adults look around with fake
smiles and tell each other that no one voluntarily asks for more
needles.” I blow my nose into a Kleenex. “The kidney—that's just
today. Tomorrow it'll be something else. It's always something else.”
“Your mother told me you want to drop the lawsuit,” he says.
“Did she lie to me?”
“No.” I swallow hard.
“Then… why did you lie to her?”
There are a thousand answers for that; I choose the easy one. “Because
I love her,” I say, and the tears come all over again. “I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.”
He stares at me hard. “You know what, Anna? I'm going to appoint
someone who's going to help your lawyer tell me what's best for you. How does
that sound?”
My hair's fallen all over the place; I tuck it behind my ear. My face is so
red it feels swollen. “Okay,” I answer.
“Okay.” He presses an intercom button, and asks to have everyone
else sent back.
My mother comes into the room first and starts to make her way over to me,
until Campbell and his dog cut her off. He raises his brows and gives me a
thumbs-up sign, but it's a question. “I'm not sure what's going on,”
Judge DeSalvo says, “so I'm appointing a guardian ad litem to spend two
weeks with her. Needless to say, I expect full cooperation on both of your
parts. I want the guardian ad litem's report back, and then we'll have a
hearing. If there's anything more I need to know at that time, bring it with
you.”
“Two weeks…” my mother says. I know what she's thinking.
“Your Honor, with all due respect, two weeks is a very long time, given
the severity of my other daughter's illness.”
She looks like someone I do not recognize. I have seen her before be a
tiger, fighting a medical system that isn't moving fast enough for her. I have
seen her be a rock, giving the rest of us something to cling to. I have seen
her be a boxer, coming up swinging before the next punch can be thrown by Fate.
But I have never seen her be a lawyer before.
Judge DeSalvo nods. "All right. We'll have a hearing next Monday, then.
In the meantime I want Kate's medical records brought to—
“Your Honor,” Campbell Alexander interrupts. “As you're well
aware, due to the strange circumstances of this case, my client is living with
opposing counsel. That's a flagrant breach of justice.”
My mother sucks in her breath. “You are not suggesting my child be
taken away from me.”
Taken away? Where would I go?
“I can't be sure that opposing counsel won't try to use her living
arrangements to her best advantage, Your Honor, and possibly pressure my
client.” Campbell stares right at the judge, unblinking.
“Mr. Alexander, there is no way I am pulling this child out of her
home,” Judge DeSalvo says, but then he turns to my mother. “However,
Mrs. Fitzgerald, you cannot talk about this case with your daughter unless her
attorney is present. If you can't agree to that, or if I hear of any breach in
that domestic Chinese wall, I may have to take more drastic action.”
“Understood, Your Honor,” my mother says.
“Well.” Judge DeSalvo stands up. “I'll see you all next
week.” He walks out of the room, his flip-flops making small sucking slaps
on the tile floor.
The minute he is gone, I turn to my mother. / can explain, I want
to say, but it never makes its way out loud. Suddenly a wet nose pokes into my
hand. Judge. It makes my heart, that runaway train, slow down.
“I need to speak to my client,” Campbell says.
“Right now she's my daughter,” my mother says, and she takes my
hand and yanks me out of my chair. At the threshold of the door, I manage to
look back. Campbell's fuming. I could have told him it would wind up like this.
Daughter trumps everything, no matter what the game.
World War III begins immediately, not with an assassinated archduke or a
crazy dictator but with a missed left turn. “Brian,” my mother says,
craning her neck. “That was North Park Street.”
My father blinks
smiles and tell each other that no one voluntarily asks for more
needles.” I blow my nose into a Kleenex. “The kidney—that's just
today. Tomorrow it'll be something else. It's always something else.”
“Your mother told me you want to drop the lawsuit,” he says.
“Did she lie to me?”
“No.” I swallow hard.
“Then… why did you lie to her?”
There are a thousand answers for that; I choose the easy one. “Because
I love her,” I say, and the tears come all over again. “I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.”
He stares at me hard. “You know what, Anna? I'm going to appoint
someone who's going to help your lawyer tell me what's best for you. How does
that sound?”
My hair's fallen all over the place; I tuck it behind my ear. My face is so
red it feels swollen. “Okay,” I answer.
“Okay.” He presses an intercom button, and asks to have everyone
else sent back.
My mother comes into the room first and starts to make her way over to me,
until Campbell and his dog cut her off. He raises his brows and gives me a
thumbs-up sign, but it's a question. “I'm not sure what's going on,”
Judge DeSalvo says, “so I'm appointing a guardian ad litem to spend two
weeks with her. Needless to say, I expect full cooperation on both of your
parts. I want the guardian ad litem's report back, and then we'll have a
hearing. If there's anything more I need to know at that time, bring it with
you.”
“Two weeks…” my mother says. I know what she's thinking.
“Your Honor, with all due respect, two weeks is a very long time, given
the severity of my other daughter's illness.”
She looks like someone I do not recognize. I have seen her before be a
tiger, fighting a medical system that isn't moving fast enough for her. I have
seen her be a rock, giving the rest of us something to cling to. I have seen
her be a boxer, coming up swinging before the next punch can be thrown by Fate.
But I have never seen her be a lawyer before.
Judge DeSalvo nods. "All right. We'll have a hearing next Monday, then.
In the meantime I want Kate's medical records brought to—
“Your Honor,” Campbell Alexander interrupts. “As you're well
aware, due to the strange circumstances of this case, my client is living with
opposing counsel. That's a flagrant breach of justice.”
My mother sucks in her breath. “You are not suggesting my child be
taken away from me.”
Taken away? Where would I go?
“I can't be sure that opposing counsel won't try to use her living
arrangements to her best advantage, Your Honor, and possibly pressure my
client.” Campbell stares right at the judge, unblinking.
“Mr. Alexander, there is no way I am pulling this child out of her
home,” Judge DeSalvo says, but then he turns to my mother. “However,
Mrs. Fitzgerald, you cannot talk about this case with your daughter unless her
attorney is present. If you can't agree to that, or if I hear of any breach in
that domestic Chinese wall, I may have to take more drastic action.”
“Understood, Your Honor,” my mother says.
“Well.” Judge DeSalvo stands up. “I'll see you all next
week.” He walks out of the room, his flip-flops making small sucking slaps
on the tile floor.
The minute he is gone, I turn to my mother. / can explain, I want
to say, but it never makes its way out loud. Suddenly a wet nose pokes into my
hand. Judge. It makes my heart, that runaway train, slow down.
“I need to speak to my client,” Campbell says.
“Right now she's my daughter,” my mother says, and she takes my
hand and yanks me out of my chair. At the threshold of the door, I manage to
look back. Campbell's fuming. I could have told him it would wind up like this.
Daughter trumps everything, no matter what the game.
World War III begins immediately, not with an assassinated archduke or a
crazy dictator but with a missed left turn. “Brian,” my mother says,
craning her neck. “That was North Park Street.”
My father blinks
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