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

paper, dust warmed by vents, the faint metallic scent of radiators, and something else beneath all of it, something like patience worn thin. It was colder inside than outside. Or maybe rooms like that simply feel colder because of what people bring into them.

I had arrived forty minutes early. Sat alone on the wooden bench near the back. Watched clerks continue reading …