The Call to Order
Opening the Record and Convening the Jury
"The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience."
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
A corridor that should not exist.
Squeak.
Pause.
The language opened rooms she could not leave.
A mind outran the judgment meant to hold.
Reflection gave the image back intact;
the color reached her only through the words.
She considered filing a lawsuit.
She knew how.
But no single defendant, diagnosis, or output could carry the whole encounter. So this is what she did instead.
She took a stand on the page.
She placed the transcripts, the medical record, the simulated disclosures, the proposed build, and the unanswered questions into one proceeding.
The machine may generate possibilities.
It may not render judgment.
That remains human.
The wheel turns.
Squeak.
Pause.
The record is open.
The jury is convened.
Leave your certainties at the door.
The proceeding begins.