Phoenix Island by John Dixon EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: John Dixon
- Language: English
- Genre: Fantasy Adventure Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
wearIng a stIff blue jumPsuiT and handCuffs, Carl sat with no
expression on his face and waited to see what they were going to
do to him this time.
They were going to come down hard on him. The judge might even
dismiss the case straight to adult court, and then Carl would be looking at
jail time, as in real jail, no more juvie, no more boys. Men. Thieves and
rapists and murderers. Shanks and gangs. Everything. He’d be lucky
to survive a month.
The Dale County Juvenile Court didn’t look like a courtroom. It was
just a narrow room with two folding tables set end to end. No judge’s
dais, no jury box, no spectators’ gallery. Just the tables and a dozen or so
uncomfortable metal chairs fl anking them. Carl smelled new carpet and
coffee. Florescent lights buzzed in the drop ceiling overhead. A furled
American fl ag leaned in one corner, pinned to the wall by a podium
pushed up against it to make room.
He avoided eye contact with his foster parents, who sat at the other
end of the table, next to Ms. Snyder, the probation offi cer, and stared
instead at his bruised and swollen hands—the scars on his knuckles reading
like a twisted road map of the great lengths he’d traveled to arrive here.
Out in the hall, somebody laughed in passing. Carl heard keys jingle.
A cop, probably.
The cop in this room looked bored. His leather gun belt creaked as
he shifted his weight, watching the judge shuffl e through a tall stack of
papers.
6 x 9 Phoenix island 1pbg dm.indd 1
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2 John dIxon
Carl’s mouth was dry and sour with the waiting. Directly across the
table, the judge picked up a white Styrofoam cup. Then he put it down
and set some papers to one side of the others. Then he looked up. He
had watery eyes and deep lines in his face. His hair was a gray mess, and he
needed a shave. Despite his robe, he looked more like a burned-out
math teacher than a judge. Looking again at the white cup, he finally
spoke.
“Could somebody please get me another cup of coffee? Velma?
Would you mind?”
A tall woman said okay and stood up and left the room.
“You are an orphan,” the judge said, turning his attention to Carl.
“Yes, sir.”
“It says here your father was a police officer?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what does that make you?”
“Sir?”
“The sheriff?”
Chief Watkins snorted. “I’m the damned sheriff.”
“Language, Chief. I’d hate to have to find you in contempt of court.”
Carl read the men’s voices: just a pair of good old boys, having a little fun while they sat one more case together.
Chief Watkins nodded. “Sorry, your honor.”
“That’s all right.” Then, looking up at Carl, he said, “You’re kind of
a hard ass, aren’t you, son?”
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