{"id":79,"date":"2016-09-02T17:15:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T21:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.herbheineman.com\/?page_id=79"},"modified":"2024-07-24T15:13:22","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T19:13:22","slug":"chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/edensgarden\/chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 1: The Warrior"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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PART I: 1970<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Frank Frazier knew he’d lost. He should never have taken the case. It was almost four o\u2019clock, he was tired, and his head ached. Soon the jurors would go home shaking their heads over his mean-spirited cross-examination. In the morning they\u2019d lean back in their chairs, legs crossed, arms folded, their verdict written on their faces. The vision made him squeeze his head. Either he performed a miracle right now or he might as well quit, because time had all but run out.<\/p>

\u201cMs. Morales,\u201d he said, in a desperate last attempt to forestall\u00a0the inevitable, \u201cisn\u2019t it true that you were once arrested for shoplifting?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI never, ever shoplifted. The charge was dis\u2014\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOb-jection.\u201d Bruce MacAdoo too was tired and the nurse\u2019s answer was part way out before he could lift his 280-pound frame from the chair. \u201cThis case is about a vitamin injection, Your Honor, not shoplifting.\u201d<\/p>

The judge leaned forward on the bench and addressed the witness: \u201cHow old were you when this alleged event took place, Ms. Morales?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cFifteen, and anyway it was my boyfriend, not me. . . .\u201d Her voice broke and no more words would come.<\/p>

Judge O\u2019Hara closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. \u201cMr. Frazier,\u201d he drawled, \u201cI think we can all agree that this is past history and irrelevant today. Objection sustained.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo more questions.\u201d Frazier sank into his chair.<\/p>

Strictly speaking, Morales\u2019s extraordinary beauty should have been irrelevant too. But both attorneys knew better. As she was flinching under the barrage of questions that afternoon, flinging her glossy black mane this way and that and looking hurt, not a single juror\u2019s attention wandered. MacAdoo suppressed a smile, intuiting their sympathy for the lovely victim of Frazier\u2019s inquisition. As she stepped down she cast a smile of gratitude toward the judge. Admiring eyes and deep inhalations followed her out of the courtroom. So much for that all-important last impression of the day, so much for changing the jurors\u2019 minds, so much for the miracle. Still, Frazier tried to console himself, the effort might not have been wasted. Subconsciously, His Honor\u2019s ruling notwithstanding, some jurors might now be wondering about the witness\u2019s veracity. Then again, they might be angry at him, Frazier, for a perceived low blow. He dared not speculate on the net effect.<\/p>

The law office was only a half dozen short blocks from the courtroom in City Hall. Frazier walked slowly down Fifteenth Street and turned right on Walnut, willing himself to savor the crisp November air, to banish his headache, to make a game of zigzagging untouched through the rush-hour crowd \u2014 anything to take the edge off his mood \u2014 while his associate maintained a respectful silence. At Sixteenth Street they were stopped by a red light.<\/p>

\u201cDamned liar!\u201d He laughed bitterly as he said it. \u201cAnd she gets away with it because she does a shampoo commercial and wiggles her luscious ass at the jury\u00a0\u2014 and the judge. Nobody walks like that without trying. I swear that one guy was drooling right into his beard. And did you get a whiff of that perfume? Did you see the judge sucking it in? Jesus, you\u2019d think it was his last breath before going off the plank.\u201d A pause. \u201cNot that I blame him. I\u2019m no youngster, but let me tell you, I was glad I had my . . . well, never mind.\u201d<\/p>

Karen sighed. She, too, had found the display repugnant, but she didn\u2019t think that flirting in court per se discredited the nurse\u2019s testimony. \u201cNurses do disinfect the skin before sticking the needle in,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that complicated. Alan couldn\u2019t believe she hadn\u2019t. If the jurors believe her, it could be because they\u2019ve had injections and know the routine. Haven\u2019t you?\u201d Since he said nothing, she went on, \u201cShe probably couldn\u2019t help the way she walked either. Nurses don\u2019t wear spike heels on the job; she\u2019s not used to them.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThen MacAdoo\u2019s been calling the shots on footwear as well as sloshing herself with \u2018My Desperation,\u2019 or whatever\u2019s hot this month, and flinging her hair around. I wouldn\u2019t put it beyond him.\u201d<\/p>

Karen tried to think constructively. From the outset \u2014 bolstered by Alan\u2019s reaction \u2014 she had thought their case was weak, and tomorrow the jury would recess to go through the motions of reaching their predictable verdict. Unless \u2014 and a big unless it was \u2014 the defense\u2019s one remaining witness, their medical expert, gave Frazier an opening. Karen tried to think what such an opening could be, but she knew the cross exam would be limited to topics covered in the direct.<\/p>

\u201cGo home,\u201d Frank said as they reached their office building, \u201cI\u2019ve got some thinking to do. Be in by seven, so we can talk strategy.\u201d<\/p>

Over dinner, Alan listened without comment as she recounted the day\u2019s events. She assumed he too had had a hard day and she didn\u2019t press for more interest on his part. Things would be better once both were established and secure in their professions. For now, she was depressed and she slept poorly.<\/p>

She didn\u2019t expect the night\u2019s respite to be any kinder to Frank than to her, considering he bore responsibility for the case, but she was wrong. When she entered the office of Frazier & Drummond next morning, she found a man transformed, as one who has just learned that the mean-looking shadow on his chest x-ray was an artifact.<\/p>

He looked her over approvingly. \u201cGreat.\u201d<\/p>

Karen followed his gaze with a puzzled expression. \u201cWhat do you mean? Aren\u2019t we going to court?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOh yes, we are<\/em>.\u201d She found his enthusiasm\u00a0exasperating and totally out of place, and came close to stamping her foot. But before she had to deal with that impulse, he laid his plan before her. \u201cYou\u2019re<\/em> going to cross-examine Abrams.\u201d There it was, her future in one sentence.<\/p>

Her jaw dropped. She was barely sixteen months out of law school, fifteen months with the firm, less than six months past her bar examination. She considered herself lucky to be in court at all instead of shuffling papers in the office. But Frank, good lawyer that he was, had to have a better motive than altruism, and it took her only seconds to suspect what it was.<\/p>

\u201cOK,\u201d she said unemotionally. \u201cIt\u2019s a lost case, so it doesn\u2019t matter if I screw up. That\u2019s how a young female lawyer gets her feet wet, right?\u201d<\/p>

Frank grinned again. \u201cLost case, eh? That\u2019s exactly what I want that bastard to think. But I\u2019m sending you in there to win. Understand? To win<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>

Obviously she did not understand.<\/p>

\u201cDo you honestly think I can do a better job than you? Or is this a matter of meeting fire with fire?\u201d<\/p>

The suggestion of sarcasm was not lost on Frank but, far from being offended, he silently congratulated himself for having hired this quick wit. A true courtroom warrior she\u2019d be. He leaned forward and looked earnestly into her eyes. \u201cDon\u2019t be insulted. We don\u2019t have many cards left to play; you know that as well as I. Morales had the jurors lapping out of her hand. I need you to blunt the effect.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou want me to out-bimbo her?\u201d Karen looked at him incredulously. \u201cI couldn\u2019t perfect that body language in the next hour if my life depended on it. Not to mention that I don\u2019t have her hair or her behind.\u201d<\/p>

Frank suppressed an instinctive denial. \u201cOn the contrary, I want you to be Karen Avery, the opposite<\/em> of Nora Morales. Show them the dignified side of femininity. Don\u2019t flout your looks. Don\u2019t put on any airs at all. Don\u2019t even think about her.\u201d<\/p>

Karen made a wry face, resisting an impulse to object to what she perceived as condescension. \u201cSo they\u2019ll be more impressed by my variant of womanhood than hers? Is that the idea? And what\u2019s the strategy for the cross exam? I assume there is one?\u201d<\/p>

Frank was unruffled. \u201cWait and see what MacAdoo does, then undo it. Something tells me he\u2019s getting complacent. That self-satisfied smirk. He\u2019ll give us an opening. I\u2019ll make notes as we go. Have you had breakfast?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cJust coffee. Poor Alan, he\u2019ll have to eat at the hospital again.\u201d<\/p>

Frank walked slowly round the desk. \u201cI hope Alan has the stomach for this. Lucky he\u2019s a doctor. Maybe he won\u2019t feel outdone by a successful lawyer wife \u2014 or resent the hours.\u201d<\/p>

Karen shrugged off a slight frown. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be a problem, once he has his boards and a faculty position. As long as he\u2019s a resident in training . . . . Anyway, it\u2019s only a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>

They took the elevator down without speaking, walked a block, and turned into The Buttered Bagel. Before the hostess had a chance to seat them they saw Bruce MacAdoo seated at another table with a slight man in a light gray suit, starched white shirt, and dark blue bow tie. The lawyers exchanged tepid nods of recognition and looked away. Frank asked for a table on the opposite side of the little coffee shop.<\/p>

\u201cIs that Doctor Abrams?\u201d Karen whispered when they had given their order to the server.<\/p>

\u201cI hope so,\u201d Frank answered, idly sipping water. \u201cLook at that bow tie \u2013 probably another MacAdoo touch. To me he looks like a pompous ass, a miniature pompous ass.\u201d<\/p>

That was not the way Karen had seen him, but looking again after Frank\u2019s appraisal she thought, maybe he is<\/em> a pompous ass. Frank\u2019s mental process brought a smile to her face; he could be infuriating one moment, endearing the next, but always sharp.<\/p>

Over French toast and bacon she also began to see the shrewdness of his ploy. She pictured the jurors in deliberation, the six men replaying yesterday\u2019s visuals and the women reminding them of what they were there for. She forgot her earlier displeasure. By the time they reached City Hall, she was looking forward to her day in court. What a shame that her only audience, other than the litigants and members of the court, would likely be the plaintiff\u2019s mother.<\/p>

\u201cPlease rise,\u201d intoned the bailiff, at the same time motioning Dwayne Williams to stay in his wheelchair. Everyone else rose as the judge mounted the bench.<\/p>

\u201cThe court is in session in the trial of Williams versus Prentiss, The Honorable Judge Liam J. O\u2019Hara presiding. All private conversation will cease. Please be seated.\u201d<\/p>

MacAdoo rose from his chair at defendant\u2019s table. \u201cYour Honor, the defense calls Doctor Marvin Abrams.\u201d<\/p>

It did not take MacAdoo long to convince the judge that Abrams qualified as an expert on the subject of injections. Abrams was medical director of a clinic at which the city health department provided immunizations against influenza and childhood infections. During his eighteen-year tenure he had supervised, by his estimate, more than fifty thousand such procedures. \u201cI lost count after the first twenty thousand,\u201d he said in a tone that placed his primacy beyond challenge.<\/p>

\u201cHow many of those injections became infected?\u201d asked MacAdoo.<\/p>

\u201cNone. Not a one.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDo your nurses disinfect the skin before injecting?\u201d<\/p>

Abrams winced as if hurt. \u201cThey most certainly do. As public servants we owe it to the taxpayers to follow protocol to the letter. Safety\u2019s our major concern.\u201d<\/p>

Frazier put his hand over his mouth and pretended to gag. The judge looked at him expressionless save for a twinkle in his eyes. Frazier began to write on his yellow pad.<\/p>

\u201cWhat do they use for disinfection?\u201d MacAdoo asked.<\/p>

\u201cIsopropyl alcohol, seventy percent.\u201d Not sixty-nine, not seventy-one, Frazier growled under his breath.<\/p>

\u201cDoctor, in your opinion, how likely is it that Mr. Williams\u2019s infection \u2014 with its tragic consequences \u2014 was caused by the vitamin injection that\u00a0Nurse Nora Morales gave him in Doctor Prentiss\u2019s office?\u201d<\/p>

Doctor Abrams straightened his bow tie, sat up straight, and said solemnly: \u201cVanishingly unlikely.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCould you put that in terms of probability \u2014 say, one chance in a thousand, perhaps?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMore like one in a million.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAnd why is that?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBecause the nurses prep the injection site by killing the bacteria. Ergo, nothing left to cause an infection. That\u2019s the whole purpose.\u201d Abrams sat back, his point made.<\/p>

\u201cAnd you say this with reasonable medical certainty?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWith absolute<\/em> certainty.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIs this the standard practice of nurses in private physicians\u2019 offices as well?\u201d<\/p>

Frank, as aggressive now as he had been beaten down the day before, rose. \u201cObjection. This witness is not qualified to describe nursing practices in private offices.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s OK, Your Honor, I withdraw the question,\u201d MacAdoo said before the judge could sustain the objection. \u201cI have no further questions.\u201d One point for MacAdoo, Frank conceded silently, but not a major one.<\/p>

O\u2019Hara turned to plaintiff\u2019s table. \u201cYour witness, Mr. Frazier.\u201d Frank passed the pad on which he\u2019d been writing. Karen studied it a few seconds and nodded slightly.<\/p>

\u201cIf it please Your Honor, Attorney Avery will cross-examine.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cVery well, proceed, Ms. Avery.\u201d<\/p>

Eyebrows arched as Karen rose from her chair. Even the alternate jurors leaned forward expectantly. Karen stood five feet nine in her flats. Her brown suit, yellow blouse, and modest amber earrings coordinated perfectly with her hair, which was pinned up in back to reveal a graceful neckline. She wore no fragrance and no makeup other than pale lipstick. MacAdoo took in the scene through narrowed eyes, diagnosing Frazier\u2019s strategy instantly. With her left hand Karen slowly picked up the notepad from the table, allowing the jurors to see her engagement and wedding rings. She nodded briefly in their direction, a thoughtful expression on her face, then approached the witness.<\/p>

\u201cDoctor Abrams,\u201d she said softly, \u201cI\u2019m Karen Avery, associate in the firm of Frazier & Drummond. We represent Dwayne Williams, whom you see over there in the wheelchair.\u201d<\/p>

Abrams sat motionless, looking defiantly into her face.<\/p>

\u201cAre you aware, Doctor, that Mr. Williams is \u2014 at least, was \u2014 a star athlete on the Penn track team?\u201d<\/p>

McAdoo was on his feet. \u201cObjection! This is about an injection. Plaintiff\u2019s athletic prowess may be commendable, but it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYour Honor,\u201d Karen countered, \u201cMr. Williams\u2019s status as an athlete representing the University of Pennsylvania in intercollegiate sports is very much relevant. It speaks to the damages we are seeking.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI agree, Ms. Avery. Objection overruled.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDoctor, Mr. Williams is handicapped due to complications of an infection following an injection into his right buttock\u2014\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut not because of it,\u201d Abrams interjected.<\/p>

\u201cYour Honor, I request that remark be stricken. It was not responsive to any question.\u201d Her tone was respectful but firm.<\/p>

\u201cDoctor, please confine your testimony to answering counsel\u2019s questions,\u201d Judge O\u2019Hara instructed the witness.<\/p>

\u201cYessir<\/em>,\u201d Abrams answered with a smirk. Karen continued.<\/p>

\u201cDoctor, you testified that in your clinic you have never seen an infection following an immunization shot. Is that right?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThat is<\/em> right.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAnd your nurses always disinfect the skin in accordance with protocol, right?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThey follow the rules. I see to that. I have a mandate.\u201d<\/p>

After pausing long enough to allow the doctor to elaborate further if he wished, she asked, \u201cIn your opinion, doctor, is it absolutely impossible to get an infection as the result of a shot?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cShot? You mean a bullet, from a gun?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo, doctor, I mean an injection with a needle,\u201d Karen answered in a level tone, as if the point needed clarification.<\/p>

\u201cOh, it\u2019s possible, I guess.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cUnder what circumstances would it happen?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNaturally, if the needle or the material being injected is contaminated. That doesn\u2019t happen in a properly run facility.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHow about if the skin is dirty?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMaybe if it\u2019s covered with feces.\u201d He grinned at the jury. Karen turned to Williams with a look of sympathy, long enough to draw some of the jurors\u2019 eyes in the same direction. Williams\u2019s eyes were flashing in anger. Karen turned back to Abrams.<\/p>

\u201cNobody\u2019s claiming that Mr. Williams\u2019s skin was covered in feces. Besides, his infection turned out to be staphylococcal, didn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>

Abrams took a moment to answer. \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWould you expect feces to cause a staph infection?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThey could. More commonly intestinal bacteria, like E. coli.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

\u201cWhere do<\/em> staph infections usually come from?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cStaph are all over the place. Infections can come from anywhere.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDoctor Abrams,\u201d Karen said slowly, \u201cI\u2019d like you to consider a hypothetical situation: Say a nurse uses a sterile, disposable needle, draws fluid from a brand-new vial after swabbing the rubber diaphragm with alcohol \u2014 isopropyl alcohol, 70% \u2014 and gives an injection. Next day the area of the injection is painful and swollen, and it turns out to be infected. Would you agree that the infection was likely caused by the shot?\u201d<\/p>

Abrams closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. \u201cWell, you said hypothetical, so OK, maybe it was. In real life it\u2019s rarer than hens\u2019 teeth. I\u2019ve already said that. At least not if the nurse cleans the skin before inserting the needle. You didn\u2019t say she did. Did you leave that out deliberately?\u201d<\/p>

Karen didn\u2019t need to object. \u201cDoctor,\u201d Judge O\u2019Hara said with a sigh, \u201cyou\u2019ll have to leave the questions to counsel. Just answer as best you can.\u201d This time there was no smirk and no yessir<\/em>, only a straightening of the tie.<\/p>

Karen took a few steps away from the witness box, looking blankly at the jurors as she turned. She noted she still had their attention. Then she faced Abrams again.<\/p>

\u201cIn the scenario you just considered, Doctor Abrams,\u201d she resumed, \u201cif the infection was staphylococcal, where would those bacteria most likely have come from?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve already told you,\u201d he answered irritably, \u201cthey can come from anywhere.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCould you give me some examples?\u201d she asked quietly.<\/p>

\u201cThe floor, the ceiling, the table \u2014 who knows?\u201d He pointed derisively to the objects he named. Turning to the jury box, he added with a smile, \u201cEven in a clean facility like Doctor Prentiss\u2019s office there would be occasional staph here and there.\u201d The jurors sat impassive. MacAdoo\u2019s head hung.<\/p>

Karen took a step back. \u201cAre staphylococci also found on the skin?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOf course they are. Everybody knows that.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cEven clean skin?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSure, unless it\u2019s been disinfected.\u201d<\/p>

Karen took another step back. \u201cUnless it\u2019s been disinfected,\u201d she repeated, looking out the window, and paused for a few seconds before going on. \u201cNow, Doctor Abrams, I\u2019ll ask your opinion as a medical expert. Given a choice among the floor, the ceiling, the table, and the skin,\u201d she listed them without pointing, \u201cwhich is the most likely source of an infection at the point where a clean, sterile needle has penetrated the skin?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNow just a minute\u2014\u201d<\/p>

\u201cPlease answer, doctor. You\u2019re here as an expert, and your expert opinion is all I\u2019m asking for.\u201d<\/p>

Abrams drew a breath. \u201cThe skin, I guess. But that\u2019s only because\u2014\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThank you, doctor, that\u2019s all.\u201d She didn\u2019t care whether or not he finished his sentence. Turning to the judge, she said, \u201cI\u2019m done, Your Honor.\u201d<\/p>

The attorneys\u2019 summations predictably reiterated the points they\u2019d tried to establish during questioning. Neither Frazier nor MacAdoo was outstanding for his eloquence.<\/p>

It took the jury a little over two hours to reach a 10 to 2 verdict for the plaintiff, with two of the six men dissenting. Karen and Frank, interviewing the foreman on the way out, learned that Doctor Abrams\u2019s demeanor had done substantial damage to defendant\u2019s case; as for Nurse Morales, the juror merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders. The lawyers walked to the office along the same route as the day before, but Frank couldn\u2019t have cared less about the weather or the sounds of city life. Gone was the anger, replaced by such generosity of spirit that he willingly shared the misgivings he\u2019d had from the outset.<\/p>

\u201cLet me tell you,\u201d he said, \u201cif I\u2019d had my wits about me, I wouldn\u2019t have taken the case. Nancy Olson refused to support me. Sure, she agreed that the staph probably entered through the skin somewhere, but she said it could just as easily have been a minor cut someplace else, or from picking his nose \u2014 people carry staph in their noses, did you know that? An injection carries very little risk. So she begged off. I have great respect for Nancy\u2019s judgment, but there was something about Dwayne Williams that got to me. Here\u2019s a young, handsome, straight A student and track star at Penn, and on top of that a really nice guy; I just wanted him to win. It\u2019s all emotional, I know. Les Drummond didn\u2019t like the idea either.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cDo you think the jury saw it that way? I mean, the kind of guy he was.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cCould be. You can\u2019t predict how jurors will think. But you learn to avoid certain pitfalls. MacAdoo couldn\u2019t have picked a worse expert. Arrogant little sonofabitch. You heard what they thought about him, and it made all the difference. MacAdoo knew it too. Did you see his expression? I can\u2019t understand that he didn\u2019t see it coming. They must have gone over his testimony before the trial.\u201d He stopped walking and turned to her. \u201cAnd you, Karen, you were brilliant. Keep that up and you\u2019ll go places.\u201d<\/p>

Karen nodded. \u201cMaybe Morales helped us too! Made it easier for me, perhaps?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re catching on, counselor.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut why did John Barker agree to testify for us after Nancy refused?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHe almost didn\u2019t,\u201d Frank answered. \u201cHe was sort of on the fence, but he had his own reason for helping us. Just so happens that Prentiss had an affair with the wife of one of Barker\u2019s friends. Led to a nasty divorce.\u201d<\/p>

Karen stared. \u201cBut he testified that he didn\u2019t know anyone connected with the case. Was he lying?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo. He never met Prentiss, only heard about the affair.\u201d Ah, bless those technicalities, Karen thought, seeing the sly look on Frank\u2019s face.<\/p>

Back in the office, she sat at her desk and relaxed. No way could Alan help being interested now. And she\u2019d call her father in Washington, of course. Already she could hear him brag that his daughter had beaten one of the city\u2019s best defense lawyers and shown once again that women are every bit as smart as men. No male chauvinist he; in social awareness he was years ahead of his colleagues at the State Department. And no doubt some nickname such as Daddy\u2019s Darling Dragon Slayer would enter the family lexicon. Friends of the family would applaud while she dutifully acknowledged his support in her climb.<\/p>

The depth of his support had first become manifest in a conversation they\u2019d had during her senior year in high school. That was when she told him she wanted to be a lawyer. \u201cAh, that\u2019s a man\u2019s job, not for you, little Carrybags,\u201d he\u2019d said, putting an affectionate arm round her shoulder. She still cringed at the touch. \u201cGo to college, meet a man. With your looks and your wit you can have the best. And if he wants to go to graduate school \u2014 law, or medicine, or international relations, whatever \u2014 I\u2019m ready to help out with money. It\u2019s the least I can do for my son-in-law.\u201d<\/p>

Twice more she brought up the subject and twice more she found him resolved to protect her against the world. When her younger brother Jeremy, whose intellectual prowess was not discussed outside parent-teacher conferences, professed an interest in political science, dad cheered him right on. She turned to her mother for help, but mom, who\u2019d never worked outside the home, said dad knows what it\u2019s like out there. In the end he relented enough to let her choose whatever college she could get into. When she chose Oberlin, he gladly gave his blessing \u2014 high standards, coeducational, just the place for a girl from a good family to make connections.<\/p>

Karen did make connections. Along with history and literature, she learned that gender alone need be no impediment to ambition, that she could hold her own against the brightest of both sexes at any level, and that she had the right of self-determination. She had no illusions that dad\u2019s education had kept pace with hers, or that mom had the strength to stand up for her, so she waited till she had her acceptance in hand before revealing that she would study law at the University of Pennsylvania \u2014 and, by the way, leave Oberlin without a husband in tow. Dad swallowed hard and came up with the tuition money he had earmarked for his son-in-law. Soon he was graciously acknowledging the kudos of friends and colleagues for encouraging his daughter to challenge the sex barrier.<\/p>

Now, five years later, and married in her own good time to a doctor, Karen saw her career stretching before her like a highway without speed limit. And who could tell what lay beyond the horizon? Her own practice? Academia? A judgeship? Political office? At the very least, partnership at F & D. And incidentally, a worthy peer to her husband, whom even dad approved of.<\/p>

She predicted Alan\u2019s reaction correctly. Her court victory brought out unabashed pride. He arranged for coverage at the hospital and took his wife to Bookbinder\u2019s for a dinner of lobster tail followed by strawberry shortcake. Wine at the restaurant was followed by brandy at home and, recovering an intimacy that stress had denied them too long, they celebrated into the night.<\/p>

When her period was two weeks late she ascribed the delay to excitement over the trial. It took another month before the fearful possibility of pregnancy forced itself on her. Without telling her husband, she visited Rosetta Brand. An hour later she left Rosetta\u2019s office in a cold sweat. But her distress was short-lived; a firebrand in the courtroom was not going to be a wimp at home. By the time she arrived there she was calm.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Chapter 2 >><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART I: 1970 Frank Frazier knew he’d lost. He should never have taken the case. It was almost four o\u2019clock, he was tired, and his head ached. Soon the jurors would go home shaking their heads over his mean-spirited cross-examination. In the morning they\u2019d lean back in their chairs, legs crossed, arms folded, their verdict […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-79","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":741,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79\/revisions\/741"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herbheineman.com\/Eden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}