provided by the education department of the college. But then...

"One of my professors gave me a list of private schools that were looking for faculty. They were all over the country, and some of them wanted more experience, but I applied anyway. This was one of them. I guess they liked what they saw because they flew me out here for an interview."

"Who interviewed you?"

"Three members of the Board of Regents. They were pretty enthusiastic about my athletic credentials, and didn't seem to care I had no experience as a teacher. They said I'd been highly recommended."

"Did they say by who?"

"No. They didn't," you say thoughtfully.

"That sounds like there's something more." You look at her considering what to say.

"They didn't say, and I didn't ask. But when I talked to Ms. Naylor yesterday she said she'd seen me play and was very happy to have me join the faculty and coach."

"Interesting," Holly says. "Very interesting."