The Price Truth Demands

Principal John Hilton was disappointed by the amount of money the school’s fundraiser brought in. The amount wasn’t enough to do what they planned. A knock on his door pulls him back into reality. “Come in,” he calls out, hiding his disappointment behind a smile. It was his secretary, Mrs. Colon. She handed him an envelope and said, “This fell out of the box the other donations were in.”

“Thank you,” he said scrutinizing the envelope. His name was written on the front. He quickly tore it open as his secretary exited his office. It was a check. His eyes ran to the amount. He smiles as ideas raced through his mind. He nods to himself and said, “now, we can build,” easing back into his comfortable padded leather armchair smiling in satisfaction. A thought zipped through his head and he grabbed the phone and dialed Matthew Simpson’s number.

“Matthew,” he said in excitement, as Mr. Simpson answers. “We got enough money. Tell the architect to bring the plan tomorrow, and get the contractors ready. I just got a check of five million dollars besides the one million this fundraiser bought in.”

“Hallelujah!” Matthew Simpson shouts. “Who is the donor? We might have to name the building after then.”

“What?” John asks, suddenly realizing that he didn’t look at the signature or who the donor was. His heart sank when he saw the name. He took a deep breath, as silence hit him with a boxing glove.

“John, are you there?” Matthew called out.

He pulls himself painfully out of shock and said, “Yes, I am here.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“Who the donor is?”

He sighs again and releases, “Sara Pottinger.”

“You mean The Sara Pottinger of the Pottinger Industries?”

“Yes,” he answers with pain as his last encounter with her was a painful one. She threatened to sue him and the school for what they did to her daughter.

“She has forgiven you,” Matthew remarks.

“Yea, five million times. Why?”

“This institution doesn’t care why. Our school needs money. We can build and expand as planned. I will start the ball rolling John, and don’t try to stop it. You will lose all of the things you didn’t lose from your last incident with Pottinger’s lawyers. The board doesn’t want to know why," he warns hanging up.

He didn’t know who Amy Hill was. He knew nothing about her wealth and he thought he treated her without bias or prejudice. She was expelled and her family didn’t take it lightly. That’s how he found out who she was. His first instinct was to tear the check to pieces, but his memory reminds him of Matthew’s warning.

He grabs the phone and called her, she picks up after four rings.

“Mr. Hilton,” her powerful voice said, “You have received my check.”

His brain wanted to say one thing, and his tongue wanted to say another, so he met them in the middle and said, “Thank you for such a huge donation. May I asked why? We didn’t part as friends.”

He could imagine the smile on her face, knowing she had him where she wanted him.

She said, “I like to thank everyone who teaches my daughter the things I can’t. You see Mr. Hilton I can’t teach her cruelty or hatred. I can’t teach her to be thoughtless and unkind. I can’t teach her to cheat and lie, but I can rely on humans to. When she won the scholarship to your high school, the school board thought she was from ‘a poor but humble home.’ That’s what they said.”

Her words put a rope around his neck, and he felt like he and the school were set up. They should have known who she was. They thought she was from a poor home. She came from a public school. She took the bus to school. She didn’t act or behave like a child of wealth. Pottinger Industries was valued in the billions. ‘

She went on, “She didn’t think she needed a lawyer because she knew she was innocent. That’s why she chose to defend herself in your kangaroo court. You and your school taught her a valuable lesson about the cruelty and wickedness of our world, especially if you are poor. She couldn’t believe children and some adults could be so evil. You see Mr. Hilton many parents raise their children in their own world. Protecting them from cruelty, evil, dishonesty, and all things they think are bad that they don’t want their children to do or know about. We were wrong. Your institution found out that she was innocent too late and that was after you found out who she was. Thanks to you, my daughter has a new and different understanding of humanity and our world.”

John sighs, then said, “We are sorry.”

“I know. One question Mr. Hilton and I need the truth. Think you can give me that for another million?”

John’s heart sank, then he said, “I will try.”

“If your institution knew who my daughter was, would she have been treated differently?”

John’s mind flow to all corners of his brain. Growing up in poverty himself and hated it and how he was treated, he sealed the door to his conscience. Life has taught him that it will keep him poor. “Yes,” he answered thinking of another million and what the school could do with it. “Being wealthy will determined how you are treated almost everywhere in our world. Isn’t that one of the reasons why many of us fight to stay at the top?”

“Thank you for your honesty, the check is on its way,” she said hanging up.

Honesty and truth have a price. It’s money for some, a favor for others and just thank you for many. We all want the truth and many are willing to pay for it. Does that increase or reduce its value and the ones who give it to us?

How much is Your Truth worth?

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.

Copyright 2020 by Annelise Lords