Steplings: A Novel

Chapter 2

TIWO At the FirstCare Med-Stop on Town East, Burl and Lily took plastic scoop chairs and waited for a doctor to examine Burl's cut. Lily was restless, agitated, and after scouring the waiting room for magazines and finding only promotional brochures from pharmaceutical firms, she retrieved her briefcase from the car and lap-desked it while she tended a file left unfinished at work. Burl tried to keep his mind off Jason's problems and his own problems with Jason by speculating about his fellow emergency-ites. The group included at least two Hispanic families , no member of which appeared to be in distress, leaving Burl to guess that a brother or wife or child was being attended to behind closed doors. Two white girls in jogging togs, one with a knee wrapped in a yellow towel and the other with speaker buds planted in her ears, a black woman in a brown UPS uniform seated alone and reading a Left Behind paperback by holding it open with one hand while the other was jammed under her armpit. Lily had put her reading glasses on, and her pink nails were clicking on a calculator. She was all business, like a female judge on TV. Hers was an unfamiliar demeanor for a female intimate to Burl, and the novelty of it, while often thrilling, could likewise intimidate. When she straightened her papers, clipped them and slipped the folder and glasses into her briefcase , he said, " I haven't had time to tell you yet. 1heard from 32 Jason's lawyer this morning." "\Vill he have to go to court Monday morning?" "Yes. " Lily's nostrils twitched as if testing the air for an odor she couldn't identify. "I'll let them know at work I'll be taking half a day off, then. I thought the lawyer could get the charges dismissed or settle it all somehow." Burl sighed. "Yes and no. Doctor Johnson's withdrawing that unauthorized use of vehicle business, and they'd already dropped the shoplifting charge, and he, I mean the lawyer, doesn't think they're interested in the minor in possession." Lily looked at him with puzzlement. "So what's the hearing Monday about?" He sighed. "Well, looks like there's going to be a charge for assault. " "Assault!?" Several people glanced at them and quickly looked away. " It's okay, it's okay," he murmured, laying his hand on her knee. "The lawyer is saying that if he pleads guilty, he'll likely get a probated sentence." "Why assault, Burl? What happened?" Burl talked down into her lap to encourage her to bend her head so that they wouldn't be overheard. "\Vhen Jason was running, this clerk from the store tried to stop him, and Jason ran into him. He didn't mean to. It was like trying to avoid being tackled while you're on your way to the goal line, you know, nothing more than that." He waited a moment. "The clerk got a few scrapes and bruises when he fell." "Shit! Why am I just now hearing about this, Burl?" " I told you he was in trouble, Lily! You knew he was having to go to court and that I'd had to hire a lawyer. And I told you that you wouldn't have to pay a dime for any of this, either ." He knew then that he had to keep his mouth shut about the probable civil suit. " It's a not a matter of money, Burl. It's a matter of trust, you know. Assault! That's got to be a felony! It's a crime of violence ! You say 'scrapes and bruises,' but there's bound to be more to it than that!" 33 " He says he ... maybe fractured his collarbone." "Oh, my God! I don't know what I'm into any more, Burl. I mean, look at your head, for God's sake!" "What's my head got to do with anything?" People were aware they were arguing urgently through clenched teeth, and so he blew out a huge breath, leaned back with his head against the wall, closed his eyes. " Let's talk about it later." " Fine. And I do want to!" Lily didn't accompany him to be examined, for which he was grateful-they'd both recognized a need to repair to separate corners between rounds...