“My answer’s no.”

At four o’clock I walked back in through the front doors of Washington Elementary to drop off my tax forms at the principal’s office.

The hall was quiet and full of the sharp smell of fresh floor wax and laundry soap.

Next to the main office door hung a polished dark oak plaque covered in small brass plates going back forty years.

I paused in front of the plaque and found Irene Bauer’s name engraved beneath the 1990 cafeteria clerk record.