A Sister's Forgiveness (33 page)

Sadie

I
t felt odd seeing her uncle Geoff and aunt Jeannie in the courtroom—not exactly together, it appeared. Jeannie had come in and sat down alone in the last row, even though there were at least three empty chairs in the row where Sadie’s parents were sitting. Then Geoff had come in when called to testify, but he’d barely looked at anyone other than the lawyers the whole time he was on the stand.

She hadn’t been sure where Mr. Cotter was going with his questions, but when he’d asked her uncle about her—what kind of kid she was, Uncle Geoff had said she was a good person, a smart student, and Tessa’s best friend. She wasn’t sure why that gave her some hope, but it did. Surely the opinions of a man of her uncle’s position in the community—a coach and vice principal—carried some weight, even if they were related.

“By marriage,”
she remembered Geoff saying at least twice. It was like he didn’t want to admit to being family with her unless he absolutely had to. When she considered that, all hope flew out the window. Geoff was making it clear—under oath—that their relationship as uncle and niece was over.

But then out of the blue Mr. Cotter had asked him about Dan, and Sadie had gone on instant alert. Even though Dan had technically lied about her pleading with him to let her drive, Sadie had decided to forgive him. He’d been under a lot of stress, and maybe he hadn’t thought he was lying at all.

Then Mr. Cotter had started to present her defense. He began by entering into evidence the depositions of a string of people who knew her well enough to talk about what a good student and all-around good person she was. Several of those very people were sitting behind her. Pastor Detlef had given her a kind smile as she entered the courtroom. Two of her teachers had also looked at her with sympathy. Sadie noticed that Mr. Johnson did not seem especially interested in what these folks might have said, and she began to have some hope that maybe he—like everyone else—just wanted to get this over with.

“The defense calls Sadie Keller,” Mr. Cotter was saying, and Sadie realized that it was her turn to take the stand.

She stood up and went to the place where all the other witnesses had stood when they took the oath. But she couldn’t take such an oath. It was against her religion to do so.

Mr. Cotter was explaining this to the judge, and then Mr. Johnson said that the state was all right with Sadie simply affirming her intention to tell the truth as their church traditions had taught them.

“All right,” the judge said, turning to speak to Sadie directly. “You understand that you are agreeing to tell the truth here? That this court is relying on you to honor the teachings of your Mennonite faith and tell this court only the truth when you answer these questions?”

“Yes sir.” Sadie’s mouth had gone dry, and she cleared her throat. “I’ll tell the truth,” she assured the man in the black robe. “It would be a sin to tell a lie.”

“Even if telling the truth may seem to get you into more trouble?”

Sadie swallowed. “I will not lie, sir.”

The judge peered at her over the rims of his glasses. “And do you also understand that you do not have to testify at all, and that if you choose to remain silent, that cannot be used against you?”

“Yes, Your Honor. Mr. Cotter explained all of that to me.”

“Very well. Get on with it, Counselor.”

Joseph asked her to state her name, age, and address for the record. He asked her what school she attended. He asked her why Tessa was only that year starting to attend the academy. He asked her how she knew Dan Kline.

When Mr. Cotter had come to the detention center the day before, he had warned her that the easy questions would be the ones he asked first. The more difficult ones would come later. And then he had gone through the questions, making notes when she gave her answers and sometimes reminding her to answer each question in the simplest way possible without adding any further comment or observation.

When Mr. Cotter approached her, Sadie sat up straight and looked directly at the judge when she gave her answers, as Joseph had instructed. She was a good student normally, and she had caught on quickly to the rhythm of the give-and-take of the process of testifying.

“In your own words, Sadie, begin with the moment you got into the car with Dan Kline at your home, and take us through exactly what happened.”

Mr. Cotter had prepared her for this. He had gone over and over the way she would tell what had happened. She wanted to be sure she got it right. She took in a deep breath as Mr. Cotter had instructed and slowly let it out. And then she began, talking only to the judge as Mr. Cotter had coached her. “He is the person trying the case, hearing the facts. In an adult case, there would be a jury and I would tell you to talk to them, but here it’s the judge you need to convince.” She closed her eyes for a moment, reliving for what seemed the thousandth time every tiny detail of that morning. And then she opened her eyes and told the judge everything she recalled about that day. And even though she was interrupted numerous times by Mr. Johnson’s objections and Mr. Cotter’s gentle questions, she pressed on. It all came back to her as vividly as if it were happening again, and although she tried to give the judge just the facts, in her mind she couldn’t help but go all the way back to that day last spring when Dan Kline had first noticed her.

Dan Kline was undoubtedly the world’s best-looking guy. A year earlier, Sadie would have done almost anything to catch his attention. He was tall—just under six feet—with broad shoulders and a slim muscular build. He moved with grace, and when he smiled, he had this dimple that made him appear boyish and almost shy. His eyes were an impossible shade of blue-green, and his blond hair had a way of falling over his forehead that just begged for a girl to brush it back with her fingers.

Sadie could still remember the exact moment when he had focused those eyes and that smile on her. It had been a rainy day much like this one, only it had been last April. Like some dork, she had actually looked behind her to see who the lucky recipient of his attention might be. He had chuckled—a sound that came from somewhere deep in his chest. “Yes, I’m talking to you, Sadie Keller.”

He had known her name. She thought she must have misheard him, but he was calling her by name and telling her that he had heard that she was helping out at the fruit co-op that her mom’s friend Hester Steiner had started. He wanted to do a term paper on the project, and maybe she could introduce him to some people there whom he could interview for his paper.

Sadie was sure that once she got him to the people he needed to meet, he would forget all about her. But how wrong she had been. Dan had continued to sit with her at lunch, and the day he got an A on his paper, he had caught up with her as she walked home from school and walked the rest of the way with her. That was the day she had introduced him to her father. That was the day that her father had pronounced him a “nice young man.”

On the day of the accident, they were starting a new school year—his senior year. Sadie could not help but worry that as a senior he might want to rethink hanging out with a lowly sophomore. There were plenty of girls in his class who were pretty and smart and far more worldly than she was. She had to make sure that she looked her best and that she did nothing that would give him cause to view her as too young or immature for him.

“Do you want to drive?” Dan asked her as soon as they had turned the corner at the end of her street. He was looking at her with that little boy grin that always set her heart racing.

She giggled. When Dan had called her early that morning to suggest that he drive her to school, she had told him about getting her learner’s permit. He knew the rules. He had to be teasing her.

“You know I can’t. I just got my learner’s…”

He cocked an eyebrow that turned his question into a dare. “I have a license.”

“You have to be twenty-one in this state,” she reminded him. “I mean, I have to drive with someone that old in the car.”

“Now let’s just think about this before you say no. It’s what? Less than a mile to your cousin’s place?” He pulled to the side of the street and let the engine idle. “Come on. What can happen?”

He was out of the car and coming around to her side before Sadie could protest.

“Come on already,” he said, holding the door open for her, his shoulders hunched. “We’re going to be late, not to mention that I’m getting soaked.”

Her folks would have a cow if they found out. But this was Dan. The last thing she wanted was to start off the year with him thinking she was too chicken to try something just slightly forbidden—well, truly forbidden. But Dan did have a point—it was less than a mile with no really busy streets, and they would switch back once they got to Tessa’s. Before they got to Tessa’s.

She scrambled out and ran to the driver’s side of the car.

“We have to stop and switch back when we get to Tessa’s street,” she said as she slid into the driver’s seat. But then she ran her hands over the steering wheel and felt such a rush of power, of being grown-up. She couldn’t help squealing.

“Okay, adjust the seat and the mirrors,” Dan instructed as soon as she’d closed the door. “The flashers are on, so turn those off and put on your signal. Then slowly pull out as soon as you see an opportunity.”

Sadie concentrated on following everything he said to the letter.

“Good,” he said when she had pulled onto the street. He leaned his seat back and took out his cell phone.

“Who are you texting?” Sadie asked as his thumbs flew over the keypad.

“The guys.”

The guys were Dan’s teammates. Sadie forced herself to concentrate on the driving. There was a lot more traffic than she had expected, and it seemed like all the other vehicles on the road were racing past her at a fast rate of speed. A driver pulled around her, his horn blaring, and she clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. The side mirrors and rear window were fogged up, so she was having trouble seeing other cars. She glanced at the console. “Where’s the rear defroster?”

Dan punched a button. “Come on, Sadie, give it some gas, or we’ll be getting to school sometime tomorrow.” He continued texting without looking up.

Sadie gripped the steering wheel and pressed down on the accelerator. The car seemed to leap forward, and she immediately fumbled for the brake, sending the car into a slight skid. “What do I do?” she shouted.

“Just stay calm,” Dan coached, but she noticed that his voice shook a little and he was sitting forward, the cell phone lying loose in his hand as he watched the road.

As she regained control of the car, she realized that he was laughing.

“It’s not funny,” she huffed as she bent forward over the steering wheel, as if that position would give her better vision. She looked over at him. “Stop laughing.”

Now that she had managed to right the car and get back into the flow of traffic, he was back to texting and fighting a smile. Determined now to show him that she was not some kid, Sadie pressed down on the gas.

The speedometer hovered at just over thirty-five, but it felt as if they were doing at least sixty. It was exhilarating and terrifying but also fun. She hit a patch where the water had covered the road and was thrilled when a high wave shot up on Dan’s side.

“Slow down for the turn,” he said, and this time there was no humor in his tone. “That’s her street ahead, right?”

Tessa’s street was coming up fast—too fast—and Sadie wrenched the steering wheel to the right and prayed that there wouldn’t be a car coming out of the lane as she made the wide turn.

Her prayer went unheard. Once again she heard the blare of a car horn as Tessa’s neighbor, Mr. Diehn, sped past. All she wanted now was to pull to the side and turn the driving over to Dan. She peered through the windshield, looking for a place where she could park so they could switch.

“Come on, Sadie, we’re already running late, and with this rain, nobody’s going to notice you driving. Just get to your cousin’s,” Dan said, his focus back on his texting. Then he started to snicker.

“What?” she asked, her patience with this whole business wearing thin. They were approaching Tessa’s block, and the rain was pelting the car so hard that she had to shout to be heard.

Then Dan started to laugh out loud as his fingers flew over the keypad once again. He waited a beat and then laughed even harder. “Oh, that’s rich,” he muttered.

“What’s so funny?” she demanded, only half aware that the more irritated she got the harder she pressed on the accelerator. They were almost at Tessa’s driveway. “Are you making fun of me to your friends? Let me see,” she said and made a grab for the cell phone with her right hand while turning onto the drive with her left.

“Keep both hands on the wheel,” Dan shouted as the car started to skid.

Sadie wrenched the wheel to the left and looked out the window just in time to see that they were headed straight for her uncle Geoff, who had just come outside and was trying to open an umbrella. She slammed down hard on the brake and threw up her hands and screamed as Dan gave the steering wheel a hard wrench to the right.

Unimaginably she looked up, and there was Tessa, her eyes wide like the proverbial deer caught in headlights. Her cousin pressed herself against the garage door. Then there was a thud followed by a whoosh, and suddenly Sadie couldn’t see anything but the white pillow of the airbag.