Ashley sat quietly on the stairs of the courthouse, waiting for her father to finish his tenth Marlboro cigarette in an hour. While timidly biting her nails and twirling her hair she thought “Just how nervous could he be? I’m the one out of my element here.” The smoke lingered through the air like an exquisite irresistible perfume and she wanted a drag so bad that her mouth began to water just thinking about it, but her lips remained silent to keep her habit safe from her father. Her father was a stringent man who enforced a strict no smoking rule, except for him of course, and she did not want to add anymore stress to a day whose monstrous conclusion she could not even imagine at this point. Nevertheless, the need for a calming nicotine hit totally tormented Ashley.
He took one last drag, stood confidently flicking his cigarette onto the sidewalk and then turned to enter the massive courthouse doors. While straightening his suit coat and meticulously checking his own appearance Ashley could feel his disapproving eyes staring directly at her with disgust and embarrassment. Before entering the building and his repulsion turned to anger he said, “Let’s go! Let’s go! I have other things to do today.” Then he opened the doors and gestured for her to follow him down the hall as if she was nothing more than a mindless dumb beast herded to the slaughter
