Nineteen Minutes

The narrative flashes back to Peter and Josie’s first day of kindergarten. Peter is excited to go to school, like his older brother Joey does, and cannot sleep. His mother buys him a superhero lunchbox, and when he boards the bus that he’s been wanting to ride for some time, he has a moment of doubt. Then he sees Josie, who asks him to sit with her. As he shows Josie his lunchbox, an older kid snatches his lunch and throws it out the window. Peter is devastated, and the bus driver merely yells at Peter to sit down. Josie says she’ll share her lunch with him. Peter is later chided by his mother for losing his lunchbox, yet again. He doesn’t want to say that he’s being picked on. His mother compares him to his older brother, though Peter feels that both his parents know with aching clarity that he is nothing like his brother.

While Alex is meeting with a client, she receives a call from Whit Hobart, her old boss when she worked at the New Hampshire public defender’s office. Whit is a mentor to Alex. He tells her that there are openings for judge positions coming up and that she would be a shoo-in for one of these positions.