Free The Second Trial by Rosemarie Boll

served apple pie with vanilla ice cream, he was able to look up and take note of the others. The adults had kept up the fiction of an ordinary family dinner, but no one would look Danny in the eye. Like him, Jennifer remained quiet. Take a picture and put it in the family album , Danny thought. A picture is worth a thousand words.
    Grandpa started clearing the table. Grandma turned to Jennifer and said, “Why don’t you go downstairs and pack up your things to go home. You probably want to sleep in your own bed tonight. You too, Danny. There are some clothes down there you should take with you.”
    Danny had never been particularly close to his sister. There were pictures in the photo albums showing them playing together when Jennifer was young, and of course the whole family on vacations, but once he started kindergarten neither of them had had much time for the other. Jennifer was what he and his friends called a girly-girl – she seemed happy to play with dolls in front of a TV tuned to her favorite shows. She said she wanted to play on soccer and baseball teams, but she never joined. She stuck to Mom. He spent more time with Dad. Their lives didn’t often intersect.
    Jen sat on the far side of the bed and started twirling her hair around and around her index finger. Danny knew her nervous habit. He had no idea where to start or what to say.
    â€œSo. What happened?” she asked.
    â€œDidn’t they tell you?”
    â€œI heard Mom crying, so I stayed in the TV room.”
    Her answer didn’t much surprise him. She was good at avoiding unpleasant things – like Dad losing his temper at her or Mom.
    â€œThey say Dad’ll be out of jail next week.”
    She paused. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
    â€œI don’t know,” he shrugged. “I guess it depends.”
    There was a long silence as they both considered what it might mean for each of them.
    â€œSoooo…are they still getting divorced?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œSo they’ll be divorced and I won’t have to live with Dad? Maybe I won’t have to see him much.”
    He stared at his sister. No , he thought, they’ll be divorced but I’ll still get to see lots of Dad . “We’re going to have to move,” he said.
    She started. “I don’t want to move,” she replied.
    â€œNeither do I,” he said. “Neither do I.”

Chapter 12
    Monday
    His mom gripped the steering wheel tightly. Danny heard her take a steadying breath as she drove away from Grandma and Grandpa’s. He rolled down his window and gestured at Jennifer to do the same. Cool evening air swept through the car, and Buddy jumped from side to side, sticking his head out the windows, black ears flapping and nose twitching. Danny pretended to scold him. Busying himself with the dog meant he didn’t have to look at his mom.
    Although it was almost 8:30, the sun still promised two hours of light when Mom pulled into the garage. She parked beside Dad’s black SUV. She’d driven it only a couple of times since Dad went to jail, mainly in the winter when the roads were bad with snow and ice. It still had Danny’s hockey gear in it. A couple of times she’d asked him to put it away, but he hadn’t. Mom stopped asking. When Dad’s secretary had called about the insurance renewal on the SUV, his mother had let it lapse and removed the license plates.
    Danny glanced at his equipment. He guessed Dad would keep the SUV and Mom would get the car. And he’d be using his hockey gear again by Christmas.
    Mom punched in the security code and opened the door. He and Jennifer dropped their overnight bags in the laundry room, while Mom retreated to the kitchen to make coffee. The red light on the answering machine blinked for attention. She deleted the message without listening to it and dropped onto a kitchen chair.
    The kids hurried to their rooms and shut their