The ride back to the Whitworth neighborhood was very similar for two of the people in Peter\u2019s car. Peter sat alone in the front and said nothing. Casey giggled, talked, and laid her head in her mother\u2019s lap. But this time Gwen\u00a0sat quietly with tears in her eyes and desperate thoughts of escape in her heart.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This means Casey was definitely<\/em> not in a carseat. I mean I get that this was published in 1996, but didn\u2019t they have carseat laws by then?<\/p>\nWhen Casey understood that she was not going home with her mommy, she began to cry inconsolably. Gwen was obviously shaken as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And once again I say, can we please<\/em> hear Casey\u2019s voice? She\u2019s four, not two, and Farris makes it clear that she does<\/em> talk. I want to get inside her head, to see her as more than a prop. I want to hear what she\u2019s going through, in her words<\/em>.<\/p>\nPeter began to doubt whether it had been a good idea to let Gwen come along with Casey. Maybe he should have just waited until winning on Tuesday. But Dr. Schram had insisted on the ability to observe the two of them together, and so it\u00a0was simply unavoidable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Okay so first of all, it\u2019s simply false that Dr. Schram wanting to observe them together meant Peter had to drive\u00a0them both there together in the same car<\/em>. They could easily have had Brenda, the foster mother, bring Casey. But secondly, I wish Farris had told us earlier\u2014say, at the ex parte hearing\u2014that Dr. Schram had insisted on observing them both together . Because Dr. McGuire saw them separately I did not understand why, at that hearing, Peter took for granted that they needed to go to Dr. Schram together. Telling us this up front would have cleared up some confusion.<\/p>\nAfter Casey had gone inside and the door was closed, Peter saw that the crying was getting worse so he gently put his arm around Gwen\u2019s shoulder and said, \u2018It won\u2019t be long \u2019til Tuesday. I\u2019ll never let them take her from you again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Farris had not told us that Gwen was crying too, so this confused me for a moment. How could Peter tell that Casey\u2019s crying was getting worse after the door was closed, I wondered? But more to the point, wouldn\u2019t it be really unprofessional for a lawyer to say something like this?<\/em><\/p>\nIn his review of Tim LaHaye\u2019s Left Behind, Fred Clark of the Slacktivist points out continually that while LaHaye describes Buck Williams as the greatest investigative reporter of all time<\/em>, Buck is actually a really crappy<\/em> reporter. What is going on here appears to be similar. Farris constantly tells us that Peter is this absolutely amazing first-rate lawyer<\/em>, but in fact he has had so many ethical lapses in these first 115 pages that he really should be reported to the bar. It\u2019s a bit jarring.<\/p>\nOf course, in this specific instance Farris acknowledges\u00a0this:<\/p>\n
These were not the words of a lawyer. Lawyers, at least honest lawyers like Peter, would never promise victory at this point. But Peter\u2019s words came from the heart of a man who simply wanted to protect and comfort a woman in distress.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So is Peter an honest lawyer, or isn\u2019t he? Whatever Farris\u2019s justifications, Peter is speaking as Gwen\u2019s lawyer, and doing something Farris admits an \u201chonest lawyer\u201d would never do. But still we\u2019re told Peter\u2019s an honest lawyer. Okay then.<\/p>\n
As they drive home, Peter\u00a0wants to talk to Gwen about what Dr. Schram told him, but Gwen objects.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter, it\u2019s just too hard for me to talk about the case right now. Can\u2019t we talk about something else? Anything. Anything to keep my mind off Tuesday and my fears and worries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSure. That\u2019s fine,\u201d Peter said. But he had no idea what to say. After an awkward minute or two, he remembered Aaron\u2019s prompting to share the Gospel with his new client. He though the could use his time to at least plant a few seeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK. I\u2019ve got an idea. It\u2019s not exactly a light topic, but it\u2019s at last different.\u201d He glanced over at Gwen. Her eyes looked so forlorn that he wanted to stop the car and hold her against his shoulder to let her cry and feel comforted. But he knew better and went on with his plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we went out to lunch on Tuesday, I told you I was a born-again Christian. My faith is something that interests me a lot and I always enjoy hearing about other people\u2019s religious background and experience. Is this OK to talk about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI g-guess,\u201d Gwen stammered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I get the feeling this wasn\u2019t what Gwen had in mind. She tells Peter that she went to church a few times a year as a child, that her mom was Catholic and her dad was Methodist and they dealt with this difference by rarely going to church at all. Peter asks when she last was in a church, which seems like an odd followup. It seems like asking, \u201cSo how about you?\u201d might make more sense. I mean Gwen presumably has her own views, regardless of whether her parents took her to church as a child.<\/p>\n
Anyway, Gwen tells Peter about stepping into a church she came to while out on a walk the past Sunday. If you remember, she mostly worried about being judged for her outfit (she wasn\u2019t) and prayed for a win on Tuesday (which she didn\u2019t get). Peter asks Gwen what she thought and she tells him it reminded her \u201cof a church cam I went to when I was about thirteen or fourtSpeen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was up north of Spokane about thirty miles. I can\u2019t remember the name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRiverside?\u201d Peter suggested.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I think that\u2019s it. How did you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell for one thing, it\u2019s the only camp north of Spokane I know about. Also, it is owned by the sister church that I belong to. I go to Valley Fourth Memorial Church, and the downtown church that originally started our church is Fourth Memorial. They won the camp. Just a lucky guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a pretty good coincidence,\u201d Gwen said. The conversation was having at least one intended effect. She was genuinely focused on something other than her case.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Peter asks her what she remembers from the camp, and she tells him\u00a0she remembers games, songs, swimming, and lectures\u2014\u201cor \u2018sermons\u2019 I guess would be the proper term.\u201d Peter asks her what she thought about the sermons, and this is starting to feel a bit like prying. Gwen says she can\u2019t remember anything \u201cabout wha the men said.\u201d Peter is fishing for something specific here. He wants to know if Gwen made a confession of faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they ever ask you to come forward or raise your hand or anything like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I remember coming forward and saying a prayer of some kind, but it was so long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid anyone ever follow up with you about all this after camp?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think so. My friend who took me to camp kept asking me to come to church with her, but I don\u2019t think I ever did.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Farris doesn\u2019t tell us what Peter is thinking at this point, but I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll hash it over later. The basics is that because Gwen prayed this prayer, she is a Christian. That was her salvation moment. Evangelicals do not tend to believe that you can lose your salvation. However, if a salvation moment is not followed by a changed life, some evangelicals will question whether the conversion was truly heartfelt\u2014and thus whether it counts. I honestly do not know where Farris will fall on this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you like to go to church with me sometime? After all, it is basically the same church that owns the camp you attended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Gwen replied. She was uncomfortable with the idea of going to a church where she didn\u2019t know anyone\u2014anyone except Peter, that is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I don\u2019t want to pressure you. But if you\u2019d like to go, I am sure the time you spend in church might really be a source of comfort for you in light of all this mess.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Your lawyer\u2019s trying to get you to go to church with him the Sunday right before your big hearing, but you know, no pressure<\/em>. Gwen tells Peter she\u2019ll think about it and call him later.<\/p>\nThey drove in silence the rest of the way. Peter flipped on the radio to break the awkwardness. He pulled in the parking garage and stopped behind her car.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well yes. That conversation was indeed awkward. There are plenty of areas of interesting smalltalk that Peter could have explored when Gwen said she didn\u2019t want to talk about her case. Proselytizing is not one of them.<\/p>\n
When they get back to the parking garage and Peter leaves Gwen at her car, he gives her his home phone number and tells her to give him a call if she decides she wants to go to church with him, and to leave a message on his machine if he\u2019s not there and he\u2019ll call back to confirm. Oh\u2014and if she does want to go he\u2019ll pick her up, because for some reason meeting at the church isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n
Details, details details.<\/p>\n
As he walked to the elevator, he said to himself, \u201cIt\u2019s evangelism. It\u2019s not a date. It\u2019s evangelism.\u201d Then he thought of Aaron and Proverbs 21:2: All a man\u2019s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.<\/em> He hit the heel of his hand on the elevator door. I don\u2019t know. I just don\u2019t know what is going on inside of me.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nBecause being a lawyer and evangelizing your client is completely<\/em>\u00a0different from being a lawyer and\u00a0asking your client out. Totally<\/em>. I mean neither of those involve any major ethical problems at all! Just another day on the job for good honest lawyer Peter.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remember that we left Peter and Gwen and Casey at Dr. Schram’s office, where they had just finished their appointment. This week Peter plays chauffeur, dropping Casey off at her foster home and taking Gwen back to her car in the parking garage by his office. The drive is, shall we say, not typical lawyer fare. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-26682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anonymous-tip"],"yoast_head":"\n
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