One visit, one phone call. That was all we were allowed. This, of course, was from Karen Hoyle and Alanna Madison, Social Workers Extraordinaire.

"Your visit has been scheduled for Saturday, December 21," Karen informed Luka and I. "Your visit lasts approximately one half hour – from 10:30 until 11."

I glanced at Luka. That was Jacob's piano lesson with Mrs. O'Leary down on Chestnut Street. We would have to find a sitter for the other two. "We'll be there."

"You can take the B-11 train to Grammercy stop," Alanna Madison interjected. "Then just ask someone for directions."

"Fine," Luka said.

"And you're allowed one phone call at 4:12 this afternoon," Karen Hoyle added. She handed Luka a card with a phone number on it. "Call here and ask for her."

We were sitting in the dining room. Everyone was being very civil. Olivia's trial date was January 4th at St. Lucas County Courthouse. Also in attendance were Olivia's lawyer, Morton Seawhistle, and our lawyer, Sara Nielsen. "Well, if we're finished…" Morton Seawhistle said loudly, "my client needs me."

Morton always speaks this loudly. Maggie, Jacob, and Daniel were still sleeping, however, and Morton's voice was loud enough to wake a bull at a distance of forty feet or so. "Mr. Seawhistle, could you please keep your voice down?"

He gave me a disgusted look.

Maggie came padding into the kitchen, her eyes still filled with sleep. She had dressed herself and was wearing purple leggings and a purple flowered shirt. "Hi, Mags," I said to her.

"Hi, Mom," she answered, and went to the cupboard where we keep the cereal.

"Will Maggie be able to testify?" Sara asked Luka and I.

Luka and I exchanged glances. Maggie hadn't exactly been cognizant the night of the incident. "We'll see," I said. Luka stood to help Maggie with her meds.

Daniel came down before Morton Seawhistle could say anything. Jacob was following him. They were both dressed but didn't look quite awake, as though they'd been jolted from their sleep by something. I wondered what… Morton?
The legal meeting was interrupted momentarily as Luka and I prepared cereal for the boys and bagels for everyone, and gave Daniel his meds. Then we settled Jacob and Daniel with X-Men on the television, and Maggie at the table. She's not allowed to eat in the living room anymore because she threw her bowl at people too much.

"We need her to testify," Sara Nielsen repeated. "She's a key witness."

"We'll see," Luka repeated, just as firmly as Sara had.

"Can you state your name and address?"

"Magdalena Abigail Kovac."

"Where do you live?" Sara tried again, gently.

"124 72nd Street, Chicago, Illinois."

"Who do you live with?"
"Is there a point here, Miss Nielsen?" Morton Seawhistle barked. He was sweating like a pig in July, and he mopped himself with a large hanky.

"Mr. Seawhistle, pipe down or I'll hold you in contempt. Get to the point, Miss Nielsen."

Morton shut up. Sara continued, nodding at Maggie. The Judge, Melanie Walker, smiled.

"With Mom, and Dad, and Olivia and Daniel and Jacob."

"Do you love them?"

"Yes, very much."

In the back row, my mother clenched my hand in hers. She had driven down from Minnesota on New Year's Day.

"Where is your bedroom?"

"Upstairs."

"Do you share a room with Olivia?"

"No."

"How does Olivia treat you?"

"She doesn't like me."

"Why not?"
Maggie hesitated. Her eyes tried to find me. "Because."

"Does Olivia ever want to hurt you?"

"No."

"But if she doesn't like you, how can you be certain?"

"I'm not." Maggie spoke calmly, but she looked terrified.

"Finished, Your Honor." Sara sat down.

The Honorable Judge Melanie Walker nodded. "Mr. Seawhistle, would you like to question the witness?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Mr. Seawhistle stood and approached Maggie. He spoke condescendingly, like he was talking to a preschooler. Somehow, he knew it. He knew Maggie was bipolar and could break apart at any minute. "So your name is Magdalena? I like that name."

From the benches we could see Maggie's lips purse. She hated her given name, and preferred to be called Maggie. "Just like Gam Maggie," she had always said, using her nickname for grandma. To Morton, she said, "I don't."

"Well, I hear you like to be called Maggie."

"Like Gam Maggie."

"Who?"

"My Gam Maggie."

I smiled at Mom.

"Oh. Are you like her?"

"My mom says I am."

My mom's man-friend, Oliver Dutton, took her hand. Although my mom swears they're just friends, I believe otherwise. I'm surprised "Pop-Oliver," as the kids call him, hasn't asked her to marry him yet.

"How?"

"I just am." For a 13-year-old bipolar girl, Maggie was holding her own pretty well. She still hadn't told anyone the real reason she was sitting outside on the steps in 10 degree weather – she was bipolar.

"Well, you must both be pretty," Morton said. "So, Maggie, is your sister Olivia like your Gam Maggie?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Maggie's face flushed, and again her eyes tried to seek me out. Luka, Mom, Pop-Oliver, and I were sitting in a back row. Olivia sat up front at a table by Morton Seawhistle's water pitcher. Daniel was asleep on the bench next to us. Jacob was at Mrs. Lourdes' house; she was a close neighbor of ours. "Because Gam Maggie and I both have stuff wrong with us."

"Like what?" Morton pressed gently.

"Well, sometimes we both get upset – that's called manic – and sometimes we get quiet and hide away from the world. It's an emotional disorder called bipolar." I had taught her well.

My mom clutched my hand and whispered, "She's being very brave."

Morton finished his questions. Then Sara called Olivia to the stand. "Olivia, how do you feel about Maggie?"

"She's my sister." Olivia looked pale and wan in her Grammercy Detention Center jeans and denim shirt, her hair in a braid.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I have to love her."

"But you don't?"

"Leading," Morton said.

"Sustained," Judge Walker said.

"Do you love her?"

"No."

Everyone in the courtroom gasped, and Maggie's eyes grew a size or two. She gripped the table hard, her knuckles turning white. It was taking all of her energy not to stand up and run out of the room.

"She has an emotional disorder that makes it impossible to get along with her. If she's not throwing things at people, she's hiding away from everyone."

"Is it true that Maggie is on medication to help her control these emotional problems?"

"Yes."

"Do you know about this medication?"

"Yes."

In the end, Olivia was convicted of trying to poison Maggie, and was sentenced to three years at Grammercy, two years of volunteering at the Welkey-Stoltzfus Center for Emotionally Disabled Children while living at Grammercy, and four years of community service while living in a half-way house. It all added up to Olivia's teenage years going down the drain. She would be twenty-four before she was finished.