In Search Of Dreams

Episode 9

“Carter Law Offices, this is Vivian, may I
help you?” a bright voice answers the phone
Monday morning.

Lori had two days to ponder calling Rob. Her
father’s funeral was on Friday, and she couldn’t
very well call him on Saturday or Sunday. She
spent Saturday mostly alone, in her apartment
on the second floor of their house, thinking
about Percy and Duncan and Ezra and their
words. She thought a lot about what her father
would want her do to. She prayed about it in
church on Sunday, asking for guidance to make
the right decision and strength to follow it
through.

Now, Monday morning, Lori finds herself with
45 minutes of prep time while her students are
in music class. She chose to call Rob, not
wanting to waste any more time.

“Robert Carter, please,” she says.

“May I tell him who is calling?”

“Loretta Thompson.”

“Please hold.”

Lori waits, imagining the receptionist as some
perky blonde, pretty, but probably useless for
anything beyond answering a telephone.

“Robert Carter.” His smooth voice snaps her
out of her daydream.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Carter, I don’t know if you
remember me, but…”

“Of course I remember you, Loretta” he says.

“Only I thought your last name was Thomas, not
Thompson.”

“Beg pardon?”

“When you yelled at your brother,” he says, and
she can hear him grinning over the phone, “you
called him ‘Elliot Thomas,’ so…”

“Thomas is his middle name,” she says.

“Ah. Mystery solved, then. To what do I owe this
pleasure?”

“Well, um, I’m sorry to say that I’m not calling
for pleasurable reasons at all. I would like to
hire you, Mr. Carter.”

“Robert,” he says. “Please call me Robert. Are
you in some kind of trouble?”

“Not yet,” she sighs. “It’s… complicated. My
father passed away recently, and—”

“Yes, Marcus told me. I am sorry, Loretta,” he
says.

“Thank you. Anyway, I’m being told that the
accident that caused his death could have been
prevented, and…”

“And you want recompense?”

“Yes and no,” she says, furrowing her brows,
twisting the phone cord around her finger. “I
want his former coworkers to be safe. I want to
know that the person responsible for ignoring
the requests to service the forklift truck knows
that we know and we won’t sit idly by. I want…”

“You want justice,” Rob says simply.

“Yes. Can you help me?”

“That is what I do,” he says, and there’s
something in his tone, a confidence, almost a
smugness, that reassures her, that tells her that
Robert Carter is the Man for the Job.

“Loretta?” he asks when she doesn’t say
anything.

“Do you practice that in your mirror at home?”

she blurts. “Oh, I’m s…”

Robert’s laughter cuts off her apology. “Guilty,”
he says, “you caught me.”

“Sorry,” she smiles. “You just sounded a bit like
Superman there, is all.”

“Been practicing enough, then,” he says.

“Loretta, I’d like to meet with you so we can
discuss your case. When would you be
available?”

“I’m done here at school at 2:45. I can be to
your office by 3:15, probably.”

“You’re in school?”

“I’m a teacher.”

“Oh. Right. You just look very youthful, so…”

“I teach kindergarten at Lincoln.”

“No confusing you with the students, then.”

“So far, so good,” she says.

“Oh, what’s your father’s name? I’d like to do a
some research today before you arrive.”

“Thomas Thompson.”

“Middle name?”

“Ezekiel.”

“And where did he work?”

“Alined Paper Corporation. In the warehouse.”

“They take him to Baptist Memorial?”

“Yes.”

“Got it. 3:15, then. I’ll be expecting you,” he
says.

“Thank you, Rob,” she says, and hangs up the
phone. She sits and stares at the shiny black
telephone for a minute. That was either very
smart or very stupid, Lori. Only the Lord knows
which right now.

But when she walks back to her classroom,
neither her feet nor her heart feel as heavy.