Jimmy (30 page)
Jimmy smiled into the darkness. Max always told him the truth.
“Do you want to see how far I've climbed?” he asked.
“Yes. Could we go over to your grandpa's house sometime? I'd like to do it too.”
“I'll ask Mama.”
They lay silent for a minute.
“Do you think there was a BB gun in the box from my birth mama?” Jimmy asked.
“Maybe, but you'll never know.”
“Where do you think they put the box?”
“Underneath their bed. That's where my parents put stuff they don't want me and my sister to find.”
“Do you think my mama's still mad about it? She didn't seem upset when we said our prayers.”
“It's hard to tell with parents,” Max replied. “Lots of times they hide what they're really thinking.”
Jimmy counted the tiny boards until he fell asleep.
J
immy was wearing his Sunday clothes. Only it wasn't Sunday. He and Mama sat in Daddy's office while Mr. Long and Daddy talked in the conference room to the other people who were going to testify at the hearing. On the credenza behind Daddy's desk was a small piece of equipment about the size of a TV remote. Jimmy picked it up and showed it to Mama.
“What is this?” he asked.
Mama was sitting in a chair tapping her foot rapidly against the carpet. She'd spent more time getting dressed today than when they went to church on Easter.
“It's a tape recorder,” she answered briskly. “Daddy talks into it, then gives it to Delores so she can type letters for him.”
“Can I talk into it?”
“Uh, sure. I'll make sure the tape is blank.”
Mama checked the tape and showed him how to push down a red button on the side of the unit.
“Now talk,” she said.
“Where?”
“Into the end of the recorder. It has a tiny microphone in it.”
Jimmy held it up to his lips and smiled at Mama.
“I have the prettiest, nicest mama in the whole world. I love her very much.”
“Stop, Jimmy,” Mama said. “If you make me cry, it will ruin my makeup.”
“I know you feel sad today, so I want to make you happy.”
“I'll be happy once this day is over and we've won the case.”
She took the recorder from him.
“Do you want to hear what you said?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Press the
rewind
button.”
Mama positioned Jimmy's finger on the correct button. He pushed down, and the tape quickly wound back to the beginning.
“Now press the
play
button.”
Mama moved Jimmy's finger up.
“Push here to play and here to stop.”
Jimmy pushed down. There was silence for a couple of seconds, then a voice spoke.
“I have the prettiest, nicest mama in the whole world. I love her very much.”
Jimmy pushed the stop button.
“Who is that?” he asked.
“That's you.”
“It doesn't sound like me.”
“It sounds different because you hear yourself inside your head. To everyone else, your voice is like the sound on the tape. Push the
play
button again.”
Jimmy pushed the button.
“Stop, Jimmy. If you make me cry, it will ruin my makeup.”
“That's you!” Jimmy exclaimed.
“Yes. And you're a very sweet boy to say such a nice thing about me.”
Jimmy returned the recorder to its place on the credenza. Max's mother, Mrs. Cochran, came into the room.
“Are you ready?” she asked Mama.
“I hope so.”
Mrs. Cochran smiled at Jimmy. “How about you? What are you going to say today when Mr. Long asks you questions?”
Jimmy raised his right hand high in the air.
“The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We've been practicing every day this week. Mr. Long asks me questions, and then Daddy pretends he is the other lawyer and tries to trick me. Mr. Long says I'm doing great and don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing.”
Mama's foot started tapping up and down again. “I wish I could be so confident.”
“Are Lee's parents going to be here?” Mrs. Cochran asked.
“No, his father's heart isn't in the best shape.”
Daddy stuck his head into the office. He'd put on his fanciest suit and neatly combed his hair.
“We need to leave in five minutes.”
“Are the other witnesses ready?” Mama asked.
Daddy nodded. “Bruce and I have mock-tried this hearing over the past three months more than a million-dollar personal-injury case.”
“There's more than a million dollars at stake,” Mama responded.
The group set out for the courthouse. It was a cloudless, sunny morning that promised a scorching afternoon. Daddy, Mr. Long, and Dr. Meyer, the psychologist from Atlanta, led the way. Mama, Mrs. Cochran, Dr. Paris, and Jimmy followed.
“Did you bring any vanilla wafers with peanut butter on them?” Jimmy asked Dr. Paris as they waited for the crosswalk light to turn green.
Dr. Paris patted her purse with a red-tipped finger. “There might be something in here to eat when we take a break.”
They crossed the street and turned right toward the courthouse. Mama positioned Jimmy between herself and Max's mom.
“Sue, if she tries to come up and talk to Jimmy, put him behind us until Lee can intervene,” Mama said to Mrs. Cochran. “She doesn't have any legal right to communicate with him. If she tries to touch him, I'm not sure what I'll do.”
“You'll keep cool,” Mrs. Cochran responded. “This is a one-day challenge. Try to imagine how relieved you'll be by this time tomorrow. Letting the pressure of the moment overwhelm you is the greatest danger you face. Lee and Bruce have assured us the law is on your side.”
“I know. Lee has tried hard to reassure me. He even brought home some appellate court decisions for me to read, but no matter how a judge in Atlanta interprets the law, it doesn't erase the fact that she's trying to take away my baby.”
They reached the courthouse steps. Mr. Long held the door open for everyone to enter.
“We're in courtroom two,” Daddy said. “It's down this hall on the right.”
The interior of the courthouse was as plain as the outside. The hallway, with its tile floors and its concrete-block walls painted a cream color, reminded Jimmy of the area near the science labs at the middle school. Small brown signs were glued to the wall beside each door. They passed the office for the clerk of probate court and approached the magistrate court area. Chairs lined the wall on both sides of the entrance. A dozen or so people in work clothes were sitting in the chairs or milling around the door. Everyone looked up as the well-dressed people came by. A man came out of a door and touched Daddy on the arm. Daddy shook his head and kept walking. Jimmy saw that the man had a snake tattoo coiling up his arm. When Jimmy passed by him, they locked eyes. The man didn't smile.
“Mama, the man with the tattoo is here.”
“Who?”
“From the other time I came to court.”
Mama glanced around. The man stared down the hall after them.
“That's Jake Garner,” Mama said. “He was Daddy's client in the case.”
“Yes, I know. Why is he here?”
“I have no idea. All I care about are the people involved in our case.”
They reached the double doors for courtroom two and went inside.
C
OURT ROOM TWO WAS THE SAME PLACE WHERE
J
IMMY
offered testimony in the Jake Garner trial. Fifteen long wooden benches, split down the middle by a broad aisle, provided seating. The bar, stained the same color as the benches, stretched across the courtroom and separated the witnesses and any spectators from the parties and their lawyers. No one else was present. Daddy looked at his watch.
“Everyone sit on this bench,” he said, motioning to the front bench on the left side of the room. “We can all be here for the preliminary discussions, but once we start the hearing, all the witnesses except for Jimmy and me will be sequestered.”
Jimmy sat next to Mama and scooted close to her like he did at church.
“I won't be able to be with you,” she said. “You'll sit next to Daddy at the table with Mr. Long.”
“Why can't you stay?”
“Because I've never adopted you.”
“Why not?”
“I wanted to, but we would have had to notify your birth mama and take her to court to terminate her parental rights. Now that she's dragged us here, we're going to ask the judge to do it.”
When Mama was nervous or upset, she sometimes used words Jimmy didn't understand. He wasn't sure what she meant by “terminate her parental rights,” but it sounded like something a doctor might say. A door opened behind the place where the judge sat, and a deputy sheriff entered the courtroom.
“Is everyone here, Mr. Mitchell?” he asked. “Judge Reisinger is in chambers with Judge Robinson and wants to get an early start.”
“The petitioner hasn't shown up,” Daddy answered. “The hearing isn't set to begin for another five minutes.”
“I'll tell the judge.”
“Why aren't the other people here?” Jimmy whispered.
“I don't know,” Mama answered.
“Maybe my birth mama is sick and couldn't come.”
“Don't call her that. Her name is Mrs. Horton.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Jimmy decided it best not to talk any more to Mama. He looked around the courtroom. Daddy and Mr. Long were arranging papers on a table. A woman with a little black box in front of her sat in a chair near the witness stand. The back door opened, and everyone turned around.
It was Jake Garner. He came forward and stood by Jimmy and Mama. Daddy left the table.
“What are you doing here?” Daddy asked.
“I have to be in court for a preliminary hearing on a misdemeanor assault charge in five minutes,” Garner said. “I got in a fight at a bar on the west side. I didn't start the fight, but I finished it. I'd like to be able to tell the judge that you'll represent me.”
“I can't talk about it now.”
“I've called your office every day this week, and you didn't return my calls.”
“That ought to tell you something,” Daddy said. “Look. I don't have time to take your case. Check with someone else. You've got money to hire a lawyer. Dean Stanley would be a good choice.”
“So that's how it is,” Jake said angrily. “You get what you want out of me and then kick me into the street.”
“Not now,” Daddy said firmly. “I don't have time to help you.”
The deputy returned.
“Any word from the other side?” he asked.
Daddy turned away from Jake.
“No,” he said.
The deputy closed the door.
Daddy faced Jake. “I'm not doing any criminal defense work unless appointed by the judge. Call Stanley. His number is in the phone book.”
Garner stared hard at Daddy for a second,
then turned around and left the courtroom. Daddy returned to the table.
“Why was he mad at Daddy?” Jimmy asked.
“He's gotten into trouble again, and Daddy doesn't want to help him.”
“Why not?”
“Not now,” Mama whispered.
A young, athletic-looking man with dark, curly hair entered the courtroom. Everyone in the courtroom stood up.
“I'm Judge Reisinger,” the man said. “Please be seated. Will the lawyers approach the bench?”
Daddy and Mr. Long went forward and shook the judge's hand. Jimmy couldn't hear what they were saying, but the judge pointed at the clock at the back of the courtroom. Jimmy turned around to look, and when he did the back doors opened and a well-dressed woman entered. Walking beside her with his hand on her back was a man. Behind the man and woman were two men dressed in suits. One of the men wearing a suit opened the waist-high gate in the bar.
“Your Honor,” he announced. “I'm Bob Jasper, counsel for Mrs. Lonnie Horton, the petitioner in this case. Sorry we're late. There was a wreck on I-20, and we sat in traffic for thirty minutes while it was cleaned up.”
Jimmy turned sideways as his birth mother reached the end of the bench where he sat. She looked like the woman in the photographs, only older. Her hair was wavy, and she was taller than he thought. She was slender and wore red lipstick.
Their eyes met, and Jimmy saw recognition flash across her face. She moved toward Jimmy along the open space in front of the bench behind him. Her lips turned up in a nice smile, and she raised her hand in a simple wave.
The judge spoke. “Ladies and gentlemen,
Horton v. Mitchell
is the only case on the court's calendar. I've reviewed the petition filed by Mrs. Horton, the child's biological mother, requesting visitation and joint custody, and the counterclaim filed by Mr. Mitchell, the child's natural father, seeking denial of visitation and custody as well as termination of Mrs. Horton's parental rights. Mr. Mitchell, it is my understanding that Mr. Bruce Long will be representing your interests today.”
“That's correct, Your Honor,” Daddy said.
“How many witnesses does each side intend to call?”
“We have three witnesses,” Mr. Jasper replied.
“We have four, possibly five, witnesses,” Mr. Long said.
“All witnesses, please rise,” the judge said. “And raise your right hand for the administration of the oath.”
Everyone in the courtroom except Mr. Long and Mr. Jasper stood up. Jimmy raised his hand high in the air. He saw his birth mother turn and watch him. He tried to look straight ahead as Mr. Long had instructed him. As the judge spoke the words of the oath, Jimmy silently mouthed them along with him.
“I do!” he said in a loud voice at the end.
“Your Honor, we invoke the rule of sequestration,” Mr. Long said.
