Dead to Rights

“It’s Tuesday,” she a

Joa

“You go first,” Maria

“If the board of supervisors wanted me to do a seven and-a-half percent across-the-board budget cut,” Joa

Maria

“Right,” Joa

“Since when do bureaucracies have to make sense, Joa

Joa

Maria

“The adoption people?” Joa

Maria

Jeff Daniels, Maria

“What do you hear from Jeff?” Joa

“Not much,” Maria

Joa

“It’s code,” Maria

“Since visiting Americans always complain about the coal dust, Jeff’s talking about it on the phone shouldn’t worry the authorities, but it does me. It means trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know, but he did tell me that he’s got to have more money. I spent the rest of the night worrying about where I’m going to get it.”

“How much more money does he think he’ll need?” Joa

Maria

Joa

“It is,” Maria

“What are you going to do?” Joa

“There’s a special board of directors meeting going on up at the church right now. I’ve asked them to advance me the money. Jeff told me last night that he needs it right away. Today, if possible. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Jeff and Maria

Having both of them fly across the Pacific to pick up the baby had turned out to be prohibitively expensive, so they had opted for Jeff to go on his own. That somewhat unorthodox behavior-the idea of having an adoptive father show tip to collect the baby rather than an adoptive mother-had proved to be a real stumbling block. What had seemed like a perfectly sensible idea to Jeff and Maria

“Do you think it would help if you were there?” Joa

Maria

With a disconsolate Maria

“Come on,” she said. “Jeff Daniels may seem like the most mild-ma

Acknowledging Joa

Joa

Maria

Joa

“Has she had fun?” Maria

Joa

The previous Thanksgiving, Joa

“She’s never had a chance to do anything like that before, has she?” Maria

“Never,” Joa

“Well then,” Maria