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I tap --sidles closer "What happens if you don't give your sister a kidney?"

"She'll die"

"And you're okay with that?"

Anna's mouth sets in a thin line "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are I'ure out what made you want to put your foot down, after all this time"

She looks over at the bookshelf "Because," she says simply, "it never stops"

Suddenly, so her memory She reaches into her pocket and puts a wad of crue ontopaid, either That's 13687 I know it's not enough, but I'll figure out a way to get more"

"I charge two hundred an hour"

"Dollars?"

"Wampum doesn't fit in the ATM deposit slot," I say

"Maybe I could walk your dog, or so"

"Service dogs get walked by their owners" I shrug "We'll work so out"

"You can't be my lawyer for free," she insists

"Fine, then You can polish my doorknobs" It's not that I'ally, this case is a lock: she doesn't want to give a kidney; no court in its right ive up a kidney; I don't have to do any legal research; the parents will cave in before we go to trial, and that will be that Plus, the case will generate a ton of publicity for me, and will jack upto file a petition for you in faal emancipation for medical purposes," I say

"Then what?"

"There will be a hearing, and the judge will appoint a guardian ad litem, which is--"

"--a person trained to ith kids in the family court, who determines what's in the child's best interests," Anna recites "Or in other words, just another grown-up deciding what happens to me"

"Well, that's the way the laorks, and you can't get around it But a GAL is theoretically only looking out for you, not your sister or your parents"

She watches al pad and scrawl a few notes "Does it bother you that your name is backward?"

"What?" I stop writing, and stare at her

"Campbell Alexander Your last name is a first name, and your first name is a last name" She pauses "Or a soup"

"And how does that have any bearing on your case?"

"It doesn't," Anna admits, "except that it was a pretty bad decision your parents made for you"

I reach across my desk to hand her a card "If you have any questions, call me"

She takes it, and runs her fingers over the raised lettering of my name My backward narabslance down at the note in my hand: Anna 555 3211

"If you have any questions," she says

When I walk out to the reception area, Anna is gone and Kerri sits at her desk, a catalog spread-eagled across it "Did you know they used to use those L L Bean canvas bags to carry ice?"

"Yeah" And vodka and Bloody Mary e to the beach every SaturdayWhich reminds me, my mother called

Kerri has an aunt who enetic predisposition rears its head Or h to know"She says your father's taken up with a seventeen-year-old and that discretion isn't in his vocabulary and that she's checking herself into The Pines unless you call her by" Kerri glances at her watch "Oops"

"How many times has she threatened to commit herself this week?"

"Only three," Kerri says

"We're still way below average" I lean over the desk and close the catalog "Ti, Ms Donatelli"

"What's going on?"

"That girl, Anna Fitzgerald--"

"Planned Parenthood?"

"Not quite," I say "We're representing her I need to dictate a petition for medical emancipation, so that you can file it with the family court by tomorrow"

"Get out! You're representing her?"

I put a hand over my heart "I'm wounded that you think so little of me"

"Actually, I was thinking about your wallet Do her parents know?"

"They will by tomorrow"

"Are you a complete idiot?"

"Excuse me?"

Kerri shakes her head "Where's she going to live?"

The comirl who brings a lawsuit against her parents will not be particularly co under the same roof, once the papers are served

Suddenly Judge is at h with his nose I shake"Give me fifteen minutes," I tell Kerri "I'll call you when I'm ready"

"Campbell," Kerri presses, relentless, "you can't expect a kid to fend for herself"

I head back intojust inside the threshold "It's not my problem," I say; and then I close the door, lock it securely, and wait

SARA

1990

THE BRUISE IS THE SIZE AND SHAPE of a four-leaf clover, and sits square between Kate's shoulder blades Jesse is the one to find it, while they are both in the bathtub "Mommy," he asks, "does that mean she's lucky?"

I try to rub it off first, assu it's dirt, without success Kate, two, the subject of scrutiny, stares up at me with her china blue eyes "Does it hurt?" I ask her, and she shakes her head

So ht a case of expensive cigars," he says, "and had the you know, the insurance coars were lost in a series of small fires"

"He s the soap out of Jesse's hair

Brian leans against the threshold of the door "Yeah But the judge ruled that the coainst fire, without defining acceptable fire"

"Hey, Kate, does it hurt now?" Jesse says, and he presses his thuainst the bruise on his sister's spine

Kate howls, lurches, and spills bathwater all over me I lift her out of the water, slick as a fish, and pass her over to Brian Pale towheads bent together, they are a matched set Jesse looks more like me--skinny, dark, cerebral Brian says this is hoe know our faet yourself out of the tub this minute," I tell Jesse

He stands up, a sluice of four-year-old boy, and ates the wide lip of the tub He smacks his knee hard, and bursts into tears

I gather Jesse into a towel, soothing him as I try to continue e of a e: Morse code, punctuated by baths and dinners and stories before bed "So who subpoenaed you?" I ask Brian "The defendant?"

"The prosecution The insurance company paid out the money, and then had hiot to be their expert"

Brian, a career firefighter, can walk into a blackened structure and find the spot where the flaarette butt, an exposed wire Every holocaust starts with an ember You just have to knohat to look for

"The judge threw out the case, right?"

"The judge sentenced him to twenty-four consecutive one-year terins to pull her pajamas over her head