Page 28 of Bone to Pick
I followed him into his office, where he turned his laptop to face me. “Press release assignment in my Creative Non-Fiction class. Take a look.”
I peered at the words on the screen and knew immediately who’d written it. The press release introduced the new full-time director to the Hannabury Youth Hub, and it was obvious the director was Porter himself. The quotes he’d used in the assignment were hilarious, considering I knew he would have had to get actual quotes from classmates for it. And his resume details, which I knew had to be accurate for this assignment, were even more impressive than I’d imagined, showing that he’d had a long and varied experience at various youth organizations and that he’d minored in Nonprofit Management and Social Innovation. This was news to me.
“This is… excellent,” I admitted with a smile. “Quite an improvement over the one he did for me last semester on the off-season appearance of the apple ermine moth.”
Jim nodded in satisfaction. “Something’s gotten into him the past week or so. He’s been even more engaged than ever.” He puffed out his chest. “I like to think I’m having an influence on the man.”
I fought back a laugh. “Certainly seems like it. That’s why we’re gonna miss you around here, sir,” I said, anxious to leave Jim’s office before my partiality for his student became obvious.
“There was another reason I wanted to share this with you, Theo,” he said, indicating the chair in front of his desk for me to take. “Have a seat.”
As the head of the English department, Jim had been a well-respected mentor to many of us, and generally, I took every opportunity to learn from him I could. Reluctantly, I settled into the chair and watched Jim take his.
“I was so inspired by young Sunday’s assignment that I wanted to see if I could help bring more awareness to the Hannabury Fund, which oversees financing for the Hub, and perhaps make a private donation. The work Sunday’s doing is important, and I’d like to see the events he outlined in this assignment—” He tapped his laptop screen. “—become a reality. I figured it’d be a shame to lose him if he moves out of the area after graduation. So I contacted Marsia Grossberg at the Hannabury Fund to ask where their funding came from…”
I was pretty sure I knew where this conversation was going. “Oh? She’s a lovely person. Does good work over there,” I murmured.
He lifted an eyebrow at me. “She does indeed. Thanks, in part, to a generous endowment by a certain Sutton Family Foundation.” He tilted his head. “The same Sutton Family Foundation that built the new physics wing of the science complex. The same Sutton family who gave us Professor EmeritusDarrenSutton from the physics department.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at, sir.”
He snorted. “Cagey doesn’t suit you, Theo. I recall you once mentioning that you’d inherited your home from your grandfather, a noted physics professor here at Hannabury. At the time, I didn’t put two and two together. But now that I think of it, you do share a resemblance. Darren wasn’t any good at being cagey either.”
I laughed and shook my head.
Jim tapped his chin with a stubby pointer finger. “It strikes me that a family with the kind of financial power to endow a physics wing might also be able to, say,enhancethe program budget at the Hub.” He shrugged. “Just a thought, Dr. Hancock. Just a thought.”
“The Sutton endowment is earmarked for education,” I said instinctively, but he was right… and my gears were already turning.
When I’d told Porter that my grandfather liked to tinker with gadgets in his tool shed, I might have been slightly underselling the situation. In truth, my grandfather had been an amazing inventor—one who’d held patents for creating various types of diodes and voltage regulators, whatever those were. I also hadn’t mentioned that my grandmother had come from a family of wealthy investors. Though they’d lived simply in faculty housing and on their acreage in the woods, it was by choice and not necessity. They’d preferred to spend their money endowing the Sutton Family Foundation to fund various education initiatives.
The foundation wasn’t something I spoke about often. In fact, I rarely even thoughtabout it since thinking of my grandparents often conjured up a homesick feeling that had nothing to do with my physical home itself. Buttechnically, I was the director of the foundation, though I rarely changed the way my grandfather had allocated the funds. Andtechnically, the only stipulations my grandparents had put on the money were that it be used in Hannabury and that it be used for education.
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before.
“Do you not consider the Hannabury Youth Hub to be a center of education?” Jim went on, unaware that I was already more than convinced. “A place where children can learn dignity and confidence, independence and fun? How to be good citizens of this community and how to give back when they go on to bigger and brighter futures?”
Of course I did. And Jim was right: I could easily set up an endowment for the Hub that would cover the cost of a director and make sure the program was funded for years to come. It was exactly the sort of thing my grandparents would have wanted the money spent on.
They would have liked Porter Sunday. They would have liked him alot.
“Would it be an unethical decision,” I began slowly, “for my family foundation to make a donation that financially benefits a student in our department?”Especially one I have feelings for?
He shrugged. “I don’t see endowing a youth program as financially benefitting a certain student. Who’s to say the powers that be will select Mr. Sunday as the director? You don’t know that for sure, do you?”
“I suppose not,” I agreed.
Technically, the Hannabury Youth Program was administered by the Hannabury Fund. And there was no way Marsia would deny Porter the director position if he wanted it. From what I’d heard, and what I’d observed myself at things like the Fun Run, Porterwasthe Hub. If they could keep him, they would.
I felt the world lifting from my shoulders. I could do this. My family’s foundation could make even more of a difference to the at-risk youth here in town, and by doing so, Porter might get a chance to implement the programs he dreamed of.
“Thank you for your advice, Dr. Burton. I appreciate it, as always.”
I stood and nodded to him before turning to leave. When I got to the door, Burton stopped me. “Oh, Theo? Did you ever meet Zahid Hasan? He worked with your grandfather in the physics department. Young guy. Came from MIT.”
“Maybe? Was he tall with glasses and a prominent Adam’s apple?”
Burton grinned. “That’s it. The type to wear pocket protectors like a walking stereotype. Anyway, he fell in love with one of his graduate teaching assistants.” He met my eyes. “Love at first sight. They waited until she was no longer a student before acting on it, of course. But he and Anne are married now, and they both teach at a university down in Pennsylvania. They’re research partners and a powerhouse in the department.”
