The organizer put two casualty sheets on the desk and covered them with her hands.
“One of these makes us look neglected,” she told Tessa. “The other makes us look dishonest. Which did you come for?”
Eli stood beside a stack of schoolbooks that had been moved to make room for the meeting. He had offered to leave. The organizer had told him to stay where she could see whether he was listening. Three other shelter workers sat along the far side of the desk. Nobody had brought enough chairs for all of them, and nobody moved to correct it.
Tessa set her own records down without opening them.
“I came to find out what the sheets count.”
“You came after asking questions closed our hall.”
“The council kept it closed because the inspection couldn’t establish the assurance command wanted. We helped move the bedding. I know that doesn’t give the school more space.”
A man at the end of the desk gave a short laugh. “You know it in a sentence. We know it every time somebody needs the latrine.”
