My face was radiant, free of the quiet tension and defensive isolation that had shadowed my eyes when I walked the halls of Del Mar Terrace Elementary as an unrepresented mother.
Around my left wrist, resting easily against the rolled linen cuff, was Arthur Mercer Senior’s restored 1956 Admiralty Gold Chronometer, its mechanical second hand sweeping with that clean, rhythmic, sixty-cycle *tack… tack… tack* that had governed fifty years of honest labor.
Beside my chair on the cedar decking, fast asleep on a braided wool rug with his heavy golden head resting across my boots, was Barnaby.
And beside Barnaby, his dark muzzle resting contentedly over his paws, was Scout—now formally retired from active field operations, his bronze retirement medal gleaming on his collar.
Under the comprehensive military court-martial decrees, high treason convictions, and civil asset forfeiture settlements finalized in the United States District Court in Washington:
– Former Chief Justice Arthur Sterling-Vance was convicted on sixty-four counts of High Treason under Article Three of the United States Constitution, Conspiracy to Sabotage Strategic Defense Infrastructure under Title 42, and Premeditated Attempted Murder under Title 18.
