In the low light emanating from the single 60w bulb dangling from the ceiling, her breath stirred the fine particulate like dandelion seeds blown in a Midwest summer's wind.
"...to which you are to answer as truthfully as possible. And while I cannot advise you..." her voice trailed in and out as his mind followed random, disjointed thoughts. Words piled up like logs jammed in a stream, out of order and chaotic. Confined in this room, his thoughts careened off the walls and collided with hers. The serious tone with which she spoke denoted a circumstance as foreign as the place in which he found himself.
"Ok, so let's start off slow: Please tell me your name. Can you do that?" she asked pedantically.
After a long pause, he spoke. "You already know my name. Next question," he said with a hint of anger.
"Listen, I'm trying to help you, Joey, so, if you could just play along, that'd be greaaaaaat!" she cajoled him.
"I'm Joseph Randall, at your service," he said with false gaiety.
"Good boy, Joey. Now we are getting somewhere," she said as she shifted in her chair, uncrossing her long, muscular legs and crossing them in the opposite direction. The smile on her face confirmed her deviant intent in this subtle act. "Now, do you know why you are here?"
"I dunno, because I don't go to church?" he offered.
"If I am going to help you, you're gonna have to cut the shit. They are making some pretty serious accusations against you," she said with genuine concern.
"What do you want from me?" he exclaimed.
"I wanna know if what they are saying is true," she demanded.
"Well, go ahead and ask, then," he replied.
"It says here that you solicited various deviant sex acts from an honorable woman," she explained.
"Solicited? Bullshit. I wrote poems and other trash, not meant for anyone to read," he said.
"Yeah, well, someone read them," she assured him. "And these 'poems', as you call them, could be regarded as threats of violence," she stated as she looked up from her notepad, removing her glasses and putting one of the arms in her mouth as she contemplated what she would say next. "I have to say that some of the things you wrote are concerning."
"Like what?" he asked.
"You wrote, and I quote, 'I will pin your arms and legs down, resting my body on top of yours, reminding you what it feels like to have the weight of a man on you,'" she said, her voice softening as she finished.