By eight thirty Tuesday morning the sun was just barely breaking through the gray clouds over Pontiac.

Marcus Vance cleared a heavy pile of court filings off his desk and waved me into the chair across from him.

I laid two documents side by side on his polished oak desk.

The first was the written non-renewal notice from my landlord, Mr.

Gable, giving me until the end of the month to move out of my rental.

The second was the printed statement from Community First Credit Union showing a zero balance after my mother took out eight thousand four hundred dollars.

Marcus picked up the bank statement first, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses up.