by John Grisham
Elsa was a very important person in the lives of all three Boones. Theo considered her a friend and confidante. “Hello, Elsa,” he said as he stopped at her desk and prepared to give her a hug.
She jumped from her chair, bubbly as always, and squeezed him tightly. Then she looked at his chest and said, “Didn’t you wear that shirt Friday?”
“I did not.” And he did not.
“I think you did.”
“Sorry, Elsa.” She often commented on his attire, and, for a thirteen-year-old boy this was tiresome. However, it kept Theo on his toes. Someone was always watching and taking notes, and he often thought of Elsa when he hurriedly got dressed each morning. Another irritating habit he couldn’t shake.
Her own wardrobe was legendary. She was short and very petite—“could wear anything,” his mother had said many times—and preferred tight clothing in bold colors. Today, she was wearing black leather pants with some sort of funky green sweater that reminded Theo of asparagus. Her short gray hair was shiny and spiked. Her eyeglasses, as always, matched the color of her outfit—green today. Elsa was anything but dull. She might be pushing seventy, but she was not aging quietly.
“Is my mother in?” Theo asked.
“Yes, and the door is open.” She was back in her chair. Theo was walking away.
“Thank you.”
“One of your friends called.”
“Who?”
“Said his name was Sandy and he might be stopping by.”
“Thanks.”
Theo walked along the hallway. He stopped at one door and said hello to Dorothy, the real estate secretary, a nice lady who was as boring as her boss upstairs. He stopped at another door and said hello to Vince, their longtime paralegal who worked on Mrs. Boone’s cases.
Marcella Boone was on the phone when Theo walked in and took a seat. Her desk, glass and chrome, was neatly organized with most of the surface visible, a sharp contrast to her husband’s. Her current files were in a tidy rack behind her. Everything was in place, except her shoes, which were not on her feet but parked nearby. The shoes were heels, which to Theo meant that she had been in court during the day. She was in a courtroom outfit—a burgundy skirt and jacket. His mother was always pretty and put together, but she made an extra effort on those days when she went to court.
“The men can look like slobs,” she said many times. “But the women are expected to look nice. What’s fair about that?”
Elsa always agreed that it wasn’t fair.
The truth was that Mrs. Boone enjoyed spending money on clothes and looking nice. Mr. Boone cared nothing for fashion and even less for neatness. He was only three years older in age, but at least a decade in spirit.
At the moment, she was talking to a judge, one who did not agree with her. When she finally hung up, her attitude changed quickly. With a smile she said, “Hello, my dear. How was your day?”
“Great, Mom. And yours?”
“The usual. Any excitement at school?”
“Just a field trip tomorrow, to watch the trial. Are you going?”
She was already shaking her head no. “I have a hearing at ten in front of Judge Sanford. I’m too busy to sit through a trial, Theo.”
“Dad says he’s already talked to Judge Gantry, and they’ve cooked up a plan to keep me away from the trial. Do you believe it?”
“I certainly hope so. School is a priority.”
“School is boring, Mom. I enjoy two classes. Everything else is a waste of time.”
“I wouldn’t say your education is a waste.”
“I can learn more in the courtroom.”
“Perhaps, but you’ll have a chance to spend plenty of time there one day. For now, though, we’re concentrating on the eighth grade. Okay?”
“I’m thinking about taking a few law courses online. There’s a cool website that offers some great stuff.”
“Theodore, honey, you’re not ready for law school. We’ve had this conversation. Let’s enjoy the eighth grade, then off to high school, then beyond. You’re just a kid, okay? Enjoy being a kid.”
He sort of shrugged, said nothing.
“Now, let’s get the homework done.”
Her phone buzzed and Elsa was sending back another important call. “Now, excuse me, Teddy, and please smile,” Mrs. Boone said. Theo eased out of the office. He carried his backpack through the copy room, always a mess, and worked his way through two storage rooms packed with large boxes of old files.
Theo was certain that he was the only eighth grader in Strattenburg with his own law office. It was a small boxlike closet that someone had added to the main house decades earlier, and before Theo took it over the firm had used it to store old law books that were out of date. His desk was a card table that was not quite as neat as his mother’s but much more organized than his father’s. His chair was a ragged swivel unit he’d saved from the junk pile when his parents had refurbished the library up front near Elsa’s station.
Sitting in his chair was his dog. Judge spent each day at the office, sleeping or roaming quietly around, trying to avoid the humans because they were always so busy. He was routinely kicked out of meetings. Late in the day, he eased back to Theo’s office, climbed into his chair, and waited.
“Hello, Judge,” Theo said as he rubbed his head. “Have you had a busy day?”
Judge jumped to the floor, tail wagging, a very happy dog. Theo settled into his chair and put his backpack on the desk. He looked around the room. On one wall he’d tacked a large Twins poster with this season’s schedule. To his knowledge, he was the only Twins fan in town. Minnesota was a thousand miles away and Theo had never been there. He pulled for the team because no one else in Strattenburg did so. He felt it only fair that they have at least one fan in town. He’d chosen the Twins years earlier, and now clung to them with a fierce loyalty that was tested throughout the long season.
On another wall, there was a large, cartoonish sketch of Theo Boone, Attorney-at-Law, wearing a suit and a tie and standing in court. A gavel was flying by his head, barely missing him, and the caption read, “Overruled!” In the background, the jurors were howling with laughter, at Theo’s expense. At the bottom right-hand corner the artist had scribbled her name, April Finnemore. She had given the sketch to Theo a year earlier, for his birthday. Her dream was to run away to Paris now, and spend the rest of her life drawing and painting street scenes.
A door led to a small porch that led to the backyard, which was covered with gravel and used for parking.
As usual, he unloaded his backpack and started his homework, which had to be finished before dinner, according to a rather rigid rule established by his parents when he was in the first grade. An asthma condition kept Theo away from the team sports he longed to play, but it also ensured straight A’s in school. Over the years, he had grudgingly accepted the fact that his academic success was a good substitute for the games he missed. He could play golf, though, and he and his father teed off every Saturday morning at nine.
There was a knock on the back door. Judge, who kept a bed under the desk, growled softly.
Sandy Coe was also in the eighth grade at the middle school, but in a different section. Theo knew him but not well. He was a pleasant boy who said little. He needed to talk, and Theo welcomed him to his room. Sandy took the only other chair, a folding one that Theo kept in a corner. When they were both seated, the room was full.
“Can we talk in private?” Sandy asked. He seemed shy, and nervous.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Well, I need some advice, I think. I’m really not sure about this, but I gotta talk to someone.”
Theo, the counselor, said, “I promise anything you say is kept in secret.”
“Good. Well, my dad got laid off a few months ago, and, well, things are pretty bad aro
und the house.” He paused, waiting for Theo to say something.
“I’m sorry.”
“And last night my parents were having this real serious talk in the kitchen, and I should not have been listening, but I couldn’t help it. Do you know what foreclosure means?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“There are a lot of foreclosures these days. It means that a person who owns a home can’t make the mortgage payments and the bank wants to take the house.”
“I don’t understand any of this.”
“Okay. It works like this.” Theo grabbed a paperback and placed it in the center of his desk. “Let’s say that this is a house and you want to buy it. It costs a hundred thousand dollars, and since you don’t have a hundred thousand dollars, you go to the bank and borrow the money.” He placed a textbook next to the paperback. “This is the bank.”
“Got it.”
“The bank loans you the hundred thousand, and now you’re able to buy the house from whoever is selling it. You agree to pay the bank, say five hundred dollars a month, for thirty years.”
“Thirty years?”
“Yep. That’s the typical deal. The bank charges an extra fee for making the loan—it’s called interest—so each month you pay back part of the hundred thousand plus a chunk for interest. It’s a good deal for everybody. You get the house you want, and the bank makes money on the interest. All is well until something happens and you can’t make the monthly payments.”
“What’s a mortgage?”
“A deal like this is called a mortgage. The bank has a claim on the house until the loan is paid off. When you fall behind on the monthly payments, the bank has the right to come in and take the house. The bank kicks you out, and it owns the house. That’s a foreclosure.” He placed the textbook on top of the paperback, smothering it.
“My mom was crying when they were talking about moving out. We’ve lived there since I was born.”
Theo opened his laptop and turned it on. “It’s terrible,” he said. “And it’s happening a lot these days.”
Sandy lowered his head and appeared to be devastated.
“What’s your father’s name?”
“Thomas. Thomas Coe.”
“And your mother?”
“Evelyn.”
Theo pecked away. “What’s your address?”
“Eight fourteen Bennington.”
More pecking. They waited, then Theo said, “Oh boy.”
“What is it?”
“The bank is Security Trust, on Main Street. Fourteen years ago your parents borrowed a hundred and twenty thousand for a thirty-year mortgage. They have not made the monthly payments in four months.”
“Four months?”
“Yep.”
“All this stuff is online?”
“Yes, but not just anybody can find it.”
“How’d you find it?”
“There are ways. A lot of law offices pay a fee to gain access to certain data. Plus, I know how to dig a little deeper.”
Sandy sank even lower and shook his head. “So we’re gonna lose our house?”
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean? My dad’s not working.”
“There’s a way to stop the foreclosure, stiff-arm the bank, and keep the house for a while, maybe until your dad goes back to work.”
Sandy looked thoroughly bewildered.
“You ever heard of bankruptcy?” Theo asked.
“I guess, but I don’t understand it.”
“It’s your only choice. Your parents will be forced to file for bankruptcy protection. This means they hire a lawyer who’ll file some papers in Bankruptcy Court on their behalf.”
“How much do lawyers cost?”
“Don’t worry about that now. The important thing is to go see a lawyer.”
“You can’t do it?”
“Sorry. And my parents are not bankruptcy lawyers. But there is a guy two doors down, Steve Mozingo, and he’s very good. My parents send clients to him. They like him a lot.”
Sandy scribbled down the name. “And you think we might get to keep our house?”
“Yes, but your parents need to see this guy as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, Theo. I don’t know what to say.”
“No problem. Happy to help.”
Sandy hurried through the door, as if he might sprint home with the good news. Theo watched him get on his bike and disappear through the back parking lot.
Another satisfied client.
Chapter 4
At fifteen minutes before 5:00 p.m., Mrs. Boone walked into Theo’s office with a folder in one hand and a document in another. “Theo,” she said, her reading glasses halfway down her nose. “Would you run these over to Family Court and get them filed before five?”
“Sure, Mom.”
Theo was on his feet, reaching for his backpack. He had been hoping that from some corner of the firm someone would need something filed in the courthouse.
“Your homework is finished, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I didn’t have much.”
“Good. And today is Monday. You’ll pay a visit to Ike, won’t you? It means a lot to him.”
Every Monday of his life, Theo was reminded by his mother that the day was in fact Monday, and this meant two things: first, Theo was expected to spend at least thirty minutes with Ike, and, second, that dinner would be Italian food at Robilio’s. The visit to Robilio’s was more pleasant than the visit with Ike.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he placed her documents in his backpack. “I’ll see you at Robilio’s.”
“Yes, dear, at seven.”
“Got it,” he said, opening the back door. He explained to Judge that he would be back in a few minutes.
Dinner was always at seven. When they ate at home, which was rare because his mother didn’t enjoy cooking, they ate at seven. When they went out, they ate at seven. When they were on vacation, seven. When they visited friends they couldn’t be so rude as to suggest a time for dinner, but since all their friends knew how important seven was to the Boone family, they usually accommodated them. Occasionally, when Theo stayed over with a pal or went camping or was out of town for some reason, he took great delight in eating dinner before or after seven.
Five minutes later he parked his bike at a rack in front of the courthouse and locked the chain. Family Court was on the third floor, next door to Probate Court and down the hall from Criminal Court. There were a lot of other courts in the building—Traffic, Property, Small Claims, Drug, Animal, Civil, Bankruptcy, and probably one or two Theo had not yet discovered.
He hoped to find April, but she was not there. The courtroom was deserted. The hallways were empty.
He opened the glass door to the clerk’s office and stepped inside. Jenny, the beautiful, was waiting. “Well, hello, Theo,” she said with a big smile as she looked up from her computer at the long counter.
“Hello, Jenny,” he said. She was very pretty and young and Theo was in love. He would marry Jenny tomorrow if he could, but his age and her husband complicated things. Plus, she was pregnant, and this bothered Theo, though he mentioned it to no one.
“These are from my mother,” Theo said as he handed over the papers. Jenny took them, studied them for a moment, then said, “My, my, more divorces.”
Theo just stared at her.
She stamped and scribbled and went about the process of officially recording the papers.
Theo just stared at her.
“Are you going to the trial tomorrow?” he asked, finally.
“I might slip down if I can get away. You?”
“Yes. Can’t wait.”
“Should be interesting, huh?”
Theo leaned in a little closer and said, “You think he’s guilty?”
Jenny leaned even closer and glanced around as if their secrets were important. “I sure do. What about you?”
“Well, he’s presumed to be innocent.”
“You spend too much time hanging around the law office, Theo. I asked what you think, off the record, of course.”
“I think he’s guilty.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” She gave him a quick smile, then turned away to finish her business.
“Say, Jenny. That trial this morning, the Finnemore case, I guess it’s over, right?”
She glanced around suspiciously, as if they were not supposed to be discussing an ongoing case. “Judge Sanford adjourned at four this afternoon, to be continued in the morning.”
“Were you in the courtroom?”
“No. Why do you ask, Theo?”
“I go to school with April Finnemore. Her parents are divorcing. Just curious.”
“I see,” she said with a sad frown.
Theo just stared at her.
“Bye, Theo.”
Down the hall, the courtroom was locked. A bailiff with no gun and a tight, faded uniform was near the main door. Theo knew all the bailiffs and this one, Deputy Gossett, was one of the grumpier ones. Mr. Boone had explained that the bailiffs are usually the older and slower policemen who are nearing the end of their careers. They are given new titles—“bailiffs”—and reassigned to the courthouse, where things are duller and safer than on the streets.
“Hello, Theo,” Deputy Gossett said with no smile.
“Hi, Deputy Gossett.”
