Stork Raving Mad: A Meg Langslow Mystery (A Meg Lanslow Mystery)

coordinates matters related to the drama curriculum and the students enrolled in it.”
    “Perhaps she does,” Dr. Wright said. “But she has no formal position, other than as Dr. Sass’s secretary, so I fail to see why we would have any reason to consult her.”
    Maybe because if Dr. Wright had half a brain, she’d know that after ten years as Abe’s secretary, what Kathy Borgstrom didn’t know about the drama department wasn’t worth knowing. But before I opened my mouth to say so, I remembered where I’d heard of Dr. Wright before. She was on Michael’s tenure committee. The committee that would start its final deliberations in a few weeks. The committee that would determine whether the twins would grow up with the security of a father who was a full professor at Caerphilly College or whether Michael would remain a mere associate professor, whose employment could be terminated at the first sign of a budget crunch.
    Or whenever he ticked off someone like Dr. Wright.
    Luckily, Ramon finally found his voice.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “But my computer’s in my room. It’s a desktop, so it wasn’t easy to move, and I just haven’t had the time to bother with it. I know I could probably get into my e-mail someplace else, but it just didn’t seem that important. I’ve been very busy with the show.”
    “Yes,” Dr. Blanco said. “The show. I’m afraid—”
    “First things first,” Dr. Wright said. “You could have saved us all a lot of trouble if you’d remained in proper communication with the department. But at least now we can formally notify you that your dissertation topic is unsuitable.”
    “Unsuitable?” Ramon echoed. “But—”
    “We are the English department,” Dr. Wright continued. “Of an English-language institution. We cannot possibly approve a dissertation in a foreign language.”
    “Then what’s the problem?” I said. “As far as I know, he’s writing it in English.”
    Dr. Wright fixed her frown on me.
    “That is immaterial,” she said. “The topic is foreign, and thus unsuitable for an English department degree. Mr. Soto will have to select another topic.”
    “But that would mean starting over!” Ramon exclaimed.
    “Sadly, yes,” Dr. Wright said. She didn’t look sad. She looked as if this was the most fun she’d had since outgrowing childhood pastimes like pulling the wings off flies.
    “But I got permission,” Ramon said. “I submitted about a million forms two years ago.”
    Dr. Wright reached down and opened her purse. She pulled a couple of things out of it—a matching wallet and a worn pale-blue Caerphilly College envelope that had been folded in half. She located her target: a small electronic gadget. She stuffed the wallet and the envelope back in her purse, then began clicking buttons on the electronic device—presumably making notes of their conversation.
    “Now,” she said, glancing up from her PDA or whatever it was, “to what forms are you referring?”
    “I don’t know.” Ramon shrugged. “The forms the department secretary told me to submit. They were all on that stupid blue paper.”
    Not helpful. All official Caerphilly College papers were printed on a tasteful pale-blue paper stock, theoretically to make them stand out from other, less exalted papers. Which it wouldif the college didn’t send out such a blizzard of official papers that every professor’s desk was covered in blue snowdrifts.
    But criticizing the blue paper wasn’t very smart. For all we knew, Blanco and Wright could have been on the committee that came up with the idea. Ramon should be more diplomatic. In fact—
    “Do you have a copy of this alleged permission?” Dr. Wright was saying.
    “I don’t know,” Ramon said. “If I did it’d be back in my room. Look, can’t this all wait till after my show? I’ve got a rehearsal in five minutes and—”
    “Ah, yes, the show,” Dr. Wright said. She turned to Dr. Blanco. He looked blank for a moment. She frowned and made an impatient gesture.
    “Oh, yes,” he said. “The show.” He turned to Ramon. “I have the unfortunate duty to inform you that the show cannot continue. Regrettably, the administration has determined that the show contains offensive and unsuitable material.”
    “We’re canceling it,” Dr. Wright said.
    “Canceling it!” Ramon echoed.
    “That’s crazy!” the woman student said, and then clapped her hands over her mouth and ran back into the kitchen, as if hoping not to