Page 108 of Life To My Flight

Then went to work on the elastic band in my hair that didn’t want to let go of its firm hold on my tangles.

I sped through my shower, knowing damn well why I’d had so much to drink last night.

I was nervous.

In fact, I was so nervous that I was on the verge of puking…or maybe that was the remnants of the wine sloshing around in my empty belly.

Washing my hair, I was just about to get out of the shower when I saw that Cleo had left his razor in the shower.

Smiling deviously, I did a quick shave of my legs, bikini line, and armpits, then put the razor back exactly where I found it.

Served him right.

“What are you smiling about?” Cleo asked from the doorway causing me to jump in surprise.

I thought about the time he told me how gross it was when I asked if I could shave my legs with his razor and barely contained a smile. “Nothing. I’m just about ready.”

He looked at my dripping body skeptically, and turned without another word.

Toweling off as I walked into the bedroom, I went to the closet where my clothes usually hung and grimaced.

I’d taken a little too much over to Cleo’s place, and I didn’t really have anything left that was ‘courtroom apparel.’

The first pair of black pants I tried on wouldn’t zip. The second zipped, but left much to be desired.

I finally settled on a brown pair of capris that had a flared leg, and paired it with a royal blue flowered shirt.

It looked a little showy for a courtroom, and I knew I’d be attracting a lot of attention, but I figured it didn’t really matter. I’d be the center of attention when I was giving my testimony anyway.

Let the games begin.

***

Rue

No bombs went off on our way to the courthouse.

No gunman were sitting on the roof across the street shooting me full of holes.

It was so very uneventful that when I finally took my seat beside Cleo in the back of the room, I was a tad bit disappointed.

No, not that I didn’t die, but because I hyped myself up to be brave, and nothing even happened.

That wasn’t to say that I didn’t anticipate something happening.

There were over a hundred people in the courtroom.

This was a big case for this town.

It wasn’t every day that a man was accused of rape when he most likely didn’t do it.

If it was, in reality, rape, then this was one hell of an elaborate setup.

“All rise,” the bailiff’s call reverberated through the room.

We all rose, and the honorable Judge Judy, I shit you not, walked into the room.

Judy was her last name, though.