The Notice

Dolores put the sheet of paper on the table in the middle of Room 4, and the four of them stood around it as if it was a map of buried treasure, or a bomb.

It had the city logo at the top. Under the logo, in bold letters, it said:

RIVERBEND COMMUNITY CENTRE — SUMMARY OF STAFF REPORT TO COUNCIL

"I'm not supposed to have this," said Dolores. "It was on the printer in the office this afternoon. Somebody printed it and forgot it. But it's about my building. Thirty-one years I've cleaned this building."

Marco reached for the paper. Lina put her hand on his arm.

"Wait," she said. "Let's read it properly. The way Frank showed us. Reading for information."

Two weeks earlier, Frank had taught them the third part of the reading test. "You get a text with four paragraphs, A, B, C and D," he had said. "Then you get statements, and you have to decide which paragraph each statement comes from. Or E, if the information isn't there at all. Don't read everything five times. Read each paragraph once, carefully, and ask: what is this paragraph about? Give it a title in your head. Then the statements are easy."

Lina picked up the paper. "I'll read. Each of you, give each paragraph a title."