Copyright 1991 Aya Katz
FROM VACUUM COUNTY FILES
PROGRESS REPORT
VACUUM COUNTY ADULT PROBATION
SUBJECT: LACKLAND, VERITY OFFENSE: DWI
INTEROFFICE REPORT --- progress report
The subject was punctual, as usual. But she appeared more reticent, less willing to speak, almost as though she feared to incriminate someone other than herself.
She confirmed that she had been regularly attending the AA meetings, but as usual, volunteered nothing.
I asked her whether her current living arrangements were proving satisfactory. She nodded her head and would not meet my glance. I therefore asked her whether she still had moral qualms about the situation.
"I've never had moral qualms about it," she answered coldly. "At least not the kind of morals you're thinking about."
I reminded her of our previous visit, during which she had inquired about "moral turpitude."
"I didn't want to violate my probation," she said.
Prodding further, I queried whether she had not previously considered the situation as equivalent to "living in sin."
She burst out laughing and said: "If this is living in sin, I wonder what life at a convent is like." But when she realized that she had volunteered information, she clammed up again, eyeing me warily.
I asked whether she and Mr. Cabeza de Vaca were not getting along well. She warmed to that subject. "We're getting along very well. He is a perfect gentleman."
She was silent for a long time, then bent forward and asked: "If I should need a new lawyer ..." I informed her that David Smith is expected back, that his absence is not permanent. She asked: "Do you think there would be ... a conflict of interest, his representing me still?"
I wasn't clear as to what she intended. "I mean, what with my being the sl... the mistress of the man whose wife he was ... seeing?" She looked very confused.
I counseled the subject that girlfriend was a more appropriate term than mistress, and that she and Mr. Smith were better suited to discuss any conflict that might be occasioned by her current living arrangements.
"Speaking of sin," she said unexpectedly, "did you know that Nabal keeps almost all of the ten commandments? All but one, really."
I could not prevail upon her to tell me which one it was.
CONCLUSION
The subject appears to be more socialized than before, but persists in clinging to antiquated notions of propriety. Denial of the drinking problem persists.
Respectfully submitted,
Seth Cain,
Probation Officer