There was no oath, no collection of words that could say everything he wanted to. So, he was silent.
Yet, they heard him.
They heard everything when they saw how his eyes gathered each detail in the room, every smirk and frown, every squirming posture, every drop of sweat.
They heard it in his lack of expression, in his deliberate steps.
They heard it in the way his hands still reached for something that was no longer there.
He walked in his deliberate way to the front of the room and turned to face them. He didn’t remove his hat because there was no one there who deserved respect. Instead, he glared at them from the shadow of the brim.
