I looked over at Samas and pushed my chair back as I began. "There's a bird that's common in Minnesota called a cowbird. The cowbird secretly lays its eggs in the nests of robins. The cowbird eggs incubate and hatch along with those of the host bird. When they're young, cowbirds look like robins, so the hosts feed them, nurture them, and protect them as if their own. It is only when the young birds begin to mature, that the parents can tell that the cowbird is different. At that point, the host spurns the imposter, who is now strong enough to survive on its own. The imposter doesn't know where he comes from or why he is different; he only knows that he is. That's what it has been like, until now," I said, panning across the panel and gallery.

Several long seconds passed before the Egyptian broke the silence. "Mr. Michaels, your first advocate told us she found you after you'd set a fire. Tell me about fire."

I shifted in my seat, feeling the watchful eyes of the panel. "She said all there was to say really. I started the --"

"No, I don't want to know about a specific event. Tell me about fire Mr. Michaels."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean?"

He leaned forward against the bench, all signs of his smiling friendliness gone. "You and I both know exactly what I mean."

I held his stare as long as I could, desperately not wanting to cave. I believe I could have, had the other eyes not tipped the scales to his advantage. I nodded in deference and lit a cigarette, carefully placing the still burning lighter on the table in front of me. I looked at the flickering wheat colored fiend as I spoke. "The first time I met it was an accident. I was unprepared for what it would do, unprepared for its appetite and its anger. It got the best of me in that first meeting and every time I've met it since has been on my own terms. I know exactly how it will act now; I know it as well as I know myself. I keep bringing it back to prove I can beat it, to show it how I've grown and that I'm no longer the helpless child that cowered under the bed in fear. I had remembered it and knew what it was. And ironically, until now it had been the only thing that knew what I was, because it remembered me. It has been both my confidant and my foe, and in a time of confusion, it was my only constant." I looked up to find the Egyptian smiling again.

"I've heard enough," he said, looking at the other judges.

"I agree," said the old man. "Let's take a short recess." The five walked off the bench and past the curtain behind the gallery.