“I think you know why you’re here.”

I sat in the center of Aditya Bethari’s desk. Too close to her could’ve been seen as inappropriate; too far, and I’d look like I was about to make a break for it. I felt confident with trotting into the center of her desk and taking a seat on her glasses case. It was a long oval, smooth and black, kinda like the city trying to make their bus benches more artsy. I looked up at the thick hands folded before Aditya’s thick lips, at the black, black, black eyes staring down at me. “Yes, I know why I’m here.”

She paused, staring. “Hm. Regardless, for the record and all purposes of decorum in this office, I must restate clearly, to avoid any potential for misunderstanding, the precipitate circumstances that compelled you to this office.” Her hands unlaced and took up a small pile of papers, two stapled documents of two pages each. She held them up on either side of her face. “I have the testimony of Mrs. Juanita King, as well as the supporting testimony of Mr. Percy Caldwell.”