Living Stones (33 page)

Ashley stood and reached through the bars. He held on to her arms, put his head on them, and sobbed. He finally calmed down, and Ashley sat down, wiping away her own tears, looking deeply into his eyes.

“What do you think I should do?”

“Accept help wherever you can get it, Robert. You know the trouble you are in. You need lots of emotional support and love from your family. Restored relationships are so important, particularly close ones in families.”

“You mean I should go beyond talking with them about my legal problems?”

“Exactly. And you can ask them to forgive you for whatever you have done to them. And more than that, you can choose to forgive them whether they ask for it or not. It will take away that horrible burden of hate for them.”

“So what happens if I forgive them, and they forgive me?”

“Reconciliation. Previous enemies become friends. Just like us today.”

McKenzie appeared. “Time’s up. It’s been twenty minutes.”

“My parents sent a lawyer to see me. I’ll call him,” Robert said. “He left his card. Ashley, when will you come back?”

“I don’t know. I’ll try soon, but it may not be possible. But remember your promise to make that call!”

Robert watched her disappear down the hall, taking Najid’s arm. He drew in a deep breath.

Robert trembled as he waited on the cordless phone for the lawyer to come on the line. “Charles Rand here.”

“This is Robert Bentley. I’m calling from the Federal Detention Center.”

“The young man who wouldn’t talk to me?”

“Yeah. I’ve changed my mind. You said to call you if I want help.”

“Are you sure? Will you answer my questions if I come back?”

“Yeah.”

“OK. I can’t come today, but will try for tomorrow.”

Conrad and Lorraine Bentley spent the day asking themselves what they had done to create so much anger in Robert. It had something to do with their putting work and money ahead of time with their son.

The next day as they entered the center, Conrad Bentley watched his wife being patted down by a female employee at the metal detector. It had squealed.

McKenzie opened the door of the cell this time. Robert stood,
his back to his parents as they walked in and heard the door close and lock behind them. “I’m just around the corner if you need me,” McKenzie reminded the Bentleys.

“Robert. We’re here again because we love you,” Conrad began.

“I hope you know that, Robert.” His mother’s voice cracked. “Your dad and I have had long discussions, and we realize now that we failed you, son—that we were not there when you needed us. We’re sorry.” Robert wheeled around. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t have that hard squinting-eyed expression that frightened them two days ago. He nodded as he looked at his parents.

“Yeah, I understand that now.”

McKenzie, listening in the hall, tiptoed away.

Lorraine wept quietly while Conrad enclosed Robert in his arms, patting his back repeatedly. Robert seemed a little stiff but accepted his dad’s hug. Then he put his arms around his mom. Conrad sat on the small table, Lorraine on the metal chair and Robert on his bed. Conrad felt like the darkness had lifted a bit, but clouds still hid the sun. They sat quietly looking at each other. Robert gazed at them, and then dropped his eyes.

“What happened, Robert?” Lorraine asked. “You’re so different today. We love you—” Her voice broke.

“It’s true, Robert. Although I’m not sure I’ve ever said that to you.” Conrad shook his head, thinking about the past twenty-two years of his busy life. It seemed difficult now, but he would actually say it: “I love you, son.”

Robert told of Ashley’s visit and how she had forgiven him. He described her letter and their subsequent conversation. Then he mentioned that Charles Rand would be coming back tomorrow.

“How did you get Mr. Rand to come back?”

“I called him. He left his card and said to call if I wanted his help.”

“So he’s on now as your defense counsel?”

“Yeah, I think so. He said he’s coming tomorrow.” Robert dropped his head. “I’m sorry for treating you and him so badly.” He paused, gazing at the floor. “Uh, please . . . for-forgive me. And thanks for hiring him for me.”

Mr. Charles Rand entered with a quizzical expression on his face. Robert studied the short, bald man with intense blue eyes, opening his laptop computer.

After they shook hands, Mr. Rand began, “Why did you call me back?”

“It’s a long story, you know, but after a visit from a friend, I realized I should do it for my own good. So I’m glad you came back, and I apologize for my treatment of you the other day.”

“That’s OK. It’s your life and risk. Apology accepted.”

Mr. Rand began by outlining the charges against Robert, and he summarized the legal steps they would go through together. Robert already knew most of them in general. The attorney impressed Robert with the seriousness of the charges. He should talk to no one about the case, including law enforcement officers, parents, or friends.

“You mean I can’t see the only friend who has come to see me?”

“Not if the person is a potential witness.”

“What if she was a victim of the bombing?”

“Definitely not! You must not see or talk to her on the telephone. She of all people could literally end your life.”

Robert sighed. He sank back into the darkness that had only recently lifted with Ashley’s visit.

“Are you with me, Robert? This is stuff you need to know.”

Robert snapped back to the subject at hand. “Yeah, my mind drifted a bit, but I’m with you now.”

“OK.” Mr. Rand continued: “First, I need you to be completely open and honest with me. No hiding of any facts. If you are guilty of any of the charges, tell me the whole story. Answer any of my questions fully. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

That began his attorney’s investigation into Robert’s past and recent activities. Over several weeks no subject escaped exploration. The sessions included legal education about the process and various defense options, including plea bargaining.

After his parents had returned to Long Island, Robert looked forward to Rand’s sessions. He had no other visitors.

Ashley believed Robert had not hired hit men in Seattle. But Gordon Appleby did, and felt Ashley still might be a target. She called again to arrange a visit with Robert. But McKenzie informed her that Robert could not see her or anyone who might be involved in Robert’s case or might be called on to testify in a trial. Disappointed, she hung up the phone thinking that Robert needed her. But right now he needed his lawyer most of all. He must have accepted one.

She had briefly met his parents before they left for New York. They expressed their appreciation for Ashley’s reaching out to their son. “We could hardly believe the change in Robert after your visit,” Lorraine added.

Mr. Bentley repeatedly thanked her for persuading Robert to call the lawyer he’d hired. “I can’t believe you did this after what he allegedly did to you.”

After dinner with Ashley’s housemates, she and Najid went
out to walk around Green Lake. The sun shone in the July evening. Ashley took his arm. She loved being with Najid, and he seemed to enjoy being with her.

Ashley guided Najid to a park bench. Najid slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

“Let’s see . . . I forgot what I was saying . . . oh yeah, what’s happening at our church?”

“Maybe a bar mitzvah?”

Ashley couldn’t keep from laughing with this Palestinian who seemed to become more American every day. “You silly man!” She elbowed him in the ribs. She had not asked him to attend her church, knowing he might not feel comfortable with its Israeli tilt. “I’ve been thinking about dragging you there.”

“The last time you ‘dragged’ me to a place of worship it didn’t turn out so well.”

“Sick humor,” Ashley chuckled. “OK, but this time it’ll be fun. Our travel team is having a debriefing after church this Sunday.”

“What’s a ‘debriefing’?”

“It’s where people talk about their experiences on the trip and try to make sense of them. You hear from others, what they saw and learned. It helps to sort out your own impressions.”

“So why would you want me to come? I wasn’t on the trip.”

“Well, first you could hear what some Americans think about their observations in the Holy Land. I think some of us came back with a lot of questions. Maybe you’d get some insights on why we’re so confused.”

“Like what?”

“Like Bethlehem, for example. Confronting the wall of separation, right in the city where the Prince of Peace was born. A few short years ago it became a war zone, and now it’s a prison for many residents. What do you do with that?”

Najid turned toward her and looked into Ashley’s eyes. “Right. What do
you
do with that?”

“I don’t know what to do with it. I’m hearing so many different voices. That is why I want you to come.”

“You think I can sort out such complicated issues for you?”

“You know, Najid, you and your family and this trip and my
struggles with jihadists have had a profound effect on me. I’m not asking you to sort it all out for me. I need to come to my own conclusions someday. But after meeting your family in Galilee, I’ll never be the same. I want you to come and simply tell your story, and that of your family, going back beyond 1948. A story can be an image that says so much more than words alone can express. You and your family are part of the ‘living stones’ that we encountered. If you came, that picture would show up so much more clearly than my telling about your family. I’m not asking you to draw any conclusions either. Just tell your story.”

Najid gazed into the distance beyond Ashley, apparently thinking and enjoying the peaceful lake with people swimming and scullers out in the middle, rowing their long, sleek boats. “Would I be welcome there? I don’t want to upset anyone who has strong Zionist beliefs. Or anyone else. That’s why I determined not to get into that conflict here in America or tell my family story. It upsets some people, and I don’t want to do that.”

“But it’s real, Najid. It happened. And it’s a story we in the United States rarely hear. You are a living, breathing example of what God can do in the life of one who loves others and longs for reconciliation between people who sometimes hate each other. So what do you say? Will you come on Sunday? You don’t have to be in the church service.”

Najid laughed. “I’ll come even for that. For peacemaking.” He winked at Ashley. “But mostly for you.” His arm tightened around her shoulder as she reached for his other hand and squeezed it.