She snatched the unsigned release off the table and crumpled it into her coat pocket.

“You think you’re so smart with your binders and your notarized receipts,” Margaret said.

She looked down at me, her mouth pressed into a thin, hard line.

“A mother who won’t support her family over a minor discipline matter is a mother who can’t keep her priorities straight.”

“You shut a six-year-old in a dark pantry,” I said.

“She needed to learn her place before she sat at my table,” Margaret said.

“And you need to learn yours.”