*****
“So what’s next?” Robert asked Charles as they walked out of the DA’s office together, side by side. They had lingered there long enough for the press to give up its vigil—a statement from the grandfather who made this all possible made their proverbial mouths’ water. It had been more than an hour since the hearing ended. The last thing Charles wanted was to be asked to make a statement in response to a question that would go something like, “How does it feel knowing what you did hurt your grandson?”
“He’ll be sentenced, and I expect Bosco to send him to prison for as long as the law permits for this kind of a case. At least that’s my experience with him. They’re wasting time on a departure motion. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bosco ignores the state’s recommendation of three years prison and instead throws him in for the max.”
“Good,” Robert replied. A strange and unexpected feeling of guilt flooded his mind at the instant he realized he was experiencing joy at the idea of vengeance being served in the courtroom. He turned his eyes away from Charles, thinking his grandfather’s unworldly ability to read the thoughts of defendants, jurors, and other lawyers might pierce though the veil of his own thoughts.
“Yeah,” Charles agreed as they approached their vehicles, parked side by side in the parking lot. “Very good.”
When they reached Charles’s SUV, he stopped and Robert continued walking past it to his own car, which his mom and dad drove down to Texas when he decided to begin college as scheduled and not wait until he healed from his wounds. He needed the car to drive to and from the physical therapist’s office.
“Hold on,” Charles said from behind.
Robert turned around and said, “What’s up?”
“I called a friend of mine yesterday. He’s an attorney in Bedford, Texas. He could use a part-time runner.”
Robert walked back to Charles. They now faced each other, just a couple of feet apart. Although therapy was going better than expected, Robert had overheard UTA’s team physician telling the coach that he didn’t think Robert would ever be able to play college-level ball again. It had happened at his first team meeting and had followed a few conversations he had with the coach and graduate assistants during which none made eye contact with him. Indeed, all appeared, at least to Robert, frustrated that he was taking up one of their valuable scholarship spots. Yet he held out hope, thinking that maybe his case would be different, that he’d defy the odds.
Logic told him otherwise. Standing there in front of his grandfather, Robert knew it was time to consider other career options. Being a lawyer had been good to his grandfather. He had already thought about law as a good path for his future. It was too early to say for sure, but maybe that was God’s purpose behind the tragedy, to redirect his path to conform to God’s will and not his own. It wouldn’t hurt to see what a law office was like.
Robert didn’t answer right away as he briefly considered Proverbs 19:21, one of his favorite Bible verses: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD'S purpose that prevails.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Charles replied, handing him one of his business cards with a name and telephone number written in the back.
Robert took the card and stared at it for a few moments, then looked up at Charles. “Why did this have to happen?”
“I wish I knew. Maybe there’s a purpose to it. I don’t know.”
He stuck the card in his back pocket and turned to walk away, saying over his right shoulder, “Thanks, I’ll call him as soon as I get to my dorm.”
“Do that.”
Broken: A story of hope and forgiveness Page 48