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“You know that he is a war hero, right? He had a few too many and just lost it. That isn’t like him at all.”
“Ma’am, I don’t know who you are, but I am not discussing any of this with you.”
“When is visitation?” I demanded. I didn’t know why I got so angry, but I was just going to figure this out for him. I wasn’t going to let him get in trouble, even if I did think he was being an idiot.
“Who are you to the inmate?”
I really hated to hear Hal being referred to as the inmate. It didn’t fit. He wasn’t a bad guy and the last thing I wanted to hear was someone like her making disparaging remarks about him. It really bothered me. She didn’t know him, and he had a name. It wasn’t inmate.
“I am his lawyer.”
That got a different response and the woman on the other line was at least giving me the information I was asking for now. It was clear that she wasn’t happy with me still, but at least I knew where Hal was, all his charges, and when I could go down there and see him. I was already trying to formulate a plan. I wanted to try to get him out of all of it, but I wasn’t sure that was going to be possible. I really hoped that it would be a possibility. Before too long, all I could think was how I was going to get him free. I didn’t like Hal behind bars, though I had no idea why he had gone sideways like that. What happened in his mind?
“I know you told me not to worry about it, Marilyn, but I have to know, what did you do?”
I didn’t want to tell Hal what I had done. He wasn’t going to like the answer, which made it hard to say. He was waiting with expectations, and I didn’t want to see the disappointment that I was sure was about to start. I could see that it wasn’t always easy to deal with Hal. He wasn’t going to like what I said next.
“I told the cop that he should drop the charges. I gave him a few reasons and he agreed, so he dropped the charges. That’s all,” I tried to say everything so carefully, but that was my problem. Hal’s eyes narrowed, and I knew that I had gone about it the wrong way. He wanted to know what exactly I told the cop. There was the problem.
“Does it really matter?” I wanted to know. It did, I knew it, but I was really just trying to sidetrack him so he wasn’t looking at me with that accusation on his face. He was clearly not going for it though. He was making me sweat.
“I told them that you were in the military and that you had served your country.”
He wasn’t going for it and wanted more. “Fine, I said that you were likely experiencing PTSD from your time over there as a POW.”
It all came out in a rush and Hal looked at me like he had been physically knocked back. I tried to tell him that it was all fine and it had to be done that way so it wouldn’t go on his record, but he didn’t want to hear it.
“You basically told them that I was crazy?”
I didn’t want to agree with it, but I heard myself saying this anyway. “Well, in my defense, you were acting like you had lost your mind. What was the big deal with that cop? I don’t get it.”
Hal said something about knowing the cop and not liking the disrespect. I didn’t see it then and after he said something about it, I didn’t see it now. I wanted to say something more about it, how he had lost it for real and if that wasn’t his excuse, what was it. None of that was helpful though, I knew that. So, I didn’t bring up any of it. I just waited for him to give more of an answer. When I realized that he wasn’t going to say anything else, I lamented that I wasn’t going to know what was going through his mind. Maybe that was for the best.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked him. I hoped that he wasn’t.
“No, I just wanted to know how you got me out of it. I thought you had threatened to sue them for something.”
“No, this way seemed easier.”
He agreed that it was, but he still wasn’t too happy with me. I was wrong for using something that he had told me in confidence to get him out of trouble, but that was fine. I just wanted him out of jail and it was the first thing that came to mind. The way he was quiet on the way back and him not saying a word the rest of the night told me everything that I wanted to know. He was mad at me for what I’d done, and I didn’t blame him. I didn’t regret it, of course, so he could be mad at me if he wanted.
When we got back to my place, I asked him if he was going to be mad at me for a long time and he said that he wasn’t. “I could have done without that, but I am not mad about it.”
I was glad to hear it, but I was really more worried about how he really felt about it. He was still barely looking me in the eyes. I didn’t like that. I liked when things were different, and we didn’t have to pretend as much. Why was he acting so strange all of a sudden?
“You know, Hal, it doesn’t have to be a big deal.”
He scoffed at me and said that me saying that proved that I had no idea what I was talking about. I was annoyed because I didn’t like what he said, but maybe he was right. It seemed like that was a possibility.
“Would you have rather stayed in jail?”
“Then what you told them? Yes.” He said it with very little hesitation. He made me feel bad, but I already felt that way. I had gone too far and said too much, I got it, but to say that he would rather stay incarcerated made no sense. Sometimes he was a bit too stubborn, even for his own good.
“I was just trying to help. I don’t know what happened, but I didn’t want you to get in trouble.”
“It never amounts to anything. Like you said, I’m a war hero.”
I scoffed. “You have used it before?”
