Looking For You All My Life Part 57

was just as reluctant to invite him into her office and listen

to his ranting and raving. She'd heard he was long-winded

and could go on for some time. "Just a moment," she

answered. "I'll be right out." Then she quickly saved her

story on the computer and braced herself for what she felt

sure could turn into an ugly confrontation.

Expecting to find an angry-looking skinhead much like

Spencer had described last night, she was surprised to see a 92Melody Carlson

large, tall man wearing blue jeans, a dark green parka, and

a full head of hair. But it was his facial expression that gave

him away. It was as if the hatred had been etched deeply into

his features. His mouth turned down at the edges and a deep

line furrowed between his brows. She doubted this man had

ever laughed much.

"I'm Maggie Carpenter, the editor of the Pine Cone." She

made this announcement without extending her hand in

greeting. Perhaps it was petty of her, but after having read

his letters, she just couldn't force herself to shake his hand.

He glowered down at her. "I want to know why you're

college writing cla.s.s. I use correct grammar and punctuation,

not printing any of my letters in your paper. I got an A in my

and my spelling is pretty decent. Maybe you people just

don't believe in freedom of speech!"

"We don't print every letter we receive, Mr. Ebbert."

Actually, other than his, they usually did. ''And it has

nothing to do with freedom of speech."

"Yeah, well, I thought the editorial page was a place

where the paper allows everyone to express their opinions

7whether or not the editor agrees with the content. Am I not

correct, Ms. Carpenter?" He p.r.o.nounced the "Ms." as if

pelting an insult her way.

"That's correct. We quite often print letters with differing

opinions-the diversity adds interest to the paper. As you

may recall, last summer we quite regularly published Greg

Snider's letters even though he was quite critical of the views

of the newspaper and of me personally."

"Right!" He growled as he reached into his parka.

Maggie took a sudden step back, fearing that this man could

actually be armed and dangerous. Back at the Times, they

had security guards and metal detectors for moments like

this. But he simply removed a wrinkled sheet of paper and

stepped forward to wave it in her face. "Well, here's another

letter that I'm certain is contrary to your views. Is there any

~reason you can't print it in this week's paper?"

"There may be. But I'll need to look at the letter-"

Looking for You All My Life93

"I'm sure you will!" His voice grew loud and he s.n.a.t.c.hed

it back from her. Just then Scott opened his office door and

leaned his head out to see who was making all the noise. Mr.

Ebbert continued, "I'm sure you'd look at it real carefully-

right as you chuck it into your trash can!"