All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

“You told me the story that would be better for me on that day. Friends should do that for friends.”

Innocence raises us all up.

“I know my mom’s story now. It’s about a young driver, a hailstorm, an infamously dangerous intersection, and a big mistake. Also, a confession . . . and a death.” I say the last words quietly. “That’s a list of true things. And after all those things happened, my mom was alone and scared and had nobody to fight for her.”
I look at each one of the parole board members. Then I say, “But now she has me.”

“If you think caring for him and raising him makes her complicit, then all right. She is! Perry is goodness and light. You should know.”

Birds fly high and birds fly low. When birds fly out, we watch them go . . .

“You drafted me!”
“I wasn’t close enough to draft,” I say. “Until I passed you.”

They were laughing and sort of lovey about it

Who is the boss of him, anyway

“You’re one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Perry Cook.”

“He should put a day-old sock in it