The Same Man

Chapter 2

Gamie envelops me in a hug.

"Hey Gamie. How are you doing?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that sweetie?"

Before I can even open my mouth to reply a deep voice breaks through the background noise of the jury.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Fray Caruthers."

An older woman with a thick grey braid over her shoulder strides over to Gamie and I.

"Hey, Ophelia."

"Sorry to hear about your parents kid, but I'm sure you will be right at home living with Esme."

"Me too." I respond.

"Well Fray, I thought we could go to Barbara's Brunch House for some waffles. What do you think?" Gamie asks.

"Sure-"

A loud noise that sounds eerily like a textbook hitting the ground rings throughout the room.

I look around to see where it came from only to observe everyone doing the same. All of the sudden shouts echo and bounce off the walls. The crowd splits into three groups, one is a sea of people flooding to the doors. Another is about a dozen people huddling just behind the judge's bench. The last of the horde are the people on the phone who don't even notice the change in attitude of the room. In fact, they are shooting glares at the individuals who are screaming.

I think about it for a minute and decide to see what the lot of people gathering near the judges bench is doing.

I feel a hand grasping at my shoulder to stop me and try to guide me to the door. Most likely Gamie or Ophelia. I'm pretty sure my Mother and Father already left. Maybe they even left with Judge Alan Lam.

The closer I get the better I can hear the murmurings of the group of people. Things like:

"What happened?"

"What do we do?"

"The pulse!"

"Can you....."

"Aren't we supposed to keep him still?"

"Don't touch him!"

are murmured.

I squeeze through the congregation of people and ignore the grumbles of dismay I receive as I push past.

Before I can make out what they are looking at a man stands directly in front of me. He faces me.

"This isn't a sight for a little girl". He says sternly, staring down at me.

I scoff and weave past him. Please. I have probably seen more 'sights' in my short seventeen years than he has seen in his entire life. Looking at him that seems to be about 45ish years.

It takes my brain a moment to process what I'm looking at once I finally get to see what they are crowding. It's Lam. He is sprawled out on the ground. Blood is trickling down his temple like a leaky faucet on a sink. He must have hit his head somehow.

I turn to the woman on my right.

"What happened"? I ask.

Unlike the man from earlier she has no qualms about telling me how this event came to be. She tells me that she did not see what happened but a colleague of hers said that they were talking with Lam and he just collapsed on top of him. Now that I have a better view I can actually see this colleague of hers under Lam. In another scenario it would have been hilarious. Lam has pinned the poor man down and he can't get up.

Something rams into my spine. I jumped back in surprise. Men and women dressed in windbreakers and loose pants rush by me and I realize that they are paramedics. After all, it does say paramedics in bold white on their backs.

The sight of the paramedics helps me finally register that this is real. Not a dream. No matter how many nightmares I did have after he wore my robe.

They get him on the medical stretcher and hurry out of the courthouse and what I can only assume into an ambulance.

Later I will look back and scold myself for not being more observant but at the moment all I do is walk back to Ophelia and Gamie. Their faces match the white pallor of everyone else's in the room. I wonder what it must be like to be in their shoes right now. To be old people. Their friends are constantly dying. It is like the older you get the more death you experience.

I don't comprehend that Gamie has taken me by the shoulder and led me to the backseat of her car until I'm in it. Gamie drives and Ophelia is in the passenger seat. The fact that they drove here together only affirms my belief that they are together. Gamie pulls into the parking lot of Barbra's Brunch House.

Ophelia holds open the swinging door for me and she nods and smiles at me as I pass her. We are seated at a retro red booth that is suspiciously sticky with some unknown substance. A college student with dead hair and heavy makeup approaches us and takes our order on her phone. I order some blueberry waffles and you can hear a slight tremor in my voice as I speak. She struts away to place our order.

As I watch the waitress walk away I finally wonder what happened to Lam? Surely nothing serious right? I mean, maybe he hadn't eaten today? Or he was exhausted and got no sleep last night? I hope that one of those is the explanation and that is all it is. Maybe the worst thing that will happen to him will just be a concussion from when he fainted.