Fidgeting on the hard wooden bench outside the court room, shivering from both the frigid air conditioning and my own nerves. I constantly shifted my black skirt, smoothed my pink shirt, and tried to breathe.
"It's going to be ok. Just think about getting back on that plane," Joe said, squeezing my hand.
I kept trying to think about that, and how Florida- and a new life- was on the other end of it. But my mind kept snapping back to the fear that gripped my legs. Images of courtroom dramas where they drag the convicted kicking and screaming "You'll never take me alive!" kept popping in my head, and I'd find it hard to swallow.
I just had to keep breathing, and praying, and crying (actually, I didn't have any trouble with the crying).
I scooted a little closer to Joe to allow a large elderly man to sit next to me on the bench. Joe continued to grip my hand as we waited anxiously for my family and my lawyer to show up.
"You know, the courthouse downtown has rats running around it."
I turned my head to acknowledge what the man had said.
"Oh....r-really..?" I sniveled.
"Yup, run right across the floor."
I tried to process this as I began to turn back to Joe.
"I have a gas bubble in my eye."
"...Uhm"
"Yeah doctor said I'm not supposed to lean over, otherwise it might float to the back of my eye and burst."
I found myself staring up at the ceiling, no longer willing just the fear away...
He was just concluding his tale about how his lawn mower's parts were stolen while under a tarp when finally it was my turn to enter the court room...
Stay tuned for Part 2eux
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