The Pastor's Heart - By Desiree Future Page 0,17
The prosecutor had begun her rant as she stood with her arms folded.
This is what Sinclair despised the most, rude attorneys. “First off, I never said I was an expert, you did.”
“Answer the question Ms. Madison.” The prosecutor shouted at her.
“Objection!” The defense attorney jumped to her feet. “She is badgering the witness and Ms. Madison was not called to be an expert witness, but rather to be a character witness.”
“Sustained. For the record Ms. Madison is not to be considered an expert.” The judge said as he turned to Sinclair. “You may continue answering the other questions now.”
She took a deep breath before she began. “You are absolutely right Ms. Tartron; I don’t have any formal education. And if you must know, I only have a high school diploma.” Sinclair heard a gasp from someone in the courtroom.
“I opted not to take drugs to wash away the pain I felt from my daily struggles of being homeless. I opted not to commit crimes just so I could have a warm bed and three square meals a day; instead I slept in a cardboard box in an alley. Refusing to sell my body for food, I ate out of the trash or simply went hungry. Determined not to let my circumstances become my future, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on to help myself. When you checked out my background, you should have dug deeper because you would have found that I was a foster child myself and I too aged out the system. I might not have a degree, but my experience outweighs any degree that could ever be bought.” Sinclair had reached back so far in her life that she had to fight back her own tears.
There was not a dry eye in the courtroom, including both Ronald and his attorney. Realizing she was defeated, the prosecutor had no further questions. Sinclair was excused from the courtroom and went straight to see the judge in his chambers because he too was touched by her story.
Kingston was blown away at what Sinclair had just revealed. He now knew why she had rarely spoken about her past, because it hurt her so much, yet she put it on display to help a stranger out. He thought to himself she was truly a special woman indeed and she would make a perfect fit in his life.
THE BOARDROOM
“Here ye, here ye, the Carter Market Monthly Business meeting will now commence. I will note for the record all board members are in attendance. Calvin Carter, Louise Carter, Jamison Carter, Chelsea Carter and Kingston Carter,” the brunette haired, blue eyed woman said as she took her seat with her note pad in hand.
The conference room was lavished with a long mahogany table. Surrounding it were leather chairs that had high backs to make the long meetings comfortable for everyone. Placed in the center of the table were fresh flowers straight from Louise’s garden. She believed every table should have a nice inviting center piece to make people smile .
“This meeting is to follow up on our opening a new store.” Calvin said as he sat at the head of the table in his normal chair. With his wife Louise right beside; him, he continued.
His children began applauding as his secretary Selma wrote down the notes of the meeting.
“This is a huge step for us because it means we can bring more to the community. It means that Carter Market will soon become a household name like the other food store chains.” Calvin proudly said as he took a sip of his green tea. “So where are we are far as finding a location and the finances? Jamison, tell me what you got?”
“Well,” Jamison replied pulling out a map. “I thought if we focus our attention in locating a building near or around the Metro system we can profit more because of the public transportation. But on the negative side the cost of that would be much higher.”
“I totally agree with you there, son. Financially speaking we would have to determine whether investing a ton of money to be near the Metro is more feasible than investing less money but not be accessible to public transportation,” Louise added in.
“What if we built a smaller store but made it a specialty store?” Chelsea piped in as she began using her hands and gesturing as she was known for doing. “Like where you can get three or four different kinds of Fig Newton’s