810-10-01
“OK, your turn sweetheart. Thanks for waiting.” The woman at the processing desk looked at her kindly as she called her. She could tell Sidney was petrified. Sidney did as she was told. The woman was wearing a colorful yellow dress and had a warm round face. “Everything is going to be fine, as long as you behave yourself, you have nothing to worry about here, honey, and you will leave happier than you came in.”
Happier than she came in wasn’t a high bar in Sidney’s case, but even if she knew she would be happy for the rest of her life, she wouldn’t do this by choice. She had hardly ever been punished before, and now her first time for anything serious was being sent for reformation. “I was told that you are going to use corporal punishment on me and force me to do manual labor.”
The woman smiled reassuringly. “Well that won’t be me. In your case it will be Judge Bragg, and that’s why you’re going to do what she tells you, and you’re going be on your best behavior. You can do that, can’t you?”
“I am always on my best behavior.”
The woman frowned, unsure what to make of that statement —maybe this girl wasn’t as terrified as she thought. “Judge Scott didn’t seem to think so. You be careful young lady, Judge Bragg isn’t going to put up with any sass, she can have your little buns toasted, and she doesn’t mind doing it.”
Sidney gulped. “I will be on my especially best behavior.”
The woman smiled reassuringly again. “Good girl, you’re Sidney Douglas right? I am going to give you this tray. It has a uniform in it for you. Please take it to the change room over there and put it on. Bring the bin back with all your things in it —and I do mean all of them. They are going to stay with me, but don’t worry. You will get them back.”
—
Advocate Simpson’s office was warm, and so was he. All of them liked him, a lot. “OK, if you two don’t mind, your daughter and I should do the last part of this interview privately.” Sidney’s parents left without protesting. They were worried, quite understandably, about her, but he had largely put all of their minds at ease. “I just wanted to ask, is there anything you are not telling me? Maybe something you didn’t want your folks to know. Now is the moment to say so.” She assured him there was nothing. “OK, that is good. I have one last thing to quickly discuss. Technically, Sidney, you can be sentenced to ‘reformation.’ It would be highly unusual for such a punishment to be meted out for a first shoplifting offense, but I should go over it with you. I have already explained the other punishments Judge Scott will be able more likely to impose on you, but if we cannot attest that you have had all the possible consequences explained to you, then we won’t be able to waive their reading. Judge Scott will then have to give you this very same explanation anyway, before she will let us waive our defense, and like I said, ideally we will waive everything, so that you appear like —and of course you are— taking as much responsibility for your mistake as possible.”
He went on to describe the punishment. It sounded horrible. She would be under the direct supervision of another judge. She would likely start by being made to work incredibly long hours a day, doing menial tasks like cleaning. There would also be the constant threat that she could be physically punished, like the discipline wands used in schools (though never on her of course), but significantly more painful. “I am not sure I could handle that, Mr. Simpson. Maybe, do you think, it’s better not to waive the defense?”
He looked sympathetic. “Unfortunately, there is no way to not risk that. If we contest the charges, and you lose, you would probably be sentenced to a harsher punishment, and that would still be on the table, and therefore a likelier possibility. Even then, Sidney, I don’t think you would be sentenced to reformation. It would be very unusual. Also, let’s be clear, given the evidence, I would be shocked if we could win by contesting the charges, so there is really no reason to try. I strongly urge you not to contemplate that idea, but of course it’s your choice.”
She nodded. “OK, I won’t contest the charges.”
“That is a good decision. Don’t panic tomorrow if Judge Scott and I get a little tense. My job is to try and fight for you as best as absolutely possible. We have butted heads a couple of times before, but she is a fair judge. My view is that she won’t take any sparks between us out on you in the sentencing. In fact, the occasional times when it has happened, it resulted in a more minor punishment for my clients than I was expecting, so I am not worried about a little fur flying tomorrow, if it comes to it. Her being the judge, it will inevitably be more of my fur flying, but like I said, don’t worry, OK —just be glad you are in the women’s system. If you think Judge Scott is bad tomorrow, just remember there’s an old geezer called Judge Randall who is an order of magnitude worse.”
The trial started exactly like Mr Simpson predicted. In fact, it began even better. He had arranged a meeting with her and the prosecutor in advance, and they discussed her crime. The prosecutor was prepared to accept that it was a onetime mistake. Mr Simpson and he therefore made a joint submission of facts and recommended a sentence of a conditional discharge. Judge Scott asked for Sidney to address her, and to explain what happened herself, in her own words. Sidney gave her, by then, well practiced story.
“I am satisfied that most of what you just said is true young lady, but I am curious, Miss Douglas, how did you get to the store that morning?” Sidney looked down immediately. “I guess I took the transit tubes, judge.” She couldn’t see, because she was no longer looking at her, but the judge’s face shifted from inquisitive to obviously cross. “I don’t think you did. I checked the transit records, and while you usually use public transport to go everywhere, you didn’t that morning.” Sidney stammered “I guess I forget then.” Judge Scott was especially unimpressed with that answer.
A minute later Judge Scott and Mr. Simpson were getting pretty heated. “You do realize, Judge, that this is her first offense of shoplifting, don’t you?”
Judge Scott yelled at him. “I do indeed Mr. Simpson. You do realize that she just lied directly to my face, don’t you?”
—
Sidney followed Hannah out of the elevator into the lobby. They had just left a section of the eighteenth floor that was part of ‘The Reformation Center for Young Women’. It was in the same huge building that the Halls of Justice were. Hannah had arrived the day after Sidney had. She was ten years older than her. She was also beautiful and confident. She was tall and had long blonde hair. She reminded her of Mara, the most popular girl in her school, that she was just starting to become friends with. It was hard not to be jealous of Hannah. She was, if anything, even better looking than Mara. She would never tell Mara that of course. That would be the end of their friendship, and she would likely go back to mercilessly teasing her. Even though Mara and she had both graduated a few months ago, school was still close enough that Sidney still thought of herself as a student, and most things in terms of it. She worried inordinately about what her former classmates would think of her, even though they were all moving on with their lives, leaving Sidney and Mara behind.
For the second time in two days, Hannah and she were working on the ground floor. Maybe they would be close by each other again. The other young women they were being punished with were sent to work in other parts of the massive building. Most of those girls had taken the elevator up a few minutes ago. They took it down on its way back to the lobby. Nico, the last of the others, had also taken it down, but she got out on the fifth floor. She was going to spend the next five and a half hours washing windows, before their lunch break. Then it would be even more menial labor for all of them. Hannah and her were doing general cleaning on the ground floor.
They would be working near each other again. It was the same tedious tasks as they had done yesterday. Hannah had five bathrooms all in a row, and then half a dozen other rooms to do. Sidney was cleaning four small bathrooms, scattered around a series of other rooms in the Halls of Justice that she would also be responsible for. The rotation was simple for both of them: clean all the bathrooms, thoroughly, and then do one of the other larger rooms. Then it was back to the washrooms, over and over. None of the miscellaneous rooms would actually need cleaning. The washrooms were used and they, therefore, did need cleaning, but not as frequently as their regime demanded they do them. The cleaning was normally done by robots, and they would have left everything pristine, so the first hour or two would be especially pointless. That didn’t matter. That wasn’t the main reason for doing it, according to Judge Bragg, the formidable woman in charge of punishing them. Sidney had never been more scared of anyone in her life, and she was intimidated by people a lot. Even Judge Scott, amazingly, was much less scary than Judge Pamela Bragg.
“Oh my goodness, I am so worried about doing these bathrooms without that little robot to help.” Hannah had already been to ‘the Chair’ once. That is what the machine that filled Sidney with dread was called. It could make you scream in agony for a whole week according to Nico, if Judge Bragg wanted it to. She also said it would rip the skin right off your bottom in those cases, and it would do it slowly, over a twenty minute period. She knew Nico was exaggerating but by how much?
The reason Hannah was so worried was because yesterday Sidney had told her she wasn’t going to have a cleaning robot to help show her what to do today. Sidney felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. Don’t worry, you will be fine. We will just need to help each other. That’s the only way we will get through this. That is what Hannah had said to her yesterday, before Sidney had so stupidly planted the seed of doubt in her mind that she was going to struggle. Hannah was panicked now, and it was her fault, as usual.
“I can help you.” Sidney blurted out. She was going to suggest that she would quickly run her through all the steps needed to clean the bathrooms thoroughly, and point out that Hannah’s tablet would have a list of all the tasks to do too. They always appeared under a picture of a smart and confident looking girl, with short hair, cleaning the bathroom (or whatever other room you were assigned to). As long as you followed the tablet’s instructions, you should be fine.
Hannah didn’t let her finish. “Oh thank you so much. That’s such a relief. Let me see which rooms you’re supposed to do.” Hannah grabbed her tablet momentarily. “OK, no problem, I will do your common rooms, going back and forth between them and mine, and all you need to do is your four bathrooms and then mine, back and forth. It will be easy to remember because mine are all right beside each other. Thanks so much for thinking of this. It’s such a weight off my mind. You have no idea, and don’t worry I will pay you back. I promise.” Hannah rushed to collect her cleaning supplies and get started.
“But wait, what if we aren’t allowed to swap tasks? ” Unfortunately, Hannah didn’t hear her. She started cleaning the bathrooms, chewing her lip. Hopefully she wouldn’t be caught by Cassidy and then spanked by Judge Bragg. She felt the all to familiar knot in her stomach tighten. She was so anxious, she was shaking.
Two and half hours later Hannah appeared. Sidney was in one of the bathrooms assigned to her rather than herself. “OK you better go back to doing your rooms for a bit. Cassidy is probably going to check on us soon. I just did the sitting area outside the library for you. After Cassidy comes, we can switch back again. Thanks Sid, you’re the best —I can call you ‘Sid’ right— you don’t mind if I call you Sid?” Sidney didn’t particularly like being called ‘Sid’ as it turned out, but that wasn’t really a big deal. She realized the morning might be going better than she feared. Hannah had come back before they had been discovered, and she was, just maybe, going to turn into a friend. Friends were hard to come by for Sidney. Her parents were always telling her she should try to make more.
Twenty minutes later, Sidney was cleaning a display of the biographies of all the judges in the Halls of Justice. She couldn’t help but dwell on both Judge Scott’s and Judge Bragg’s pictures. She started skimming the text as she wiped the glass covering them. The biographies were written on paper. It was very old fashioned but very cool too. She loved the way paper looked. She was glad to be cleaning something other than a bathroom too, even if it was polishing a monument at least partially dedicated to the women responsible for making her life completely miserable. Judge Bragg had been a ward herself. She had to read it again to believe it. Her biography had a cheesy line about how she had been a con artist and a character, who was now charged with developing the confidence and characters of the young women she served.
Suddenly Cassidy, Judge Bragg’s assistant, was standing beside her, arms crossed and with a security robot and Hannah in tow. Cassidy was scowling, but Hannah was looking confident as usual. “Judge Bragg is interested to know why you two seem to have come up with your own cleaning routine this morning, rather than doing the ones she assigned to you.” Hannah answered quickly and convincingly. “Sidney asked if she could do my bathrooms, because she is so quick at them. I didn’t realize we aren’t allowed to swap tasks, or of course I would have said no.” She looked at Cassidy calmly and then added before she could say anything “We only did it for a couple of hours, and then I told her we should go back to our own rooms. I am sorry Cassidy, but my orientation was such a blur when you gave it to me. I cannot even remember if you warned me that we weren’t supposed to share our tasks with each other. Did you?”
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “That’s a good point Hannah, if I had to explain this to Judge Bragg, that’s probably the argument I would make too. You should try it as well Sidney. Make sure you put the blame where it belongs, me. I wonder which of us is going to have the sorest ass afterwards. Who do you think it’s going to be Hannah?” Hannah glared at Cassidy, but Sidney knew that it would be her.
Suddenly, she grabbed the display in front of her. She had completely lost her balance, and then she threw threw up. It was a mostly a shock. She had never felt so miserable and full of dread, and the sensation of queasiness came over her abruptly. She looked at the mess, bewildered and miserable. She started crying.
“Oh my God, Sidney,” Cassidy gasped, reverting to her far more usual, sympathetic demeanor. “Mrs. Bailey, can you please come to the Halls of Justice immediately —just take deep breaths Sidney. You’ll be fine. Don’t worry —Hannah, for goodness’ sake, go get us some water please.” Cleaning robots descended on them and Cassidy guided her to a nearby bench. Sidney had just wiped it. “Just sit, Nurse Bailey will be here in a moment.” Cassidy waited with her anxiously. She spotted who must have been Mrs. Bailey just as Hannah sauntered over. She had found a bottle of water for her. Cassidy ran to get the lady in the white uniform who was rushing towards the Halls of Justice.
“Did you do that on purpose?” Hannah asked her. “I wish I could do that. It will probably help get you off more lightly with Judge Bragg.”
Five minutes later, Mrs. Bailey assured everyone that Sidney was entirely fine. They waited five minutes longer before Cassidy was totally persuaded, and then she took them to the elevator. Cassidy knocked on Judge Bragg’s door and then opened it. “Hannah and Sidney are here Ma’am, as you requested.” Judge Bragg was standing by the large coffee table in her office. “Thank you Cassidy, I will speak to Sidney first —close the door please young lady.” Sidney slowly walked in and closed the door as she was told. The dread was palpable.
She didn’t make eye contact with the Judge. “Look at me Sidney. Now the first thing is that I would like you to tell me the whole truth. Do you understand?”
Sidney didn’t, apparently. She didn’t even really hear the question. Instead she launched herself, frantically, into the explanation she had been concocting since Cassidy sat her down on the bench in The Halls of Justice. She included that it was because she was quick at doing bathrooms, like Hannah said. She knew their stories couldn’t too obviously contradict each other’s. Judge Bragg listened patiently.
“Well Sidney, I must admit, I am a little disappointed in your answer. I think it’s highly likely we’re going to be discussing this again further, in just a few minutes actually, but first I should probably speak to the unfortunate and unwitting victim of this scheme of yours. You will wait in the wards’ common room and then Cassidy will come get you, either to take you back to do your chores or to return here, depending on how my little chat with Hannah goes.”
Sidney more found herself in the common room than made her way to it. Everything was a hazy. She could see one of the other wards who had been here for a few months working diligently at the terminal in her room. She was concentrating on her work and didn’t even notice Sidney had walked by. Sidney sat down at a table and started shaking.
A few minutes later, Cassidy arrived with Hannah. Hannah was crying. Cassidy put her in her room and closed the glass door she had shown Sydney during her orientation with a few taps on her tablet. Hannah didn’t look or say anything to Sidney. “Come with me please Sidney. Judge Bragg would like to discuss this morning’s events again.”
The genuine concern on Cassidy’s face was obvious. Sidney started following her. She looked back at Hannah, but she still hadn’t seemed to have even noticed her. She was gazing out the window of her room, her right hand gently rubbing the seat of her light gray uniform’s trousers as tears ran down her cheeks. Judge Bragg had obviously not believed Sidney’s story and Hannah had been spanked because of it. She had just blown another chance to make a friend, as usual. Now it was Sidney’s turn to be sent by her for a spanking. Not only had she disobeyed her directions and cleaned the wrong rooms, she lied about it after. She felt herself getting queasy again. This would be one of Judge Bragg’s harsh twenty minute spankings where she tore the outer layer of your skin right off your bum, she just knew it.
Judge Bragg’s door was open when they arrived again at her office. “Come in Sidney,” her voice called out before Cassidy or Sidney had even stopped walking. She went in and closed the door. This time the dread was beyond palpable. It was consuming her. She could barely move, let alone talk.
“Sit down.” Judge Bragg was already sitting at the coffee table, waiting for her. Sidney did as she was told and looked at her pitifully. “Alright young lady, you are going to explain to me what happened this morning truthfully, or Cassidy is going to take you downstairs to see Mrs. Bailey again. But I don’t think you will like her nearly as much this time, and then you are going to come back, sit right back down again —much less comfortably— and then explain it to me for a third time.”
Sidney was breaking down. She couldn’t even think. “I am so sorry. I cannot help it. Everything, it’s all Mara’s —I mean my— fault.” She couldn’t believe it. Had she said it? For a moment she wasn’t even sure, but she had. She hadn’t meant to. She had promised Mara she would protect her, and now she had screwed that up too. It was finally everyone now. Sidney had failed the whole world. She started sobbing.
“Mara? Who is she?”
Sidney froze completely, tears running down her cheeks. “I can’t. I promised her.”
Judge Bragg looked at her with a questioning yet penetrating stare. She did know the name,Mara. “She was a bully in your school. I was told she picked on you more than most, but she picked on a lot of other people too.” Judge Bragg suddenly became intensely stern again. “You have five seconds to tell me exactly how this is Mara’s fault, or the only person you are going to be making promises to is Mrs. Bailey. Is that clear?”
Sidney wailed. “She is the one that made me steal the purse. It was supposed to be for her. She said no matter what, I couldn’t tell anyone. I was finally becoming friends with her. And then the police came, and she was watching the whole time from her Dad’s private transport that she borrowed. She’s the most popular girl I know, and she was going to be my friend too.” Sidney kept crying, big heaving sobs, finally she spoke again. “I am so sorry Ma’am. Please don’t spank me too hard. I promise I will do everything you say and never lie to you or another judge ever again.”
Judge Bragg waited. She needed her to be little more calm before they could continue. It didn’t help at first. Just when she thought Sidney was going to collect herself, she stated crying harder again. It didn’t matter. In the end she would have to settle down. It was only a question of time, and Judge Bragg could wait for as long Sidney needed. She had a sip of her tea.
It took Sidney a long time to realize it, but Judge Bragg was actually looking at her kindly. “I won’t punish you for this Sidney. I am glad you told me the truth. In fact, I am going to do the opposite of punishing you.”
Sidney looked at her in disbelief. “What, what do you mean?” she stammered. There were still tears coming from her eyes.
“I think it’s time we started working on your confidence, but that might prove difficult while you are so terrified of the Chair —I just wish my other wards had a similarly sensible attitude towards it. Will you keep a secret for me: just as well as you were keeping Mara’s?” Sidney nodded. “You may not tell a single other person here, but I am giving you one free pass —for anything other than gross misconduct, like fighting or direct disobedience. You can use it whenever you like. If I decide you should go to the Chair, you can get out of it, entirely for free, no other consequences at all. I will make sure that if it happens, you and I will have at least one private moment before you get sent, and all you will need to do is tell me you are using it.”
Sidney had absolutely no idea how to respond. She sat there for a whole minute, stunned, before saying anything. “I don’t know how to be confident. What happens if I cannot do it?”
Judge Bragg didn’t seem to be especially concerned by this objection. “You will learn. I have a whole twenty-four months, if I need them. You can start by apologizing to Hannah. But not for anything you said to me, you will apologize to her for not telling her ‘no’ when she made you take part in her completely transparent scheme. Pick the right moment, but I want you to do it before our next meeting in a week.”
—
Sidney’s metamorphosis began a couple of days later, slowly at first. She did apologize to Hannah, just as Judge Bragg told her to. All she said in response was, “it’s OK Sidney. It was a stupid idea. I cannot believe that I thought it could work.” Hannah continued to be miserable, at least for several more weeks. And it wasn’t just her. All the other wards (especially the newer ones) walked around with clouds over their heads. They were all various combinations of resentful, angry, scared and bored. Sidney, on the other hand, was surprisingly cheerful.
She didn’t mind the work as much as the other wards, but most importantly, she felt like she had a superpower: she was immune, once, to making a mistake, but she wasn’t going to give it up too cheaply. The others could sense it somehow without ever knowing why. Before long, she realized it was them coming to her to become friends, rather than the other way around, for the first time in her life. “Don’t forget that all these girls are here for a reason, Sidney,” Judge Bragg warned her in one of their meetings, “but if you can make a good friend while you are here, she will be worth her weight in gold.”
A few days later, Nico claimed that her food order was screwed up again, but obviously she just preferred the look of the salmon wraps compared to the omelette she ordered, once she could actually see them. She was trying to get everyone else with permission to eat in Dinning room B to trade with her. She could be such a spoiled little baby sometimes. There were no takers, obviously. Who was going to want that omelette compared to the salmon wrap everyone else had been smart enough to order?
Nico stomped her foot and scowled at Sidney, hands on her hips. “Come on Sidney, I hate omelettes. I would never order one on purpose. You had one just a few days ago. ” Not that long ago she would have acquiesced. She wasn’t going to now however. She was about to refuse, but she was cut off.
“Nico!” Cassidy scolded her, her arms crossed. She was joining them for lunch (something she quite liked to do), but had been sitting in the corner. Nico had not seen her, because normally Cassidy’s presence was enough to keep her on he best behavior. “Really, I can’t believe it. We’re doing this again? You have got to be the most defiant little brat in this entire building. Alright, come with me. You know where we’re going and why.”
Nico stomped again, keeping her hands on her hips. “Cassidy, come on. It’s been over a month.”
“I am going to count that as one time, since your hands never left your hips, but you’re lucky. I am sure Barbara would spank you twice for that. Now let’s go. Move it! Or I will count it as two.”
Tess had been mournfully watching from outside. She was still restricted to Dinning room A, with the terrible food. She watched Cassidy march Nico miserably by. She had a big smile on her face that materialized right after they passed. She looked at Sidney knowingly. Tess and Nico were always quarreling with each other. Tess’s favorite game was to try and goad Nico into doing exactly that, whenever Cassidy was near. Cassidy had warned Nico about it a couple of times. This was the second time she had actually done it, and it drove Cassidy crazy for some reason. She took her to be spanked without even talking to Judge Bragg that time too.
Tess was a little too obvious though, in her attempts to provoke Nico. She ended up getting the spanking more times than Nico did. Sidney still couldn’t understand why a few of the wards pushed their luck so much with Judge Bragg, when it came to the Chair. Most of them learned their lesson and only went once, or not at all, like Sidney. The spankings from the Chair sounded excruciating. But some of them seemed to get one every week, like Nico or Brianna. Though probably not Brianna any more. She had a fight with Nico a couple of weeks ago. Nico came back having had the hardest spanking any of the wards had seen yet. Briana, on the other hand, didn’t come back at all. Nico said it was because she was such a good fighter, Judge Bragg must have assigned her to another Judge for her protection. Either that or Judge Bragg had had her executed. They all knew she must have finally been sent to indefinite detention.
“Wipe that smile off your face Tess, or Judge Bragg will have me coming back for you next.” Cassidy snapped without actually checking to see if she was smiling or not.
Judge Bragg assigned her to work more and more in the library, and she realized that it was the only room other than her office where Judge Bragg seemed to spend any time herself. One day they were both walking out at the same time for lunch. “You were a ward too, right Ma’am? Do you think it makes you a better judge?”
Judge Bragg thought about it for a moment, “I see you read that terrible plaque. I hate that thing. Not because I mind people knowing that I was ward, but because of that awful line about being ‘a character and a confidence trickster trying to build confidence and character’ or whatever it says. I am just surprised that more people don’t vomit all over it.
“Being a ward was very good for me. Mostly because it helped me start thinking of others, as well as myself. Judge Davis also thought that she should require that I become less manipulative. There was a good lesson there too: sometimes we have to accept only part of what we think we require —but don’t get any ideas yourself young lady. You are going to accomplish everything that I require, one-hundred and ten percent. Because you’re not nearly as stubborn as I am, and Judge Davis didn’t relent until after my reformation had been extended twice.”
“Yes Ma’am, one-hundred and ten percent.”
—
Tess stuck her tongue out at here. She was scrubbing the archive room floor. Sidney was supposed to be gathering some materials from before the war to read through and cross reference for some professor. But then instead she was chasing Tess around the table she had bee working at, both of them laughing. They ran straight into Judge Bragg who had come to see what the commotion was. “Girls, what the Hell do you think you are you doing? You are supposed to be working, and you had better get right back to it, or I am going to turn those cute little bottoms of yours bright red.”
They hurried to resume their tasks apologizing and promising profusely. For the first time, in a long time, Sidney felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. Had she done it? Was she going to have to use her free pass?
Her mind started racing. Maybe she should endure the punishment: Judge Bragg wouldn’t spank them that hard for this, probably. Also, most of the wards that had been to the Chair more than once agreed that your first trip wasn’t so bad. It hurt a lot, but Judge Bragg saved its harsher settings for repeat offenders. But then again, she had just sent Tess a few days ago. She would occasionally send wards that misbehaved together to be punished together. Maybe she would therefore spank her harder, because she wouldn’t want to administer different punishments for the same crime. But she was so well behaved, she wouldn’t get sent a second time anyway, surely. But then, if she used it, she would give up her immunity, and if ever she did something really bad, she wouldn’t have it, and a second trip would always be worse than your first. But most importantly, her immunity was what let her be confident for the first time in her life. She decided, suddenly: she wouldn’t use her free pass. She would endure her spanking. Having her confidence was too important to give up over just one spanking, no matter how much it hurt.
She glanced over her shoulder to try to see what Judge Bragg was thinking. Despite Judge Bragg’s best efforts to hide it, she was too slow. Sidney saw exactly what she wanted to conceal. Judge Bragg had been smiling. Sidney didn’t need to worry about utilizing her free pass. Instead, Judge Bragg recommended her release.