"No, mom," I answered. "They can't take them off."
She began weeping again. She couldn't stand seeing her only child chained up like an animal and I wasn't about to tell her that my ankles were normally shackled as well. I held her hand as she continued crying.
"Mom," I said weakly. "Everything's going to work out, alright?"
She sat looking down at my restrained hands while hopelessly shaking her head. None of us could be certain of the outcome of my case, but it was certain that I was not going to simply walk away. Every act carries consequences, but not knowing what those consequences are is the hardest part of going through the criminal justice system and waiting for those consequences can be as brutal as it is lengthy. But I had plenty of time to wait.
As I tried unsuccessfully to
