A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton

Author:Jane Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Contemporary, Adult
ISBN: 9780385500760
Publisher: Anchor
Published: 1994-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

During the hearing I thought that nothing could shake me more than Robbie’s expression already had. But when he was finished the investigating officer testified. He quoted Alice. She had shouted at the police. She had said, “I hurt everybody.” I thought I must not have heard him. It was one thing to have the boy look hurt, and another to have my wife saying she’d done wrong. I continued to assume that I had not heard properly. For almost a full hour Rafferty grilled Officer Melby about technicalities, about why he hadn’t read Alice Miranda, under what circumstances he read Miranda, what other questions he had asked Alice, how long he’d been observing her in the lunchroom. I couldn’t think of any reason or excuse, no matter how ill a person was, to say to an officer, “I hurt everybody.”

Rafferty sat at his table for the short closing statement. He had taken his suit coat off. It dangled behind him from his index finger as he spoke. He argued that the state hadn’t made out its case on all the charges. He stressed that Robbie didn’t have a very clear memory about the abuse, that he could come up with almost no specifics other than the anatomical details, which of course had been provided by Miss Flint. He concluded by asking the court reporter to please type up a transcript for him.

Mrs. Dirks, for her part, spoke about how a public health official is a person of trust in any community. Alice had violated that trust. Every school personnel was now going to be suspect, and parents would no longer feel safe sending their children off to learn their letters. Alice had spoken for herself to the police, and Robbie had merely corroborated her admission.

The work with the doll could not be undone. The judge mumbled about the serious nature of the charge. As if the angry women were present he urged parents who had complaints about Mrs. Goodwin to either formalize their charges or stop the rumor mills. He set the date for the formal arraignment and the court was dismissed. Alice got up right away. She stood on her toes, trying to see out the high windows. Then she turned to look at me. I don’t know what she expected to see. I wanted to cut over the pews and grab hold of her. She smiled, that pitying crooked smile, before the guard motioned her to go. I leaned forward, resting my chin and mouth against my sleeve. I must have chewed my lip all the way through. Later, when I took the shirt off, there were bloodstains along both of my cuffs.

I sat for a while. I was unsure how I was going to make my way through the ranks outside. Rafferty slid in beside me after everyone else had gone behind the screen and out the back hall.

“It went well,” he said. “Better than I thought it would, actually. Mrs. Dirks doesn’t usually lose her cool.

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