I had a pretty cool childhood, growing up all over the world. My father was an Army officer and though a lot of people wouldn’t like it, I enjoyed the moving to a new place every three years or so. My younger sister and I are seven years apart, but we are still close. She always looked up to me and I relished, and embellished the role. As I said, we lived all over… Germany, D.C., Alabama, Okinawa…Oklahoma. You can imagine that I changed schools a lot. Luckily, the ‘book learning’ came fairly easy to me. I always made good grades. I also think that moving around so much made Annie and me more adaptable to different situations. I made some good friends along the way, but never had a serious boyfriend. What was the use? I knew that I’d be gone in a couple of years so the practical side of me kept my affections in check.
I went to high school in Oklahoma when my father was stationed at Fort Sill. I’m not sure what his job was, but he was a full colonel at the time and pretty high up. I didn’t really have any burning desires for what to do with my life, so I went on to the University of Oklahoma along with some of my friends. Then something happened in my senior year that gave me direction. I was taking an elective course that required me to go into Oklahoma City to interview an FBI agent. I was minutes away from my appointment with him when the Federal Building where we were to meet was bombed by some low life, home grown terrorist. He and his scum bag accomplice made a bomb out of a truck load of fertilizer that killed 168 people, 19 of which were kids, little kids. I could describe the whole scene for you because I saw it firsthand. But you really don’t want to hear it. Just take my word for it, it was bloody devastation.
Justice. That’s what I wanted to see. And, it became what I wanted to study. That meant law school. When I told the Colonel, Daddy, he chuckled and said, “Great. That’s just what the world needs…another lawyer.” He was just kidding, of course. He’s always had my back and been my biggest cheerleader. (Annie says the same thing. In fact, years later, he had the exact same response when she went off to Vanderbilt Law.)
With my 4.0 at O.U. and a blow out score on the LSAT, I was able to get into Stanford for law school. I did well at Stanford and could have practiced just about anywhere after I graduated. But that Tuesday morning, April 19, 1995 somehow drew me back to Oklahoma City. I got an offer from Henson & Byars, one of the best firms in the state and I took it. I’ve been here ever since. I made partner in record time and now I head up the litigation department. Arguing cases in court, that’s what I enjoy. And my competitive nature has helped make me pretty good at it.
Oh, along the way, I got married. I met and fell in love with Tom Stillwell. Tom, like Daddy, is an Army officer. He’s a West Point grad and now a lieutenant colonel stationed at Fort Sill. The Army has been good to us in the five years that we’ve been married. Tom has seen his share of Iraq and Afghanistan, which means that we’ve had our separations. But, he’s done well in his assignments and will probably be a general some day.
So, everything was going along pretty well. And then that creep called the office looking for a good lawyer. He went through one of the founding partners, specifically asking for me. That’s when things got interesting.
Sally is a major character in "The Prosecution of General Hastings." It's due out first quarter, 2012.
