“Please close the door and have a seat.” This time she wasn’t distracted. She was looking straight at me and I felt a little like how a mouse must feel just before a snake pounced and swallowed it whole. I did as she asked and sank slowly into the chair. Her expression was so serious, so intense, that I knew this had to be bad news. She pushed a stapled pile of papers toward me. “I would like to offer you a two-year contract, which is standard for what we extend to our first-year teachers.” “You want to offer me a contract? Now?”
