A New Chance – Chapter II

The Lawyer

Chance walked into the visitors’ room in the jail and looked around. He was about to meet his court appointed lawyer. But he didn’t expect much. The tables were all full of inmates and their visitors. He saw one with a young man hunched over paperwork. But the man looked too young to be a lawyer. Chance looked around the room again.

The man at the table looked up and made eye contact with Chance. He stood up and extended his hand. “Chance Bell?”

Chance quickly sized the man up. The lawyer was a couple inches shorter than Chance and Chance was only 5’9”. He wore a tweed jacket over a plaid shirt and his tie looked like it might have been purchased from some kind of bargain store. Instead of nice slacks he wore jeans. “Figures,” Chance sighed under his breath.

Chance walked over to him and nervously shook the lawyer’s hand. He tried not to make eye contact with any of the other inmates. Especially since a couple that had “welcomed” him into the jail were sitting nearby. They managed to give him a welcome gift of a black eye and split lip before the guards came and pulled them off of him.

“Andrew Simpson,” his lawyer said, “but please call me Andy.” His voice was deeper than Chance expected. And now that they were standing closer together, Chance could tell Andy was actually older than he first thought. He could see some wrinkles around his eyes. Chance sat down. “This?” Andy said and pointed to his own eye. “Was this accessory something that happened prior to your arrest, during, or after?”

Chance shrugged and instinctively glanced nervously at the other inmates. “Doesn’t matter,” he said hoarsely.

Andy nodded but thankfully did not follow Chance’s eye gaze to the other table. “Oh, but it does. It does matter.” He wrote something down in a little notebook. The notebook looked like it was as old as time itself and seemed to be on its last leg.

Chance shrugged his shoulders again and looked down.

Andy looked up at Chance. “Okay, here’s the deal. This is your first offense, no priors, you can be released to a guardian until your hearing. But if you miss your hearing you will end up back here and there won’t be much I can do for you. Got it?”

Chance listened. “What if I don’t have a guardian to be released to?”

Andy looked down at his file and thumbed through it. “It doesn’t have to be your parents. It can be an older sibling, a grandparent, any responsible adult will work.” Chance didn’t respond so Andy looked at him. “Anyone?”

“It was just me and my mom but she left. I don’t know where she went.”

Andy pushed his lips together. “There isn’t anyone?”

Chance shook his head.

Andy rubbed his forehead with his hand. “Well, without a guardian you will remain in here until your hearing.”

Chance swallowed and he could feel his hands get sweaty. That was exactly what he was afraid of.

“Look, kid, I know home life might not be ideal but it’s gotta be better than this. Just tell me where your mom is and maybe we can work something out.”

“I honestly have no idea,” Chance couldn’t help but raise his voice a little. “Even if I did know, I don’t want her in the picture anymore. I can take care of myself.”

“Obviously,” Andy said. He thought about it. “Well then, I guess you will be here until your hearing.”

Chance nodded. He could make it work. If he kept his head down and avoided the inmates across the room at all costs he could do this. He had no choice. He would have to do this.

Andy went over what to expect and how after the hearing Chance would be released to the state where he would be put in the system. He’d be turned over to a foster family. If he could stay out of trouble until he turned 18 in a few years this would only be a note in is juvenile file. Most of what Andy told him was lost. Chance was coming up with a plan to survive his stay in jail until his hearing.

After Andy finished talking, Chance did hear him ask if he had any questions. “How did they catch me?”

“What?” Andy said looking up from his papers.

“Why were the cops in that alley? They are never in that area. I keep going through it in my head. No one was supposed to be there. Not the store owner, no one walking around, certainly no cops. That’s why I chose it for my initiation. Why were they even there?”

Andy looked at him and saw a scared kid. He shrugged his shoulders. “From what I’ve heard, when this type of scenario plays out it is a test.”

“What?” Chance asked making eye contact with him for the first time. “Like a litmus test?”

Andy nodded and smiled. “That is exactly what it is. It’s part of the gang’s initiation. It’s what they do.” He leaned forward. “They want you to get arrested to see if you’re tough enough to survive lock up. They must have thought your initiation plan wasn’t up to snuff. That’s how they weed out the weak.”

Chance looked down.

“Look, I can tell you’re a good kid. Apparently, the gang you tried to join must have recognized it also. Otherwise, our paths wouldn’t have crossed. Or they would have crossed because you would have been caught doing something worse. I don’t know why you thought this was your only option. But I’m telling you, don’t go back to this gang. Get out now while you can.”

“What?” Chance scoffed. “Become a foster kid? End up in a home with too many kids and no resources? I know what I’m doing.”

Andy looked at him. “I don’t think you do.”

Chance didn’t respond.

Andy held his hand up. “By all means, do whatever you want. Go back to the gang. I look forward to meeting you again.”

Chance stretched his legs and slid down in his chair. He folded his arms.

“Fine,” Andy said. “I take it we are done here. I’ll be in touch when I get a date for the hearing.”

Chance continued to look down and not make eye contact. “I thought I could figure out a way to still go to school.”

“What?” Andy stopped gathering his papers.

“I thought I could figure out a way to still attend school. The jobs I could find are all minimum wage. To get my own place I would have to work 3 or 4. I’d be working all the time with no time for school.”

Andy nodded his head slowly. “You thought joining a gang would help you stay in school?” It was one of the most absurd things he had ever heard. Absurd but painfully beautiful at the same time.

“I know it sounds crazy but I thought I could make it work. I just needed a place to sleep and some meals. But I thought I’d be able to stay in school.”

“You like school, then?” Andy asked softly.

“Well, yeah,” Chance looked at him. “I mean, not all the studying and homework. But the structure. It’s solid. It’s always just…there. No surprises. If you do the work, you get the grade. Simple as that.”

Andy bit his bottom lip. A plan was coming to him. A crazy plan like a kid joining a gang to stay in school. A plan he had thought of many times but never carried out. A plan his wife was going to hate.

“Thanks for trying,” Chance looked at him and then rolled out of his chair. He looked nervously at the inmates as he walked by them.

Andy watched him go and then made up his mind to carry out his plan for the first time. Something he promised his wife he would never do. He was about to bring his work home with him.