Summary

In Chapter 1, Professor Ray Atlee received the summons from his father, Chancellor Reuben V. Atlee, in with his campus mail at the university where he taught law. It stated: “Please make arrangements to appear in my study on Sunday, May 7, at 5 P.M., to discuss the administration of my estate. Sincerely, Reuben V. Atlee” (5). Ray noticed the signature looked shrunken and unsteady. His father had cancer and would die soon. Ray remembered how weak he had sounded when Ray talked to him on the phone three weeks earlier.

Ray imagined his father pecking out the letter on his typewriter as he sat below the framed portrait of General Nathan Bedford Forrest in his office. The Judge’s grandfather had fought with the General, and the Judge named his sons after him. Ray’s legal first name was Nathan but he had angered his...