“The way of the world,” Webster said. “Nothing you can’t buy with money. Even money.”

Decker said, “I don’t know what the headmaster is planning to do. In a perfect world, Golding should be expelled.”

“In a perfect world, he should be in jail,” Wanda said.

“This is very true. But given the fact that Melrose pushed through a rush job, it’s unlikely.” Decker felt glum, as if he somehow had failed Rina. “What’d you find out about the Preservers of Ethnic Whatever.”

“It’s run by a guy named Darrell Holt, who is a mixture of lots of races,” Martinez said. “So I can’t figure out how he reconciles his own genetic variety with his ethnic purity crap. Anyway, he’s wrangled endorsements for his cause from some token minorities—one Filipino, one Hispanic, one African-American, one Asian, one Jew, and for sake of completion, one Anglo.”

“What kind of endorsements?” Decker asked.

“You can see for yourself, sir.” Webster handed him the flyers. “It’s all the same crud. Y’all can’t pin them down just by reading the articles. They play the separate but equal over and over and over.”

Decker thumbed through the pages, scanning the paragraphs. “Here’s one that recommends an English-only policy.”

“Yeah, that’s the one by the Marine.”

“Hank Tarpin.” Decker scanned the printed material. “Superficially, there’s lots here that my wife would agree with. She would kill her sons if they married outside the religion.”

“She isn’t the only one,” Wanda said. “I’d like my daughter to marry a good African-American man. Life is hard enough. At least in your own community, you can go around without getting stares and snickers. I talk from experience. About three months ago she had a Hispanic boyfriend.” She looked at Martinez. “People gave them looks.”

“What happened?” Martinez said.

“They broke up, but not because of the race…although I’m sure that didn’t help. He was a cop and she’s a cop and that wasn’t good.”

“One of my kids married an Anglo,” Martinez said. “The other married a nice kid whose family was originally from Cuba. I’m from Mexico, and that’s another ball of wax. I can’t say I feel more comfortable with one son-in-law over the other. But that’s not the case with my parents, who don’t speak English all that well. There’s a language barrier. Which is why, personally, I’m big on an English-only policy in school. If you don’t speak and write the language of the country, you’re second class. No way my kids and grandkids are going to be second-class citizens.”

“I agree with you, Bert,” Webster said, “but I reckon that you and the Marine are coming at it from different angles.”