Страница 9 из 75
4
Be
Just then came a timid knock on the door, and Be
No laughter came from outside the door.
“I’m only kidding! Come in, silly!”
The door opened slowly, and a stricken Mary DiNunzio peeked inside. “I’m not coming in if you’re going to fire me.”
“I’m not going to fire you.” Be
“Thank you, thank you so much, Be
“Yes. You-”
“I feel just awful. I’m so embarrassed, I know you must be so embarrassed. It was just so embarrassing.”
“No, I’m an adult, and a lawyer. I can deal-”
“I mean, to have someone yelling at you, right in front of everybody, right in the office, and the whole thing was like a nightmare, I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was awful! My mother says she’s sorry and my father says he’s sorry and we’re all so upset that it happened.” Mary teared up, but all Be
“I know. I’m trying to shut you up.”
“It worked.” She set down the mug. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. Now can we get over it? You know I’m not good at the comforting thing. I-”
“But I should be comforting you.” Mary’s eyes welled up again. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You were just trying to help me and-”
“Please shut up!” Be
“But that’s not your fault, and I tried to explain it to her. Working on those cases was my decision, and things happened. She just worries because I work here. She wants me to quit.”
“You can do whatever you like.” Be
“That’s impossible. She’d worry no matter what I did. She worried about my sister Angie, and she was a nun in a cloistered convent.”
Be
“Besides, I like the work we do, even if sometimes I get into trouble. I mean, we’re doing justice. We actually do justice.” The associate’s mouth set with determination. “I think I’m getting better at being a lawyer, over time. I know I’m trying, and I don’t want to stop. And today I brought in a new client, all by myself.”
Be
Mary almost started crying again.
“Also your hair doesn’t glow in the dark.”
Mary smiled, but tears threatened still.
“Don’t give a second thought to what just happened with your mom. I’m sure we can work it out. I’ll take her to lunch and have a little chat.”
“No!” Mary’s eyes flared with new alarm. “I mean, thanks, but I don’t think so. My mother doesn’t go out to lunch.”
“Why not?”
“It’s outside.”
“Outside what?”
“Her kitchen.”
“Of course it is.” Be
“No way. You saw her.”
“Is she agoraphobic?”
“No, she’s Italian.”
Be
“No, she would never eat someone else’s gravy. Unless it was a blood relative.”
“Okay, we won’t go out. I’ll go over to see her. That’s in.”
“No.” Mary shuddered. “No talking, no seeing.”
“Why not?” To Be
“Take it from me, you two don’t speak the same language. Be
“Like that I’m the devil incarnate? Because of our cases?”
Mary swallowed hard. “It’s not what you do, it’s more who you are. It’s what you stand for, the way you wear your hair, that you’re tall, that you’re so unlike her, what she thinks a woman should be, that you’re not married, that you’re not really ladylike-”
Don’t hold back now.
“-and also it’s not completely rational. Like, she’s mad at you because I grew up, because I work, because I don’t live at home, because my sister is a nun and I’m a lawyer and all and-”
Be
“Letting it go will be the best course.”
“That’s not like me.”
“Sometimes it’s good to step back.”
From the mouths of babes. Be
“Can we keep it? If I promise to walk it and feed it and work it on my own time?” Mary jumped off the chair, fell to her knees on the dhurrie rug, and clasped her hands together in prayer. “Please, please, please?”
“You nut! Get up!” Be
“I’m not a nut, I’m a Catholic, and we do this all the time. Please, please, please can we take the case? It so important. It would be righting a terrible wrong. I’ll work it on my own, I swear, and the Circolo will help with the bill. They can sell a lot of ca
The associate’s dark eyes pleaded with such deep and undisguised emotion that Be