Pete snorted. "He's mixed up, all right. Just like his old man when he brought the whole bunch of you back to us. John'll probably turn out to be a loser, same as Johnny, and ruin our name clear across the county to boot."

       That's all Pete cares about -- what folks like Roy Fletcher will think of him. He's right about everybody in the county , though. To them, I'll always be that no-good Hanson kid, son of lowlife Johnny Hanson.

       Pete stomped out and Mom walked back to the front of the courtroom, her shoulders slumped down. I checked out the sheriff and he shrugged, so I guessed it was OK to go over to her. I started to walk through the little gate in the fence but he put his hand on my shoulder. "Marilyn," he said, "if you'll come around here and sit at the table with John, I'll let you have a couple of minutes before he goes with my deputy ."