My Father Mocked Me for Coming to Court Without a Lawyer, But the Judge Opened My File and the Whole Room Went Silent

and had decided to come anyway.

When I finished carving the letters, I handed the knife back.

He looked at the new initials for a long time.

“You’re still here,” he said.

“Yes,” I told him.

And for the first time in my life, when he looked at me after that, I had the unmistakable sense that he knew exactly what he was seeing.