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simply had to move. The usually
polite, soft spoken woman sat up in her chair with a rarely seen
kind of grit and made the most audacious command:
    “ Forge it.”
    With the next stroke of that pen, my
life was changed forever. The plan was now in motion. They came to
get me from my cell that day.
    “The judge wants to see
you,” the guard barked. “It’s on special notice.”
    I went through all of the
usual twists and turns of my journey from cell-to-judge. This time
the atmosphere was different. I could sense it in my bones and feel
it in my endless trembling. Soon, I saw Papa in the corner of the
room and felt my heart rapidly thud. I witnessed endless pain in
his withered eyes. The judge entered, wearing his bright sash and
ominous crest.
    “Elissa McClellan,”
the judge started, taking his seat. “You’ve come before me 7 times
in utter silence. It’s obvious you can hear. In my opinion, you should
be casteless!”
    Casteless. I looked over to my father and closed my eyes.
The next words I heard caused my heart to nearly stop
beating.
    “But, there has been a change. Your
fine has been paid and you are to be freed immediately.”
    The words almost didn’t seem real.
What was going on? Who would do this? What was this – a miracle of
God himself?
    “Paid by whom?” I confoundedly asked;
the first words I’d uttered since coming here.
    The doors in the back of the courtroom
jetted open. A tall, darkly-complexioned boy wheeled a familiar old
woman into the room. Two familiar ladies walked closely behind.
Both were dressed in vibrant, lacy dresses with exaggerated bustles
and veiled hats. They came up the center aisle and stopped before
the arbitrator.
    “Your honor,” the old woman started.
“We thank you for allowing us to be here and state our case. You
have such wonderful flexibility.”
    As soon as I recognized them I my
excitement quiet down. They were my mother’s family – Grandmamma,
Wren, and Beeti. This was more than a simple bail-out. This was
more than anything I’d ever known or seen. I knew inside that there
had to be more to it than a kind, selfless act – it had to be a
proposition with strings attached.
    “These women have come to
me today with a special proposition in mind that would seem to
satisfy both your wishes and those of the court.” The judge stated
bluntly.
    As if they knew anything
of my wishes at all. The only thing that I wished now was that my
life had been different – and I had realized that to be impossible.
So, I had stopped wishing a long time ago. My grandmother suddenly
looked over at me pityingly. It was as if she could read my heart
and mind from simply looking at me. The judge urged someone from
the party to come up to the podium and make their case. Wren
volunteered.
    “Thank you Your
Honor,” she told him, unfolding a paper and reading from it
directly. “As you know, our decision to pay the fine is without
discretion. Though, we propose to the court that long with the fine
being paid: you allow Elissa to go free and return home with us. ”
    That was it. I knew
it. They were here to steal me. To force me to become one of them.
    “Wait –” I
interjected, “But I still have not made my choice. I can’t
simply leave with
them if I haven’t chosen to be part of the
3 rd caste!”
    The judge knocked
his mallet against the table and demanded silence. Wren continued.
“Well, your honor – what we propose is special and... fitting of
the situation. My niece has been subjected to tremendous hardship
over the last few months. The girl’s mother – my sister Rose –
passed tragically last spring. Since then the girl has fallen ill
from the grief and the starvation that has
plagued our land. Look at her! Can you not see that she is
sick?”
    Technically, I
wasn’t that sick.
Yes, my face was pale and hollow from hunger. But, I was no longer
near death. Una had helped nurse me back to health, and the
jailhouse menu actually wasn’t that bad. It was a