Bloomsday searches his mind for the correct approach. He silently walks his client out of the chaotic courtroom, filled with anxious people waiting for the judge to appear, down the main hall to a quiet spot near the east windows. He leans on the radiator and gazes out, down fifteen floors to vast construction site: the Burnham Plan, resurrected.
"I am not judging you," he says. "But I feel the need to put as fine a point on your situation as I can before the judge sentences you. I want you to know, I see the effort you've put into your sobriety since we met. You actually look like a different person, you look like more of a person, and I think you're honest-to-God remorseful for what happened that night. I think you've been transformed by this horrible process. Right now, I'm a fan of yours.
"But I have to prepare you for this: when your case is called, everyone in the room with think you're despicable. I believe that we're all more than the worst things we've ever done, but most people in the room will find what you did a sickening display of the worst people can be.
"This is no DUI accident where someone got killed, thank God. But in one way, it's worse than that. DUI's are reckless, thoughtless acts. When you beat a dog to death in a drunken rage, you show malevolent intention. You show something dark and horrible about your personality to the world. Maybe it's your drunk personality, which I wouldn't consider your true self, but if people mostly know you by how you act when you're drunk, and the things you do when your drunk, then, I'm not sure what other self you expect others to see.
"Take it from a guy whose father drowned in a sea of cheap vodka: you can never drink again. That's it. Over. Done. Alcohol must always remain in your past, now. If you put it in your present or your future, you will kill someone.
"I'm not your friend. I'm not your priest. I'm not your AA sponsor. I'm your lawyer. I look out for your legal interests. I'm not sure what I'm going to say when the case gets called, but I'm going to try to get you through this as painlessly as possible. Hopefully, right now, I've awakened you to how you should see your own situation."
Bloomsday sees the bulldozers down below, peeling the surface, digging deep into the ancient earth of Clevelandia. Dump trucks carry away what must be removed. "You're going to have to lay a new foundation, and build from there."
