Final Appeal Page 25

  10 EXECUTIVE PARKING LOT, says the sign on the steel racks of Samsonite briefcases. It’s the o

  11 “Bernice, no!” I shout, but she pays even less attention than usual. Driven by instinct, he

  12 Only an hour later I have crossed the threshold into another world. A scented, serene world

  13 My head buzzes with liquor from the night before; my stomach gurgles like a polluted stream

  14 “Who’s there?” I shout, terrified. “Are you all right?” says the man. Concerned, professio

  15 Maddie’s gone outside to play, and my mother hands me her dinner dish for rinsing. The chil

  16 “Let’s do it,” Eletha says grimly as we encounter the first wave of reporters along the wal

  17 I wake up on a green plastic couch in a room I’ve never seen before. My head hurts, but I c

  18 Bernice rests her chin on the top of the plastic gate like Kilroy over the fence. My mother

  19 The phone rings after the police leave. “Grace.” It’s a man’s voice, almost in a whisper. “

  20 Needlepoint is usually surefire therapy. I take refuge in it at the most stressful times an

  21 I spend a long time at the dining room table, feeling awful as Maddie sits enchanted by her

  22 It’s Sunday, and Bernice, Ricki, and I sit on the bottom row of the hard steel bleachers, w

  23 Monday morning I push open the glass door into the courthouse lobby. It’s mercifully clear

  24 “You had a phone call, Grace,” Eletha calls out from Armen’s office, as soon as I get into

  25 I slip my master key into the doorknob. It turns with a satisfying click, admitting me to t

  26 Galanter’s office gleams in the morning light, all sparkling surfaces with sharp edges. Gla

  27 I tell Winn the story while I pop chicken with rosemary into the oven and check on Maddie,

  28 Wednesday is my alleged day off, but I decide to go in until Maddie gets out of school. I d

  29 I sit at my desk with the form letter in my hand, reading it to Winn: We have been unabl

  30 “Hang up, Grace,” Ben says. He closes the door behind him and locks it from the inside. “Ha

  31 I wake up in silence and semidarkness. There’s a bed table at my side and a boxy TV floatin

  32 “Will you look at that!” Artie says in amazement at the kitchen window. We all gather aroun

  33 I sit in the darkened back row of the courtroom, where Winn sat that first day. Susan will

  34 I turn the Magic Eight Ball over in my hands and read the bottom. Yes, definitely, it says

  35 We sit uncomfortably in the darkness, on the carpeted steps that serve as seats in the elem