Their boss, Meldrick, immediately saw potential in Window but found Catherine useless and had her transferred to lunch room duty. Meldrick was the custodian in charge of the washer, dryer, and the centrifugal extractor in the laundry room, a comfortable hideaway attached to the boiler room where he could sit and read while his bunch of “special ed” assistants washed and folded the P.E. towels. Meldrick expected little from the students but because there were so many, if they performed even minimally, most of his own work was done. When this was the case he permitted the students to clown around and indulge in a kind of Fagin’s Band brand of tomfoolery. Their antics were a welcome reprieve after a forty-five-minute dose of Spinoza or David Hume. Sometimes Meldrick would join in the fun and perform a rendition of “Hambone” by rhythmically slapping his chest and thighs with his palms and fingertips, and then when he was finished, he would imitate Ricky Ricardo from “I Love Lucy” and say, “Eet’s so ree-diculous!”

A journeyman custodian, Meldrick owned the most advanced college degrees in the school and was working diligently on his doctorate although he was convinced he would never find a better job. This was especially true when he discovered Window, whose capacity for work amazed him. Window was trustworthy and responsible, so much so that Meldrick found that he could hand Window his keys and turn him loose in the shop area where he would do an A-number-one job without screwing up, so that all Meldrick had to do was a casual inspection afterward to make sure the paper towel dispensers were full, the glass was spotless, the floors properly mopped, and that all the lights were out and the doors were locked. On days when Window was focused and his powers of concentration were high, Meldrick didn’t even bother to check.