For 14 years I have walked the circle drive at the Screven County Courthouse. At least once a month for 14 years, I have walked, heels clicking against the pavement, files tucked under my arm or stuffed into a rolling briefcase, toward the double-glass doors and the wide, tiled hallway that leads to the courtroom. As often as not, in warmer weather, I have walked to the tune of a mower moving back and forth over the front lawn like a metronome, breathing in the shaved grass along with the scent of the roses Mrs. Pullen planted at the front door when she was clerk.