“What kind of lawyer are you?” heasked.
“Prosecutor,” she replied. “But I’m sure you alreadyknewthat.”
“Why would I know that?” he asked as hesatup.
Her jaw tightened. Really? Was he actually going to fake ignorance of the trial? It had been front page news for a month. Everyone in the US had to know about itbynow.
“Don’t you read the papers?” sheasked.
“Nope.”
“Really? Who doesn’t read the paper every morning?” sheasked.
“A lot of people,” he replied. “If I want to get the weather report, I step outside and look at the sky. If something major happens, like a big earthquake or a political scandal, someone will tell me when I gointotown.”
“I can’t imagine not reading the paper every day. As soon as I could read, my father put a newspaper in my hands. When I was growing up, we’d sit and discuss the news while eating breakfast,”shesaid.
“I wouldn’t want a child to read about the horrific things going on in the world right now. Ignorance is bliss,”hesaid.
“You don’t care about current events?” she asked,dumbfounded.
“It’s not that I don’t care,” he said. “I just don’t see the point in worrying about things you can’tchange.”
“That attitude is exactly why things don’tchange.”
“Okay, let’s take war as an example. If I get up every morning and read about the atrocities of the past twenty-four hours, is that going to change anything?” heasked.
“No.”
“If I call my congressman, do you think he’ll be able to do anything aboutthewar?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe?”
“It’s doubtful. I prefer to worry about the things that I can control, and not worry about the things that I can’t,” he said. “My brother Hank just married a sweet woman whose mom is a recovering drug addict. She taught me the serenity prayer, which basically sums up my approachtolife.”
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference,”shesaid.
“Youknowit?”
“Yeah. I used to go with my best friend to her AAmeetings.”
“You sound like a good friend,”hesaid.
“I was,”shesaid.
“Was?”
“She ended up moving away from Dallas. She said she couldn’t resist the attraction of the bars she used to frequent. She needed a complete change of scenery. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I getitnow.”
“Whathappened?”
“A couple of days ago, I lost a huge court case. It’s been covered extensively by every media outlet in the country. That’s why I was so shocked that you didn’t recognize me,”shesaid.
“What was the case about?” heasked.
“A man kidnapped a child and murdered him after keeping him locked in the basement for a week. I was the lead prosecutor… and I lost the case.” She fought backtears.
“Hey,” he whispered as he moved closer. “You probably did everything you could. Some juries are just too stupid to convict an obviously guilty person. Look at the O.J.trial.”
