The Street Lawyer

With tax returns in hand, Mister begins drilling Michael Brock on his earnings and donations from the year before, whether he was ever hungry, and whether he ever slept outside. Mister condemns Michael and the others for not helping people without homes and for not truly seeing them. He then repeats the process with the other eight lawyers in the room. Although Michael makes attempts to cushion the blow of the amounts of money they’ve made, the total still comes to around $3 million. Once Mister hears this figure, he drills everyone on how much of that went to specific help for people without homes, like soup kitchens, shelters, and clinics; the answer is nothing. By this time, more cops and lots of ambulances have arrived and circle the building.

Dusk falls, and Mister is hungry, so he instructs Rudolph via speakerphone to order enough soup and bread for everyone from his favorite mission. As they wait for the food, a helicopter arrives and Michael wonders why. Umstead begs Mister to let him use the bathroom, but instead Mister makes him pee in a nearby vase. Then he moves everyone, himself included, to the conference table.

As they continue waiting for the food, Mister mumbles the phrase “Who are the evictors?” (20). Everyone is confused; then he adds, “Not only do you ignore the homeless, you help put them in the streets” (20). Still, no one knows what he is talking about, but they nod and agree.

The food arrives, and Mister negotiates with Umstead to retrieve it safely, but just before Umstead closes the door to the room, a sniper shoots Mister in the head. Everyone except Michael flees, but he is too stunned to move. Michael realizes he is not hurt but has Mister’s blood and brain fluid on his shirt.

Immediately after the incident, Michael is taken to the building’s gym, where he is scrutinized by several doctors, who determine he is not in shock. Michael wonders where his wife, Claire, is, and his secretary, Polly, informs him that she has been trying to reach her at the hospital where she is an intern. Michael remarks that Polly is aware of his deteriorating marriage. The doctors release Michael and suggest he take the next day off. Polly drives him home so he can avoid the reporters waiting in front of the building. On the ride home, Michael relives the incident with Mister in his head, and realizes he has no idea what Mister wanted, but believes that he was not going to kill the lawyers. Polly drops him off at his apartment, which is dark because Claire is not home.

Michael reminisces about his relationship with Claire. They met in DC when Michael was just out of Yale and starting work with Drake & Sweeney. Claire, an East Coaster with an important and well connected family, was finishing her degree at American University. Michael worked long hours trying to prove himself at the firm. Claire tolerated the situation at first, but by the end of their first year, Claire was unhappy. Claire enrolled in med school and dove into her work; time went on, they both spent most of their time away from each other, and they grew apart. Michael expresses regret about how their relationship has devolved, and he feels especially lonely and needy because of the trauma he has just experienced. He begins drinking and sulking alone.

Claire eventually arrives home, and she seems concerned about Michael, telling him she knows about what happened. She unapologetically adds that she was in the middle of a surgery on a child. She asks him if he wants to talk about Mister, but he declines, claiming he needs silence.

Michael awakens in the middle of the night, startled by a nightmare. Claire is awake as well, and they finally talk about the incident with Mister. They cook breakfast and eat together before she has to leave for work. On the news, they learn that Mister is a 45-year-old Vietnam veteran named DeVon Hardy. The news describes him as an unhoused man with a record, no family, and no apparent motive. Claire drives Michael to work and they make plans to have lunch together at the hospital.

At Drake & Sweeney, Michael checks the conference room where he and the others were hostages; it is clean and restored to its previous decor, as though nothing happened. He skims the article about the holdup in the Washington Post and learns more about DeVon Hardy’s background, discovering that Hardy was recently evicted from his housing in an old warehouse. The article also introduces Michael to Mordecai Green, the director of a city legal clinic, who will become a key character in the novel.

Arthur Jacobs, CEO of Drake & Sweeney, calls a meeting with Michael and the other ex-hostages to video their statements in preparation for the lawsuit he assumes will come from Hardy’s family. Michael attempts to focus on his work, but he cannot shake the feeling that his work is no longer important. He finally leaves the office, knowing he will miss the meeting with Arthur but too troubled by the fact that no one cares about Hardy.

His drive takes him to the 14th Street Legal Clinic, where Mordecai is the director. Michael’s in-person introduction to Mordecai happens as he steps out of his office and yells across the room in his booming voice and intimidating presence.

Mordecai is skeptical of Michael at first, accusing him of “slumming it” after seeing his business card (38). Michael asks Mordecai about DeVon Hardy, and after some tension and skepticism on Mordecai’s part, he confirms that Hardy was indeed evicted recently, along with all the other inhabitants of the warehouse, when a company called River Oaks (who retains Drake & Sweeney as legal representation) bought the building. Mordecai adds that the eviction may not have been entirely legal because Hardy and others were reportedly paying rent, which would mean they were tenants, not squatters, and thus afforded more rights. Michael thanks Mordecai for his time and they agree to keep in touch.

After he leaves the legal clinic, Michael opts to drive around DC in the middle of a snowstorm in order to avoid both his office and his empty apartment. He finally returns to the office in late afternoon, ignores his messages, and begins researching the eviction, starting with River Oaks. He learns that Braden Chance, a real estate lawyer for Drake & Sweeney, is handling the case, which gives Michael access to the case’s retired files via the firm’s data system. He scrutinizes all the information he can find on River Oaks and the eviction, and then he visits Braden Chance in his office, hoping to get a look at the current file. Braden’s responses to Michael’s inquiries about the case are abrupt and curt at first, but he becomes noticeably agitated and defensive over the file, which makes Michael suspicious that he is hiding something.

Michael finally connects with Claire around 9:00 p.m., and they argue over who is more entitled to be tired because of their job. This is an old, recurring fight, according to Michael. Before he can leave to pick her up, Mordecai calls to assure him DeVon Hardy’s blood tests were negative for HIV. After they hang up, Michael gets lost in thought about how much he loves his office and how different he and Mordecai are. He is ashamed that he has spent years being unabashedly greedy while Mordecai has spent his time helping less fortunate people. Claire calls and reminds him she is waiting, so he dashes out to meet her. He remarks that he’s not bothered by the fact that he has ruined another one of their nights together.

In the morning, Claire and Michael drink coffee together. After some brief banter, he drops the news that he is traveling to Memphis to visit his parents for a few days; Claire seems unfazed. He drives her to work, and she exits the car with no sign of affection or concern. Michael sees their interactions as proof that their marriage is over and dreads telling his parents.

Michael describes his parents as upper-class conservatives who live on a golf course. He explains that his mother was devastated by his brother’s divorce, which foreshadows her worried and anxious response to Michael when he arrives without Claire. Her prodding questions drive him to tell them about the impending divorce, which makes him uncomfortable. To redirect his mother’s attention, he tells them the story of Mister, leaving out parts he knows will upset her. She expresses great concern about his welfare in DC, which she sees as a dangerous city.

Later, Michael plays golf with his dad, planning to tell him about his wishes to leave Drake & Sweeney. Michael narrates that his father always preached goals, hard work, and productivity, always toward the ultimate end of extreme prosperity with little concern for others along the way. Not surprisingly, he does not take seriously Michael’s claim of wanting a different life, brushing it off by telling him he just needs some time off.

Michael returns home to an empty apartment and learns that Claire has gone to Providence to visit her family. He assumes she is also telling her family about the failed marriage, and he takes a walk, despite the freezing temperatures. He considers going to a music club, but then ruminates on how old and tired he feels and realizes that is no longer his scene. Dejected, he grabs a sandwich, goes back home, and eats alone in the dark.

Mordecai interrupts Michael’s reverie with a call asking for help at a short-handed emergency shelter, and Michael immediately heads over to meet him. Upon entering the shelter, Michael is stunned by the number of people there and the frantic pace of activity. He quickly begins making sandwiches and listening to Mordecai’s stories about the lives of the people they serve and the standard operating procedures of various shelters and kitchens. As the night continues, Mordecai continues to enlighten Michael, and the more Michael learns, the more conflicted he feels. He has compassion for the people in the shelter, but he also still identifies with Drake & Sweeney. Toward the end of the night, he meets Miss Dolly, one of the founding members of the establishment, who tells him that she never gets used to seeing people living like that, and that it hurts her, but that feeding and helping them keeps her going.

A few hours later, after most people have eaten, Mordecai and Michael finally rest and have coffee and soup. They sit at a folding table in the sanctuary, amid hundreds of sleeping bodies, which makes Michael uncomfortable and again causes him to question his identity. Mordecai announces that he plans to stay overnight in case anything happens; Michael does not want to sleep there, but he is also afraid to leave the building alone. They continue talking, and Michael learns that Mordecai has a wife and three sons, one of whom died because of street gangs ten years prior.

While Mordecai is talking to the Reverend, Michael offers some cookies to a small child nestled with his mother and three younger siblings, one of whom is an infant. He talks with the boy, Ontario, and eventually begins helping his mother with the baby. Meanwhile, Mordecai moves around and keeps the peace. Michael becomes fond of the family and stays with them for hours, continuing to question his identity, finally leaving around 3:00 a.m. He is surprised to find his Lexus still parked where he left it, unharmed and covered in snow.