“We’ll have plenty of time to talk about all this,” I say, “when you come home Thanksgiving.”
“Thanksgiving weekend,” Sarah says promptly, “I want us to drive over to Bear Creek and talk to Dade’s great-grandmother if she’s still alive. I know you say it’s gossip that your grandfather had a child by her, but I want us to check it out.”
How did this conversation get so quickly out of control What has gotten into her head?
“That’s fifty-year old gutter talk,” I say, knowing the hold on my temper is going.
“The last thing that poor old woman needs is to be stirred up.”
“Then I’ll go myself.”
“You will not!” I yell, horrified. I can just see Sarah running from house to house telling my old classmates she’s looking for one of our relatives.
“Dad, I’ve got to go,” she says.
“I’m almost late for work. We’ll talk about this later.”
Great. I don’t know who is worse Professor Birdbath or Paula Crawford.
“Okay,” I say, suddenly feeling weary.
“Maybe we can have dinner one night. I’ll call you.”
“I love you. Daddy.”
“I love you, too, babe,” I say, grateful for small favors.
9
By the time I pull onto the campus for the WAR rally (a little late, so Sarah, if I see her, won’t be as likely to introduce me to anyone my mind keeps playing a tape of me being called up to debate one of the speakers), I am feeling better. It has been a profitable afternoon. Besides getting the statements dropped off, I now have free office space. Barton has taken pity on me and graciously offered the free use of his library while I am working on the case in Fayetteville. I even have my own key. After an hour’s wait at Memorial Hospital I found out that the nurse who examined Robin is on vacation this week and won’t be at the hearing Friday. I’ve also learned that this board does not have the power to subpoena witnesses.
Bliss Young, the lawyer who had tried to tell me how the “J” Board worked last week, was willing to cover much of the same ground for me again, and this time I actually listened. If for some reason Robin chooses not to appear, they can’t make her. Additionally, Young told me to re member that I could advise Dade to challenge any of the board for bias. Members have recused themselves from hearing a case once they have been forced to admit they have too many connections with one of the parties. Finally Young told me that while the matter is being ap pealed, all action is stayed, which means Dade plays in the Alabama game, even if they issue a decision as soon as we finish the hearing. That should cheer him up considerably
If I worried about being singled out, I shouldn’t have.
There must be close to six or seven hundred people gathered in front of the Student Union. I am amazed. Any other time on this campus you’d only find this kind of enthusiasm for a pep rally. Doesn’t anyone remember the Hogs are playing Alabama this week? When we played Texas while I was in school, the campus was in a frenzy the whole week before the game. I do not see Sarah as I try to make myself inconspicuous at the edge of the crowd. To blend in a little better, I have taken off my tie and have worn a sports coat. The weather is cool and dry perfect football weather. The women are mostly in jeans and sweatshirts (there don’t seem to be many sorority types here), but the crowd seems to be about a quarter male, many of whom are professor types, though not many my age. Inevitably, there are a couple of TV cam eras and several reporters.
The speaker, a blond woman with a short haircut, who is wearing jeans and tennis shoes (despite my best intentions, I can’t help wondering if she’s a lesbian Sarah would drive a spike in my eye if I admitted this to her), is exhorting the crowd to write or call the university administration to expel Dade. “… He has been charged by the state of Arkansas with a crime of violence, and yet de spite having full authority to remove him immediately if the safety of other individuals is at stake, the university allows him to remain on campus. Why? Because the University of Arkansas doesn’t care about what happens to women if there’s an important athletic contest at stake.
This is the reality of where women are in this state, in the South, in this nation which gives only lip service to the notion of equality..
As she harangues the crowd (impressively, I concede her delivery is appealing and well paced despite the scratchy sound system), I tell a male nearby that I just arrived and don’t know who the speaker is.
“Paula Crawford,” he whispers.
“She’s a law student.”
My mouth flies open. What happened to her hair? Is Sarah going to chop off her beautiful, thick, curly mane, too? Why do they do this? It’s a form of mutilation, as far as I’m concerned. I turn back to Ms. Crawford, who hasn’t paused for breath.
“It is a question of our values as human beings. A woman cries that she has been raped, and no one at the school takes her seriously. But we take football seriously at this school and we take basketball seriously at this school, and if anything jeopardizes the well-being of those sports, another part of the administration acts very quickly, indeed. The first official response on this campus that was taken after Robin Perry said she was raped came from the athletics department, which says volumes about what we value at this university
As she talks, I look in vain for Sarah. She must be here, but it is too dark and crowded to see her. I wonder if she is going to speak. Surely not. On the other hand, who better than a recent convert? Suddenly, Robin Perry is being introduced, and the crowd, which had been standing in rapt attention, bursts into applause. “… enormous amount of courage for her to be here tonight and come forward publicly,” Paula Crawford is saying. I can’t see anyone on the stage, and then a tall, blond girl appears on the steps beside Paula. Thin, but obviously attractive even at this distance, she is wearing stone chino pants and one of those classy barn jackets I’ve seen on some of the wealthier-looking white students. Robin has the physical grace of a model. Though Dade has described her as a good speaker, tonight, not unsurprisingly, she seems al most too shy and nervous to do more than nod at the crowd. Finally, she manages to say, “I want to thank everybody for their support. I can’t tell you how many other girls have told me that they have been a victim of date rape since this has occurred. It is a crime that most girls still do not talk about, but it happens much more frequently than we are aware. Thank you for being here” As the crowd claps enthusiastically, Paula whispers into her ear. Robin shakes her head and disappears into the crowd off to the left. Paula resumes talking, and then introduces another girl who begins to talk about rape statistics, and with her droning, whining voice she immediately loses the crowd’s interest. I am worried now that I will be spotted by a reporter I recognize and decide it is time for me to leave.
Back in my room, I leave a message for Dade on his answering machine that he should bring his friends to Barton’s law office, and I read off his address. He picks up just as I am hanging up. He sounds anxious again, and tells me that he can’t find Eddie Stiles and hasn’t found anything out about Robin Perry that I don’t already know.
I reassure him that Eddie Stiles is not an essential witness Friday and ask him to keep trying to find out any thing about Robin.
“How was practice?” I ask, trying to calm him a bit.
“It was hard to concentrate at first,” he says, “but I got into it.”
I tell him he will be playing in the Alabama game, which has the desired effect of pepping him up a bit. I wish I could tell him that all he had to worry about was playing football, but I can’t. Somehow, I’m supposed to turn this boy into a lawyer between now and Friday morning. How ridiculous! I’m not even going to try.