Night Magic (25 page)

"I see."

You do know we're in to the second phase of
the trial now?"

"No. No, I didn't." Savannah was finding it
hard to focus on his words. Her gaze kept drifting away from his
face and out the window.

"Yeah, closing statements could come as soon
as tomorrow afternoon. And from what Simmons has shared with me so
far, his should pack a wallop."

"That's real nice."

"Are you feeling okay?" For the first time,
Gralin noticed her far away expression.

"Fine, I'm fine."

"Look, I know... I mean, try not to let it
get you down'" Gralin, in his typical shy way, said just
enough.

"Thanks, Gralin. Listen, I really am glad you
took the trouble to come over here. And don't worry. I really am
okay." Savannah turned off the radio on the shelf behind the
counter.

*****

Several days after the jury retired to
deliberate the case against Batton Chemical, Savannah was home
taking a day off from the shop at Antoine's insistence. Since
T-Leon was now going to school half a day and working in the shop
half a day twice a week, her father told her to get some rest. Sure
that Antoine would have plenty of help, she reluctantly agreed. It
was almost noon, and Savannah still sat on the couch in the den
flipping through catalogues and magazines. Tante Marie had been
puttering around the house all morning. Savannah eyed her
curiously. Strangely, and quite uncharacteristic of her, Tante
Marie had not brought up the subject of her breakup with Paul.
Savannah was beginning to think maybe she had escaped when finally
Tante Marie cleared her throat loudly.

"Hump! I told your papa you was askin' for
trouble encouragin' that what's his name, Durwin." Tante Marie
slapped her dust cloth on the bookshelves.

"I did not encourage
Devin
in
anything."

"Then you stand out in front of everybody and
say bad things to Paul, and you in the wrong." Tante Marie placed a
hand on one hip.

"Hey, you should be on my side. I thought
blood was thicker than mud. How come I'm the one wrong? Savannah
stood up to face her.

"Well, you got a point."

"Thank you." Savannah sat down again.

"Both y'all was wrong." Tante Marie ambled
out of the room mumbling to herself. She didn't react to Savannah's
loud groan.

Later that night, Savannah sat in front of
the television switching from channel to channel. The only sound
was the soft babble of voices as one program changed after another
within seconds of appearing on the screen. The loud thud of the
back door told her that her father was home from the shop.

"What you doin' still up, cher? It's almost
midnight." Antoine had stopped in his bedroom only long enough to
put on his house slippers.

"Watching television."Savannah sat
listlessly.

"That's true enough. You watching the
television, not any of them shows the way you whippin' through them
stations like that." Antoine reached out to take the remote control
from her.

"Get whatever you want, Poppy." Savannah
pulled the collar of the robe to her nose.

"Come out of there 'tite tortue. I could
always tell when you was feelin' real low down and sad, you would
cover up your little face just like a turtle. Then when I'd come
ask what was wrong, all I could see was your eyebrows. And hear
sniffles." As he spoke, Antoine had pulled her to him. Feeling her
tremble as she sobbed silently, he rocked her gently.

"I feel like such a fool, Poppy." Savannah
spoke hiccupping. Fumbling in her large pocket, she pulled out a
wad of tissue to dab her eyes then nose.

"Now why you say that, cher? Tell Poppy."

"First thing I do is fall
for some sweet talking, no good
man
," Savannah spat out the word as
if naming a vile thing. "Oh, no offense, Poppy," She added quickly
between sniffles.

"None taken, cher," Antoine said as he
continue to pat her back.

"And he sells out to big business without any
regard for what that damn company is trying to do us. Then he gets
an attitude just because I have dinner with an old friend, even
though I told him it was possible and there was nothing to it. And
he accused me of being deceitful, of using people." Savannah's
tearfulness was giving way to anger.

"It can go hard when a man and woman trying
to work through to get to each other. There's gone be up and
down."

"There won't be another time for us to be up.
He never completely trusted me. Finding out about my dinner with
Devin just brought it out into the open."

"So that's it then? Maybe if you try to talk
about it?"

"No, Poppy. It's over." Savannah sat back
from her father. "And I plan to forget about him. Life's too
short."

Savannah picked up the remote control from
between the sofa cushions where it had fallen. She switched to a
shopping channel where they were advertising cookware.

"You sure you gone be all right, cher. You
know it hurts me to see you so torn up." Antoine brushed her hair
away from her face.

"Getting one of your special hugs has done
the trick, sweet Poppy. You wait and see. I'm going to be better
than ever." Using both arms, Savannah squeezed him tightly.

"Well, I guess I'll go to bed." Despite his
words, Antoine paused in the doorway.

"Goodnight. Oooh my," Savannah said, yawning
widely, "I'll probably be going to sleep soon, too." She sank back
in a relaxed pose.

Savannah waited until she heard the slight
sound of her father closing the door to his bedroom. Tiptoeing to
the hall, she saw the thin line of light at the bottom the door go
out. Wide awake, she returned to watch the large screen. Her face
showed none of the optimism she had expressed to Antoine.

*****

Though the jury had been deliberating for the
fourth day now, Savannah took little interest. She threw herself
into the shop, decorating, attending a huge retailers market in
Lafayette, doing everything she could to keep her mind occupied.
Perched on a high stool with her back to the front door, Savannah
carefully unpacked a box of ceramics shipped from a craftswoman in
Mamou. In an instant the air grew still and seemed to thicken. The
hair on Savannah's arms stood up. Every muscle in her body tensed
at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Well, why you not hanging down out at the
courthouse?" LaShaun was inside the shop yet Savannah had not heard
the bell.

Forcing herself to turn slowly, Savannah
tried not to appear rattled. "Business has to be carried on." She
began putting the new merchandise on the shelves near the large
plate glass window.

"Lord, thought a legal eagle like you would
be all caught up in the case. Haven't you been helping that white
lawyer, Simmons?" LaShaun strolled over where Savannah stood.

"Some, Gralin is mostly doing the work."
Savannah moved away from her quickly.

"But I hear you've been gathering all kinds
of helpful information. Got just stacks of research done. Burning
the candle at both ends, so I hear. Better slow down, you need your
sleep." LaShaun followed her closely around the shop.

"My sleep is fine if it's any of your damn
business." Savannah's voice began to rise.Turning around shakily to
face LaShaun, she gripped a corner of the main glass counter to
steady herself. Savannah found she was alone in the shop. With a
start, she saw LaShaun outside walking away casually. Not breaking
her stride, LaShaun waved over her shoulder as though she knew the
instant Savannah would see her. Savannah closed her eyes to whisper
a short prayer. Shaking herself, she got busy again.

An hour later, Leon came to work all raw
adolescent energy and raring to go.

"Hey, Miss Savannah. Did those new ceramics
come in? Did Mr. Antoine tell you she's my fourth cousin on my
mama's side? Man, I bet these thing gonna move like crazy. Mr.
Antoine says I can have a percentage of the sales, sort of a
commission. We gonna have a booth at the festival, that was my
idea, too."

"Yes, T-Leon." Savannah had to chuckle as he
spoke in a rapid fire of words hardly noticing she barely had a
chance to answer.

"Savannah, Gralin just called. The jury done
reached a verdict." Antoine rushed with Tante Marie close behind
struggling to keep up.

"Y'all go on. Me and T-Leon can look after
things here." Tante Marie gave T-Leon a peck on the cheek.

"Come on, cher. We don't wanna miss this."
Antoine stood at the door impatient to leave.

Savannah had indeed hesitated, unsure that
she wanted to return to the last place of her painful exchange with
Paul. Yet she could think of no ready excuse to avoid it. As they
hurried the four blocks to the courthouse, another thought panicked
her. Almost as if conjured by her, Paul appeared at the top of the
steps heading inside ahead of them with the Trosclairs and
Singleton. Naturally he would be there. If he could face it, then
so could she. Antoine and Savannah could feel the crowd growing
behind them as word spread through town that a verdict was reached.
Because they had only been a few blocks away, they were able to get
into the courtroom. They squeezed their way into space left at the
end of a bench about midway up the aisle. Not long after that they
heard the sheriff's deputy announce that the courtroom had reached
maximum capacity.

"Frank Junior, you let me in there." Miss
Lucille barked at the massive black deputy blocking her
entrance.

"Now, Miss Lucille, I got to follow the fire
marshal's orders. It's not safe letting too many folks crowd in
here." Frank's voice pleaded with her for understanding.

"Fire marshal, huh? You see him in here?"

"Miss Lucille, Please--"

"You think he standing outside counting to
make sure you not one over? Stop talking foolishness." Miss Lucille
came in the door. A young man gave her his seat.

"Et bien! He should have known better."
Antoine laughed along with everyone nearby.

Savannah did not hear them or her father. Her
eyes scanned the crowd to locate Paul. Without thinking, she rose
slightly from the seat. Devin was seated at his counsel table with
the Trosclairs and Singleton. He was the picture of confidence.
Turning to speak to Claude, he saw Savannah. Seeing her above the
crowd, Devin gave her a dashing smile and wink. Savannah looked
away without returning his greeting and found Paul's gaze moving
from Devin to her. Savannah plopped down in her seat in an attempt
to escape the accusation she read there. The judge gave a succinct
summary of the issues the jury had to consider before asking if
they had reached a verdict.

"We have your honor. On the question of
whether the facility is a legitimate recycler of hazardous waste,
we find in the favor of the plaintiff." The short stout woman
foreman sat down as the crowd reacted with rumblings that grew
louder.

"Does that mean we won?" Antoine spoke into
Savannah's ear so she could hear him above the noise around
them.

"It does, now the judge will decide if Batton
Chemical violated any laws. And they still have another hearing on
alleged hazardous waste storage violations and air emission
violations."

"What does that mean?" Antoine almost had to
shout.

"Batton Chemical could be fined over a
billion dollars if found guilty on all 3,000 counts plus the over
five years of operating in violation of the Clean Air Act."

Judge Duplessis banged his gavel insistently
to silence the audience. The loud shouts were a strange mixture of
celebration and angry protests. The deputy had removed several men
whose anger at the verdict was so great they would not sit down and
shut up when ordered. Once the noise subsided, the judge began the
business of setting dates for the penalty phase.

*****

Outside Savannah stood with her father
waiting for Gralin and Simmons to emerge. The crowd had quickly
dispersed aided by the deputies.

"I thought there was going to be a riot,"
Savannah said glancing around them uneasily.

"You got what you wanted. Now we prob'ly
gonna lose them jobs,” Manny shouted.

Surrounded by a group of equally scruffy
looking characters, he glared at them as a deputy urged them to
move along. Seeing Sheriff Triche's patrol car pull up, they
hastened away yelling insults as they left.

"That's good, boys. Clear this area up fast
so's we won't have no trouble out here. Lord, I knowed it didn't
matter what the verdict somebody was gone be might mad."

"They'll calm down some. He ain't closed the
plant yet." Antoine nodded to the sheriff.

"I hate to be pessimistic, but dis here is
going to be boilin' for a good long time. Let's hope it don't boil
over into nothin' too bad." Sheriff Triche tipped his hat to
Savannah before moving away to talk to a group of his men.

Savannah and Antoine were soon joined by
members of the Citizens for a Clean Environment. Savannah tried to
feel their elation with the verdict but could not. The memory of
her caustic encounter with Paul over a week ago in front the
courthouse after his testimony cast a dark cloud over her, a bleak
shadow that blocked sunshine. She could still see bitter dislike in
his eyes. Nodding mindlessly to something that was being said to
her by one of their neighbors, she saw the Trosclairs emerge from
the courthouse. Claude appeared to be giving instructions to Devin
and Singleton. By the grim expression on his face, Savannah could
tell he was not at all happy with the responses Devin was giving
him. Paul trailed behind them at a small distance. Claude turned
and motioned for him to come closer. As Paul approached, Claude
began an earnest discussion with him, Devin, and Singleton. Quentin
Trosclair stood behind his grandfather looking strangely left out,
a scowl twisting his face.