“Well,” Masters went on, “what I’m saying is, I feel that we’re on the brink of something pretty terrible here. And it scares me. Not for my sake, though; for my daughter’s sake. Judy. She tells me that with everything upset the way it is, I mean right now, she isn’t learning anything at all! They go through the motions, but since the opening of school, she says she just might as well have stayed home and listened to records. Okay. I thought, like everybody, Well, you have to expect that kind of thing at first. It’s bound to happen. But, listen: school’s been open for quite a little while now, and instead of conditions getting better, they’re getting worse. Okay. So let’s look at the long view. My wife and I talked about it, and I believe it’s something every parent here ought to talk about, too. I mean to say, about the long view: Where do we go from here? What’s going to happen? Where are we headed?”

The tall man took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his palms. He met Tom McDaniel’s gaze briefly, and there was, or seemed to be, a flicker of guilt. It came out as anger.

“Let’s be realistic for a minute here,” he said. “Judging from what we’ve seen so far, I think we can say there are only a few possibilities. One, of course, is that everything quiets down suddenly and the kids go back to school and everything is fine. It’s a possibility, but I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t think it’s a very good one.”

There was a slight murmuring.

“Second thing is: Attendance drops even more, and we get into real gang fighting. You all know that there’s been three incidents already. Just today, they expelled a nigra named Archibald Vaughan for pulling a knife.”

“Just a second now, Dave,” Tom said, trying to control his voice. “That’s the way it’ll read in the Northern papers, but the facts are a little different. We know that the Vaughan kid was attacked by three white boys in the bathroom. Jake Nolan’s son saw the whole thing. Archie Vaughan was only trying to protect himself.”

“I know, Tom, I know. But—”

“And in addition, we have information that Adam Cramer and Bart Carey have both offered twenty-five dollars to any white kid who can prove he hit a Negro. Fifty dollars if the Negro hits back.”

“I know! But that doesn’t change what I’m saying, Tom. Violence is violence. I’m only trying to put across that it exists now in Caxton High and might get worse. Whether anybody’s paid or not, or whatever, doesn’t alter the fact that there have been three incidents and there might be more and kids might get hurt.”