Commitments Read Free Page B

apprehension with an act of will, brina drew her cashmere topcoat higher on her neck crunching on the snow-crusted walk, adv ced toward the steps. Once up and through a pair of ocuous-looking oak doors, she found herself ronted by a trio of prison personnel who looked any ing but innocuous in their starched khaki unie, forms and stem expressions. The three were safely _Aji@,@, ensconced in a cubicle behind layers of bullet-proof glass. Approaching the cubicle, she leaned toward its mouthpiece. Again in a conscious act, she projected a voice that sounded steady. ' name is Sabrina Stone. I'm here to see Derek Mcgill.' The guard nearest the speaker studied her. He wasn't a young man, and there was, no hint of a leer in his comprehensive gaze. He studied her coolly and clinically, then asked at last in an authoritative, emotionless voice, ' he expecting you?' '.' The guard to his right began to flip through the pages of a large loose-leaf notebook. He said something to the first guard, who repeated into the mouthpiece, ' Stone?' '.' '
    you a relative?' She shook her head. '?' '.' '
    associate? Media?' ' a friend, I she said. The second guard reached the page he sought. Sabrina watched him draw a slow finger down its length, pause once, then again before going on, then speak to the first guard, who announced, ''re not on his visitors list.' She hadn't known of a visitors list. In fact she knew nothing whatsoever of prison protocol save what the visiting hours were - and that-she learned through the call she'd made from a pay phone earlier that day. Visiting Derek had been on impulse. She'd thought about him often in the eighteen months since held appeared on her terrace, but she hadn't envisioned having the opportunity, much less the guts, to seek him out - until she left New York the day before. ' that mean I can't see him?' she asked, nervously fingering the leather strap of her shoulder bag. '
    means we have to check.' The guard tossed his chin toward a long wooden bench behind and to Sabrina's right. ' down. We'll let you know." Sabrina envisioned a review of her character that would take hours. '
    I have ... time is limited. I have to be back in New York tonight.' The guard let the firm set of his mouth speak for directed another, more pointed glance at the which was the last thing of creating a stir, wanted to do, she had no choice but to obey. she sat and watched and waited, all the while trying t e h butterflies in her stomach. Sitting was uncomfortable. The bench was hard, and .::, .@*,tween the drive from New York to Vermont the day d .. Wore, and Vermont to Massachusetts today, she'd , sitting far more than usual. Her bottom ached. Watching was discouraging. The building lost its once she'd passed through its doors, and the steady scrutiny of the guards was unnerving. Several #her visitors straggled in after her, each was ques
    "U"T" ..,"',ed briefly, then allowed to pass through each of @%A-iee sets of bars. She forced the image of the bars her mind and tried to do the same for the visitors. @,-,There was a similarity to them, a coarse, downtrodden which said something about the men they visited k
    @,"'i.,7-Dere's current companions - which gave her a chill. -1@"."j So she dropped her eyes to her lap and focused on , e suede skirt she'd worn for warmth, on the hand-' leather of her hip-hugging belt and the gentle -",I,*,-ds of the oversized sweater it cinched. She studied pr neatly filed nails and her Floientined wedding band These the stylish gold watch that circled her wrist. s were her link to another, more genteel world, ",and looking at them, she could almost block out her present suff oundings. The waiting was the worst. if sitting was uncomfortable and watching discouraging, waiting was a torjj;,%ment. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes - each minute meant time to think, and thinking about ,. what she was doing made her uneasy. Impulsive Al'y", decisions were just fine as long as they could be carried out