Wishful Thinking Read Online Free Page A

been working the hours Bill expected, something the tattletale Employee Time Clock never let her forget.
    Sitting down, Jennifer noticed that Alicia was holding a copy of the original proposal for It Takes a Village in her hands. Jennifer’s stomach clenched. She was about to ask to what she owed the pleasure, when Bill turned toward his wall, took a photo down from it, and, giving Alicia a wink, pushed it across his desk, gesturing for Jennifer to look. It was picture of a very young Alicia, in a cap and gown, standing next to a very old Bill, with salt-and-pepper hair.
    “My father, Bill Senior,” Bill said, “with one of the first graduates of the BTE for Good Foundation’s scholarship program, Alicia L. Richardson.” Jennifer peered at the photo with as much cheerful interest as she could muster. “You two already know each other, right?” Bill asked as he hung the photo back up on the wall.
    “Yes,” Jennifer said. “Alicia was here when I started seven years ago. How inspiring about your father, and about the scholarship. Wow!”
    Bill smiled. Alicia smiled. Jennifer smiled. She wished she’d had time to read that e-mail. “So, Jennifer,” Bill began, leaning back in the black, throne-like Eames office chair he had purchased to replace his subpar city-issued seat. “You know I hold you in the highest regard. It Takes a Village is the most exciting thing happening at NYCHA right now, and we have you to thank for it. But frankly, things just aren’t moving fast enough.”
    “We are right on schedule,” Jennifer said, “according to the plan you and I formulated when—”
    Bill cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I want to open the flagship center one year from now. Two years is too long. We should be breaking ground soon, not having another damn residents’ meeting.” Jennifer was about to object, when Bill sat up and placed both elbows on his desk, clasping his hands in front of him. “I’ve built shopping malls in less time than we’ve allotted to build this center. I’m not saying it’s your fault. I think you need some additional help. Which is why Alicia is here. Alicia has been the superintendent over at District Thirteen for several years now, which of course is the district where the center will be built. She grew up in the Marcy Houses. Grew up there and got out! She knows the community, and she’s a leader.”
    Jennifer tried not to blanch. What was Bill saying? Was he going to put Alicia in charge of It Takes a Village? From the way Alicia was nodding and smiling, clucking modestly as Bill sang her praises, it appeared he was about to do exactly that.
    “I think what Bill is trying to say, Jennifer,” Alicia said, turning to her and speaking in the firm but friendly tones of the high school principal she had once been, “is that sinceBinnie Freeman left, you haven’t had someone in the department with a history and track record with the community, something I can bring to the table as the public face of the project.” It was true that Jennifer was an outsider, with her white suburban upbringing and her formerly white-shoe career. Binnie, her former boss and mentor, had been the one with a history with the community. But she had been with the department seven years now, and It Takes a Village was
hers
, body and soul. The idea of being demoted to some kind of behind-the-scenes brain-on-a-stick, good for nothing but number crunching and spreadsheets while none other than Alicia Richardson took the credit for her hard work, was devastating. “To begin with—and Bill agrees with me on this— we ought to change the name. I came up with One Stop.”
    “Doesn’t that take some of the poetry out of it?” Jennifer asked.
    “It helps if the residents understand what it
is
,” Alicia responded. Jennifer somehow managed a tight-lipped smile before turning back to Bill. When she did, however, she was surprised to discover that he was now fixing Alicia with the same sober,