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I will look in the fire and tell you froues and stripes, I will tell how fire comes

And how fire runs as far as the sea

--CARL SANDBURG, "Fire Pages"

CAMPBELL

WE ARE ALL, I SUPPOSE, beholden to our parents--the question is, how h my mind while my mother jabbers on about my father's latest affair Not for the first tis--if only so that I would receive sunrise phone calls like this only once or twice a week, instead of seven

"Mother," I interrupt, "I doubt that she's actually sixteen"

"You underestimate your father, Campbell"

Maybe, but I also know that he's a federal judge He al "Mom, I'm late for court I'll check back in with you later," I say, and I hang up before she can protest

I a a deep breath, I shakeat s are smarter than humans," I say "Once you leave the litter, you sever contact with your mothers"

I walk into the kitchen as I a my tie My apartment, it is a work of art Sleek and minimalist, but what is there is the best that money can buy--a one-of-a-kind black leather couch; a flat screen television hanging on the wall; a locked glass case filled with signed first editions froway and Hawthorne My coffeeerator is sub-zero I open it and find a single onion, a bottle of ketchup, and three rolls of black-and-white film

This, too, is no surprise--I rarely eat at honize kibble if it slid its way down his throat "What do you think?" I ask hiood?"

He barks as I fasten his service-dog harness Judge and I have been together for seven years I bought his, but he was specially trained with me in mind As for his nae in a crate every now and then?

Rosie's is what Starbucks wishes it was: eclectic and funky, cra Russian lit in its original tongue or balancing a co a screenplay while e and I usually walk there and sit at our usual table, in the back We order a double espresso and two chocolate croissants, and we flirt shamelessly with Ophelia, the twenty-year-old waitress But today, alk inside, Ophelia is nowhere to be found and there is a wo a toddler in a stroller a bagel This throwsme to the only spot that's free, a stool at the counter that looks out on the street

Seven-thirty AM, and already this day is a bust

A heroin-thin boy with enough rings in his eyebrows to resee at s allowed"

"This is a service dog," I explain "Where's Ophelia?"

"She's gone, ht"

Eloped? People still do that? "With whoh it's none of my business

"So crap into busts of world leaders It's supposed to be a statement"

I feel afor poor Ophelia Take it fro permanence of a rainbow--beautiful while it's there, and just as likely to have disappeared by the time you blink

The waiter reaches into his back pocket and hands me a plastic card "Here's the Braille menu"

"I want a double espresso and two croissants, and I'm not blind"

"Then what's Fido for?"

"I have SARS," I say "He's tallying the people I infect"

The waiter can't seeet my coffee

Unlike my normal table, this one has a view of the street I watch an elderly lady narrowly avoid the swipe of a taxi; a boy dances past with a radio three times the size of his head balanced on his shoulder Twins in parochial school uniforazine And a wo river of black hair spills coffee on her skirt, dropping the paper cup on the pavement

Insidestops I wait for her to lift her face--to see if this could possibly be who I think it is--but she turns away fro the fabric with a napkin A bus cuts the world in half, and

I glance down at the inco off the power button without bothering to take lance back at the woone and so is she

I open the door of the office, already barking orders for Kerri "Call Osterlitz and ask hi the Weiland trial; get a list of other coland Power in the past five years; make me a copy of the Melbourne deposition; and phone Jerry at the court and ask who the judge is going to be for the Fitzgerald kid's hearing"

She glances up atof" She jerks her head in the direction of the door to erald stands on the threshold with a spray can of industrial cleaner and a cha the doorknob

"What are you doing?" I ask

"What you told e"

"Line two for you," Kerri interrupts I give her a measured look--why she even let this kid in here is beyond et into my office, but whatever Anna has put on the hardware le for a rips the knob with the cloth and opens the door for me

Judge circles the floor, finding the ht on the call row "Campbell Alexander"

"Mr Alexander, this is Sara Fitzgerald Anna Fitzgerald's hter, polishing a mere five feet away

"Mrs Fitzgerald," I answer, and as expected, Anna stops in her tracks

"I' becausewell, you see, this is all a "

"Have you filed a response to the petition?"

"That isn't going to be necessary I spoke to Anna last night, and she isn't going to continue with her case She wants to do anything she can to help Kate"

"Is that so" My voice falls flat "Unfortunately, ifto call off her lawsuit, I'll need to hear it directly froaze "You wouldn't happen to knohere she is?"

"She went out for a run," Sara Fitzgerald says "But we're going to come down to the courthouse this afternoon We'll talk to the judge, and get this straightened out"

"I suppose I'll see you then" I hang up the phone and crossyou'd like to tell me?"

She shrugs "Not really"

"That's not what your ain, she's also under the i Flo Jo"

Anna glances out into the reception area, where Kerri, naturally, is hanging on our words like a cat on a rope She closes the door and walks up tohere, not after last night"

"What happened last night?" When Anna goes o through with a lawsuitif this is a colossal waste of my timethen I'd appreciate it if you had the honesty to tell me now, rather than later Because I'm not a family therapist or your best buddy; I'm your attorney And for me to be your attorney there actually has to be a case So I will ask you one ed your mind about this lawsuit?"

I expect this tirade to put an end to the litigation, to reduce Anna to a wavering puddle of indecision But to ht atto represent me?" she asks

Against ment, I say yes

"Then no," she says, "I haven't changed my mind"

The first time I sailed in a yacht club race with ainst it I wasn't old enough; I wasn't h; the weather was too iffy What he really was saying was that having me crew for him was more likely to lose him the cup than to win it In my father's eyes, if you weren't perfect, you simply weren't

His boat was a USA-1 class, a ht from the keyboard player J Geils up in Marblehead In other words: a dreae, all wrapped up in a glea white sail and a honey-colored hull

We hit the start dead-on, crossing the line at full sail just as the cannon shot off I did my best to be a step ahead of where ave the order, jibing and tacking until my muscles burned with effort And maybe this even would have had a