page30 (2/2)

Anna waves her inside, and Julia sits doithout so ?" she asks

"Okay," Anna replies "I just want it to be over"

Julia opens up a packet of salad dressing and pours it over the lunch she's brought "It will be, before you know it"

She looks at me when she says this, briefly

That's all it takes for me to remember the smell of her skin, and the spot below her breast where she has a beauty mark in the shape of a crescent moon

Suddenly Anna gets up "I'e for a walk," she announces

"Like hell you are There are reporters out there, still"

"I'll walk him in the hallway, then"

"You can't He has to be walked by "

"Then I' I'ht?"

She walks out of the conference roo that shouldn't have happened but did

"She left us alone on purpose," I realize

Julia nods "She's a smart kid She can read people very well" Then she sets down her plastic fork "Your car is full of dog hair"

"I know I keep asking Judge to pull it back in a ponytail but he never listens"

"Why didn't you just get me up?"

I grin "Because ere anchored in a no-wake zone"

Julia, however, doesn't even crack a sht a joke to you, Campbell?"

That old adage pops into h,by his collar "I need to walk him before we're called back into court"

Julia's voice follows me to the door "You didn't answer me"

"You don't want me to," I say I don't turn around That way I don't have to see her face

When Judge DeSalvo adjourns us for the day at three because of a weekly chiropractic appointment, I walk Anna out to the lobby to find her father--but Brian's gone Sara looks around, surprised "Maybe he got a fire call," she says "Anna, I'll--"

But I put my hand on Anna's shoulder "I'll take you to the fire station"

In the car, she is quiet I pull into the station parking lot and leave the engine running "Listen," I tell her, "you reat first day"

"Whatever"

She gets out of e hops up into the vacated front seat Anna walks toward the station, but then veers left I start to pull back out, and then against e in the car, I follow her around the back of the building

She stands like a statue, her face turned up to the sky What am I supposed to do, say? I have never been a parent; I can barely take care of myself

As it turns out, Anna starts speaking first "Did you ever do soht?"

I think of Julia "Yeah"

"Sometimes I hate myself," Anna murmurs

"Sometimes," I tell her, "I hate myself, too"

This surprises her She looks at ain "They're up there The stars Even when you can't see them"

I put ht"

"For what?"

"Rare baseball cards for , hot female teachers"

"My dad told me that a bunch of astrono born Only it's taken us 2,500 years to see the with your parents?"

I think about lying to her, but then I shake rew up, but I' the way, I stopped wanting to be like them, anyway"

The sun washes over her et it," Anna says "You were invisible, too"

TUESDAY

A little fire is quickly trodden out;

Which, being suffered, rivers can not quench

--WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, King Henry VI

CAMPBELL

BRIAN FITZGERALD IS MY LOCK Once the judge realizes that at least one of Anna's parents agrees with her decision to stop being a donor for her sister, granting her ereat a leap If Brian does what I need hihts, too, and that he's prepared to support her--then whatever Julia says in her report will be a moot point And better still, Anna's testimony would only be a formality

Brian shows up with Anna early the nexthis captain's unifor toward the," I say "Everyone ready?"

Brian looks at Anna Then he looks at e of his lips, but he see he can not to ask it

"Hey," I say to Anna, brainstore could use a couple of quick runs up and down the stairs, or he's going to get restless in court"

"Yesterday you told me I couldn't walk him"

"Well, today you can"

Anna shakes her head "I' to talk about me"

So I turn to Brian again "Is everything all right?"

At thatShe hurries toward the courtroo Brian with me, pauses Then she turns sloay from her husband and continues inside

Brian Fitzgerald's eyes follow his wife, even after the doors close behind her "We're fine," he says, an answer not meant for me

"Mr Fitzgerald, were there ti Anna participate in medical treatments for Kate's benefit?"

"Yes The doctors said that it was only cord blood we needed for Kate They'd be taking part of the u birth--it wasn't anything that the baby was ever going toto hurt her" He ives her a smile "And it worked for a little while, too Kate went into reain The doctors wanted Anna to donate so to be a cure, but it would hold Kate over for a while"

I try to draw hi "You and your wife didn't see eye to eye over this treatment?"

"I didn't know if it was such a great idea This tioing to like it"

"What did your wife say to e your mind?"

"That if we didn't draw blood from Anna this time, we'd need marrow soon anyway"

"How did you feel about that?"

Brian shakes his head, clearly uncomfortable "You don't knohat it's like," he says quietly, "until your child is dying You find yourself saying things and doing things you don't want to do or say And you think it's soet up a little closer to it, and you see you had it all wrong" He looks up at Anna, who is so still beside otten to breathe "I didn't want to do that to Anna But I couldn't lose Kate"

"Did you have to use Anna's bone marrow, eventually?"

"Yes"

"Mr Fitzgerald, as a certified EMT, would you ever perform a procedure on a patient who didn't present with any physical problems?"

"Of course not"

"Then why did you, as Anna's father, think this invasive procedure, which carried risk to Anna herself and no personal physical benefit, was in her best interests?"

"Because," Brian says, "I couldn't let Kate die"

"Were there other points, Mr Fitzgerald, when you and your wife disagreed over the use of Anna's body for your other daughter's treatment?"

"A few years ago, Kate was hospitalized andlosing so ht o Sara didn't"

"What happened?"

"The doctors gave her arsenic, and it kicked in, putting Kate into remission for a year"

"Are you saying that there was a tre