then looked up with sorrowful eyes. “Other children are not so lucky. They are born into impoverished,single-parent homes. They are born to irresponsible parents who neglect or abuse them. Or they are borninto homes that are so morally degenerate that they will never learn how to follow the correct moral andspiritual paths. This last breed of children suffers from the worst type of poverty of all—moral poverty.
Mimi Maycomb is one of these morally impoverished children.”
In her seat, Lily gripped the edge of the table as though it were the safety bar on a rapidlyplummeting roller coaster. She looked at Buzz Dobson sitting there in his stained and rumpled seersuckersuit, with a placid, bovine expression. It was all she could do to stop herself from biting her nails.
“Let me share with the court,” Hamilton continued, “the story of Mimi Maycomb’s birth.” Hesmiled, revealing a mouthful of perfectly white, capped teeth. “The story’s a little more complicated thanthe story of most births, so bear with me. Charles and Ida Maycomb, the fine folks sitting over there at thepetitioner’s table, are the parents of the now-deceased Charlotte Maycomb. I have no idea why thishappened, because I know Charles and Ida to be good parents.. . still, no matter how good a shepherd is,one of his sheep will stray. Charlotte Maycomb strayed from her parents’ guidance and entered into ahomosexual relationship with the respondent, Lily McGilly, nee Fox.”
Judge Sanders’ scowl might have been the same one he had been wearing, but Lily felt it was nowdirected at her. Just as she was about to resort to nail biting, she felt the comforting hand of JeanieMcGilly on her shoulder. Once again, she was overcome by the depth of the McGillys’ supportiveness.
Big Ben had taken his first day off in the history of the Confederate Sock Mill to be with them at the
“Miss Maycomb and Miss Fox,” Hamilton continued, “decided to do that which no two womencan do naturally: They decided to have a child.” Hamilton paused, Lily assumed, to let this scandalous bitof information sink in. “With the use of a sperm donation, they conceived the baby through completelyartificial means. And so this was the home into which Mimi Maycomb was born, a home in whichhomosex-yoo-ality” — he stretched the word out, making it sound extra nasty—“was the norm. A homein which both parents wore the pants in the family, and both parents were women. A home in which booksand films depicting homosexual acts could be found. A home where the only regular guests were other