I knew I shouldn't have attended - not in the mood I was in. And I should have left the gun at home; but when you work in the public schools you get used to carrying a little protection, you know what I mean?

something snapped when I heard her - Condolezza - after all these years. The same voice that had drilled into my ears like a mosquito, shrill, annoying, constant...the voice that had been the background to dozens of humiliating scenes as girls turned me down, laughed at my requsts for dates, taunted me because I couldn't dance...

I lost it; I just pulled the gun from my pocket, snapped off the safety and headed for the stage. "Glory, glory!" - I'd send her to glory all right!

but as I pulled the trigger some guy jumped in front of her...