Even though he could have slept in until 7 AM, Robert had forgotten to reset his alarm and when his alarm clock went off at 6 AM he was not a happy camper. He thought about laying there until 7 Am but figured he better get up and make sure the twins were up because 'dad' Ken hadn't gotten the twins a new alarm clock yet.
"What are you doing up?" asked a sleepy Charles, as he passed his older 'brother' in the hall as he went to relieve the pressure on his bladder.
Robert inwardly laughed at Charles' tent-like condition and was happy his had already gone down. He did the Three Knock Rule on the twin's bedroom door and not getting any response, he knew they were still asleep. So, he walked right in.
"Wake up, you two," sort of yelled Robert. "It's past 6 and you guys need to shower, get dressed, eat and then get up to the Bus Stop."
Kyle stirred then sat up. Kevin just pulled the covers over his head. Robert knew he needed to be the big, bad, mean 'brother', so he went over to Kevin and pulled the covers all the way off, of him. Kyle saw what Robert had done and so he quickly threw the covers off himself and ran out of the room.
"Kevin, it is time to get up," spoke the teenager. "Time's a wasting!"
Kevin felt the cool air on his body and sat up. "Okay, okay, I'm up." Then Kevin laid right back down and pulled into a ball.
Robert wasn't having any more of Kevin's antics, so he pulled the eleven-year-old out of the bed onto the floor.
"Hey, why'd you do that?" yelled Kevin.
"Because you've wasted a lot of time that you need to get ready for school, now get up!" replied Robert. Robert then made the twin get up and he walked him to the bathroom. He told the lad to pee, which the boy did, and by then the older twin was wide-awake and moving on his own. By then Charles and Kyle had already peed, brushed their teeth and were in the shower getting cleaned up. Needless to say, Kevin was a bit late for breakfast,
"What are you doing up so early, Robert?" asked 'dad' Ken, when he saw the teen walk into the Kitchen Nook.
"I forgot to reset my alarm. But now I'm glad I did, because I had a hard time getting Kevin up for school. … 'Dad', you need to get the twins' a better alarm clock so they have to get out of bed to turn it off. If you don't, one day, and I mean soon, you will be driving them to school," was how Robert answered his 'dad'.
"Oh, I see. Remind me after we leave the courthouse to stop by a shopping center to get one. Will you do that for me?" replied 'dad' Ken.
Just then, Charles and Kyle came into the Kitchen Nook and said 'Good Morning' to 'Dad Ken' and Robert. Momma Maria had breakfast ready for them so as the three lads sat down she placed it in front of them. Two minutes later, Kevin came rushing into the Kitchen Nook and sat down.
"Sorry I'm late, my alarm clock didn't wake me," offered the older twin. Kevin then smiled at Robert as Momma placed his breakfast in front of him. Robert just smiled right back.
"Boys, Robert and I have the trial starting today and I can't say when we will get back. I want you to get started on your homework when you get back," spoke up 'Dad Ken'.
"Isn't that what we always do, 'dad'?" snickered Charles.
"Yeah, it is … but I want you to do it anyway," answered Mr. Ken, with his face buried in his morning paper.
The four boys laughed and went back to eating their breakfast.
Mr. Ken and Robert were to meet up with Bill Jackson and Stewart Russell at 8:30 at the courthouse, so they left The Cove at ten minutes to 8 o'clock. They were lucky and found a parking space, but they had to walk a few blocks in the much cooler air than the warm fall air that had been in the area up until the previous day's rainstorm. Mr. Ken had now wished he had made his 'boys' put on a light jacket when they went up to the Bus Stop.
Bill and Stewart were waiting for their clients just inside the courthouse doors, and upon seeing, the two Covers brought them to an empty room so they could review their plan of attack. When they finished their preliminary talk, they all visited the Men's Restroom to get rid of any excess water. They then headed to their courtroom and arrived with five minutes to spare.
"All rise!" called out the bailiff.
The presiding judge walked in, sat down in his seat, and told everyone to be seated.
"Are all the parties present?" asked the judge. Learning everyone was present, the judge read the particulars of the lawsuits.
"It appears we have one party suing the other. Am I correct in my understanding of the lawsuits?" asked the judge of the lawyers representing their 'injured' parties.
Stewart Russell stood up and waited for the judge to recognize him. When he was recognized, he explained that his client was suing the plaintiff while the plaintiff was suing the boys 'dad'. The judge looked back at the filings in front of him and scanned them through.
"OK, I see we have a dispute here between one Mildred Johnston, who is claiming age discrimination and a few other things against one Kenneth Richard Thomas and I see another lawsuit, this one against Mildred Johnston by one Robert Arthur Harrison, who at age 12 claims he was attacked by Ms. Johnston when she was in the employ of Ken Thomas. That is very interesting. The last names don't match. Care to tell me why there are three different surnames counselor?" asked the judge.
"Your Honor, Mr. Thomas is Robert Harrison's foster dad and the lad was living with him at Three Finger Cove when she attacked him," explained Stewart Russell. "Robert's lawsuit against Mildred Johnston is for her attack on him that occurred when she worked at Three Finger Cove. He is asking for damages from Ms. Johnston for her beating and terrorizing him during the time before she was released from her employment."
The judge commented to no one in particular, "I see we are going to have a very interesting court with this one, err, or two."
"I also see that Mildred Johnston is asking for trial by jury and Ken Thomas is asking for a trial by judge. Will counsel approach?" called out the judge.
"Oh, ok, you three lawyers, tell me who represents whom, then," asked the judge.
After Ed Higgins, Bill Jackson and Stewart Russell introduced themselves, and for whom they represented, the judge asked if there was a way they could do with either 'Trial by Judge' or 'Trial by Jury' to make it easier all around. Since Mildred had wanted 'Trial by Jury', it was up to Bill and Stew to try to talk Ed into going with the 'Trial by Judge'. Ed asked for a few minutes to confer with his clients and got it.
"Mildred, my reading is the judge might separate these lawsuits if we don't change to 'Trial by Judge'. If we don't do that your costs can go up considerably and the time frame for resolution could drag on until after the Holidays," counseled Ed Higgins.
"But, what do I get if we don't separate them?" asked Mildred Johnston.
"Well, the judge could very well delay today's trials, or he could proceed with one or the other. It is his choice," warned Ed. "Keep in mind he is an older judge who could very well understand your position and need for your job back."
The judge asked all three lawyers to return to his bench. It was then he learned Mildred Johnston changed her mind and would go with 'Trial by Judge'. The trial was on.
"Seeing we have all parties agreeing on 'Trial by Judge', I declare the proceedings to begin. We will hear all parties in both cases, but will start with Ms. Johnston's lawsuit against Mr. Thomas. Mr. Higgins, call your first witness.
Mildred Johnston took the stand. Ed Higgins asked her to tell her story about why and how she was fired and why she feels she was denied her position because of her age.
"Well, where do I begin? OK, ever since Mr. Thomas took in a waif …" was all she got out before Stewart Russell jumped up and objected to his client being characterized as a waif. He told the judge his client was a ward of Children's Protective Services and was a foster child. Ed Higgins had no retort to what Mr. Russell had to say.
"Objection sustained. Ms. Johnston, you will refer to the boy, whom I suspect is Robert Harrison, as a foster child, foster boy, or even foster lad and you will refrain from calling him or referring to him in anything but those terms'. Do you understand Ms. Johnston?" chastised the judge.
"Yes your Honor, I understand. … Anyway, as I was saying, ever since my former employer, Mr. Ken Thomas, took in the foster boy, Bobby …" and again Stewart Russell jumped up and objected.
"Your Honor, the lad's name is Robert and he has gone by that name ever since he arrived at Three Finger Cove that first evening. He has never gone by Bobby, ever," exclaimed Stewart Russell.
Ed Higgins stood up and said that Bobby was a name synonymous with Robert, and a few other similar names, and that his client should be able to use the name interchangeably for the boy that she called the lad during her employ.
Stewart Russell's retort was that Robert Harrison always went by the name Robert and he could bring in the Director of Children's Protective Service, who was present when Mr. Thomas told the lad that he was starting a new life at The Cove and using his first name was that beginning. Mr. Thomas told the lad that Bobby was his 'old' life and Robert was the beginning of his new life. Your Honor, I could also bring in all of his friends that had been told right from the beginning that he wanted to be called Robert.
"Bobby … please come up here," spoke the judge.
"Your Honor, sir, please call me Robert," said the Cover lad, as he walked to the judge's bench.
"I've heard enough. Ms. Johnston, you will refer to Robert Harrison as Robert," declared the judge. "Proceed."
Ed Higgins told Mildred to continue.
"As I was saying, things at Three Finger Cove began to change for me after Robert came to live there. The lad constantly berated me when Mr. Thomas was not present. The boy disregarded my instructions at every turn and at times, he even struck out at me. On the day after he was brought to the estate, he caused me to lose face in front of my employer when he blatantly lied to his foster father saying it was I who had chosen his bedroom the previous evening after Mr. Thomas specifically told the lad he could choose one of the six bedrooms set aside for children. The lad had even gone as far as to strike me, you know, he hit me when Mr. Thomas wasn't looking.
"Mr. Thomas heard the dirty, filthy language the boy used against me, that morning, and he refused to even consider his foster child had hit me. He immediately took the lad's side and told me he would talk to me later about the way I treated the child. That was just during the first 24 hours the foster boy was in residence. Then, for the next few weeks, Bob, err Robert, and I were in the same house together, the lad took every opportunity to berate me. He even told me how he would convince my employer that I was mistreating him, at every turn, and that he told me that because I was so old that I shouldn't even be working there. The child was the devil reincarnate, as far as I was concerned. He would look for me every day after school and ask me why I was still working there and he would constantly tell me that I should quit.
"The boy would even hit me at times just to show me he was in charge now. He told me he had his foster father eating out of his hand and would soon be calling him 'dad'. Even the cook lady was afraid of him. He made her make him an after-school snack every day and if he didn't like it he would push it to the floor so she had to clean that mess up," lied Mildred Johnston.
Ken Thomas was seething in his seat as he listened to what Mildred had to say. He knew everything she said was a lie, a bald-faced lie, nonetheless, but he had to sit there and keep his cool the entire time. A few times Robert began to stand up and say something, but Stewart held him back. The lawyer whispered to him he couldn't say something that would give the judge the impression he was the high strung and overbearing type of kid Mildred was trying to make him out to be.
Ed Higgins walked over to Mildred and asked her if she could give specific instances where Robert was disrespectful to her. He then turned and smiled right at Robert to try to get him to react to the question. Robert really, really wanted to, but Stewart had his hand on the lad's arm to keep him in his seat. However, that didn't keep Robert from staring back at the lawyer.
Mildred went back on the offensive. "Your Honor, Robert would prance around the upstairs hallway in his underwear, mind you, and would only do that when he knew I was going to be up there. I always used the elevator, because of my age, and it made enough noise that anyone up in the bedroom area could know someone was going to stop up there.
"I could often see the foster boy looking out his bedroom door watching for me and when he would to see me he'd deliberately walk out into the hallway, in his very tight white underwear, and walk to the bathroom. I was totally shocked he would do that to someone my age. After a time or two I was surprised that Mr. Thomas would continue to house the depraved boy …" but again Stewart stood up to object.
"Your Honor … there has been NO evidence given indicating the Robert was now, or in the past, in any way was 'depraved'. I ask the court to direct the witness to stick to the truth and not make up something she feels is in her best interest to denigrate my client," argued Stewart Russell.
"Counselor," said the judge to Ed Higgins, "Do you have any evidence or does your witness have any such evidence that the lad she is talking about is immoral, wicked, wanton, or as she said, depraved?"
Ed looked at Mildred and getting a shake of the head, she didn't have any proof he told the judge there was no evidence at this time. The judge told the witness, Mildred Johnston, to stick to the facts and not to use terms she could not prove. Mildred was facing the judge as he talked to her and when he finished she said she understood and then turned back to face the court.
When he felt Mildred was ready, Ed Higgins again told the woman to continue telling the court why she was suing for her job back.
"Well, Robert would also make very lewd, disgusting and suggestive remarks about what I could do with what he had hidden in his underwear. And that was just when I was upstairs. During other times, he would grab his, ahh, his … crotch when he would come up to me. Up to this time, Mr. Thomas had yet to have his talk with me and I was afraid for my job because of what Bob, err, I mean Robert was telling me he could and would do to me."
"Did you and Mr. Thomas ever have your … talk?" asked her lawyer.
"Yes, we finally did. He wanted to know how I thought the lad was accepting his new life at Three Finger Cove and how was I getting along with the lad. I told the man that with my extensive experience, and his very limited experience with only one, much older teen, that was Collin Wilkinson, you know, that he should place me in charge of the boy. I told him it would be no bother to add just one small 'boy', foster boy mind you, to my many responsibilities there at Three Finger Cove. I told Mr. Thomas that I could see right from the start that there was going to be trouble with that 'boy'.
"I want the court to know that I helped raise a large number of children, over my many, many years, and I can tell right away when a child will be trouble. Moreover, believe you me, from what I've already told you that this foster boy was loads of trouble, especially to me. I told Mr. Thomas that the best thing for Three Finger Cove and the 'boy' would be for me to take over immediate responsibility for the care and discipline of the 'boy'. I realized that if I were to be put in charge of the boy his demeanor would drastically change, as would he.
"The boy was always testing the bounds that Mr. Thomas set for him. The lad frequently came into the house through the front door, when he was specifically told to come in through the garage door. I told Mr. Thomas I thought it was best that the boy, that Robert, should come in through the garage and then the kitchen as he always seemed to look a might dirty from playing outside.
I further explained that if the lad, Robert, came inside that way that he wouldn't keep getting the main portion of the house so dirty. I was only thinking of maintaining the 'presence' of the house," finished up Mildred Johnston, as she lied through her teeth.
And that was how the morning went with Ed Higgins having Mildred Johnston cover the same ground over and over to instill in the judge that the lad was trouble incarnate.
It was getting close to lunchtime and learning that Mr. Higgins had more questions to cover with his client the judge declared the morning session over and then reminded the participants they should all return no-later-than 1:30 PM to continue the trial.
Once the judge dismissed the morning's session, Mr. Ken, Robert, Bill and Stew went out looking for a quiet place to eat, so they could discuss how they saw what happened that morning.
The group had to drive almost fifteen minutes away from the courthouse in order to find a quiet enough place where they could get a good satisfying meal and have the privacy to talk about how Ed and Mildred kept themselves in the spotlight. After everyone had gotten their food order, it was Bill Jackson who started off the discussion.
"Well, that was an interesting morning," said Bill Jackson with a straight face. He then looked at the other people at his table and then he cracked a smile. But, before long, he began to laugh hard and that got the others laughing right along with him. They all had a good laugh, then Bill told them to finish eating, and then they'd get into the discussion.
It was 12:10 when the group was basically finished eating which gave them almost an hour to talk about the morning court session. They cleaned up their table but they all kept their drink cups as the place offered All-U-Can-Drink coffee or soda.
"Robert, I saw you wanting to get up and challenge Mildred a number of times. I want to thank Stewart for keeping you in your place. If you had taken her bait, you may have given the judge something to think about. He could very well have coupled your outburst with what she was saying," began Bill.
"Yeah, but what she was saying were ALL LIES!" yelled back Robert.
"Yes, I think we all knew what she was spouting was a deep hate venom she'd built up over these past eight months or so. Mr. Ken told me he met an acquaintance of hers this past weekend. I think you may have even been there. Anyway, Mr. Ken tells me that …" but he didn't get to say anything more when Robert took over.
Robert laughed and told everyone he was there. He then recounted what Mr. Lowery had said about Mildred telling him how she was in for a big raise. The teen told Bill and Stewart how he answered for his 'dad' by telling the man how she beat him about his head and back and shoulders with this huge metal spoon. Robert told the group he told Mr. Lowery he was bloody all over and had welts on his back for at least a week and that his 'dad' called Doc Powers to come and check me out.
The teenager added that he told Mr. Lowery that she was also arrested for her attack on him and also revealed to Saul Lowery that he was suing Mildred for his many injuries and the suffering he had to endure from her during the weeks prior to her attacking him and for a number of other things.
The three men smiled at Robert for the intensity he told his story. He sort of blushed from seeing their smile after he realized he had told his story in such an angry way.
"Robert, I am glad you were able to get rid of some of that built up anger out of your system. Hopefully, this afternoon you won't go off on Mildred," laughed Bill Jackson.
"OK, let's discuss what Mildred said that was blatantly false," started out Bill.
The four of them tried to remember each and everything she had said that they knew to be a downright out-and-out lie. It was Mr. Ken who told the group, "Everything she said was an illusion, a fabrication, a figment of her imagination, or just a plain outright LIE! She took just about every situation where she interacted with Robert or me and turned the event into what she wanted it to be. If I had a transcript of what she said it would be a lot easier to rebut everything one by one but we don't have that."
The small group of four did discuss some of the things Mildred had said but they still had no idea of what she would say that afternoon when she told her story of how her age was the basis of her termination from Three Finger Cove. Everything they came up with was pure speculation. They filled up their drink cups before they departed the restaurant. They arrived back at the courthouse, parked, drained their dragons, and entered the courtroom with two minutes to spare.
"All rise," called out the bailiff.
"Are all parties present in my court?" asked the judge. Learning they were, he told Ed Higgins to call his next witness, which was still Mildred Johnston.
"Ms. Johnston, began Ed Higgins, her lawyer, "This morning … we heard from you what was the leading cause of your firing from Three Finger Cove, now … will you tell this court … how you know your firing … was the result of Mr. Ken Thomas' blatant disregard for the law and was also in retaliation for your bringing his foster son's illegal use of drugs up to him."
"Why of course, I was wondering when you would ask me about that," said Mildred with a big smile. "Well … I went to Mr. Thomas … when I found some illegal drugs in the boy's room when I was cleaning it. I was totally surprised by what I found. He had not only marijuana but some white powder, that I took as being cocaine, and he also had some small white balls along with needles and a spoon that looked dark like it had been overheated.
"I took this information to my employer, but he didn't believe me. He told me that he hadn't seen any indication in the boy's demeanor or any personality changes that would even indicate he could be using illegal drugs. He told me right out he didn't believe what I had just told him. He then complained that ever since Robert had been there I had been trying to get the boy sent away and that I had tried everything I could to be given authority over him.
"I, of course, denied all that even though I had told the man that he didn't have the experience in dealing with such a young boy, and that I should be appointed as the boy's guardian. He didn't like me telling him the truth. It was then he told me that I was becoming way too old for me to continue working there. I complained to him that he couldn't fire me because of the Texas Laws against age discrimination, but he said he would find a way. He did find a way not too long after our conversation.
"What do you mean? How did … how did Mr. Thomas figure out a way … that he could use to fire you and get around the age discrimination laws?" asked Ed Higgins, as a lead in for Mildred to make another preplanned accusation against her former employer.
"Well, one day, when Momma Maria, she was the house cook, was out of the house, Mr. Ken had Robert attack me in the kitchen. I had to grab a big spoon to defend myself against the lad who obviously had been drugged up by someone. Anyway, Mr. Thomas came running into the kitchen area and saw me standing over Robert holding the big spoon. He then took the spoon away from me and before I knew it, there were Sheriff's Deputies there. They arrested me on his say-so. He told them I had attacked the boy when he came in from school. I tried to explain that I was defending myself, but the Sheriff's Deputy wouldn't believe me.
"I later found out that the officer … the one who put the handcuffs on me and put me in his police car was a personal friend … of Mr. Thomas. Then, I went in front of the judge and he said he had a difficult time believing that I was arrested for defending myself, but he told me it was an election year and he had to give me something. What he did was assign me Deferred Adjudication and told me that after a year I could petition the courts for the charge to be dismissed and sealed. But, I am sure Mr. Thomas arranged this arrest as he knew the Deputy who came to his house that day. This was just his way of getting around the law concerning age discrimination."
"Mildred, ahh sorry, Ms. Johnston, can you remember any other conversations you and Mr. Thomas, your former employer, may have had about your position and how well you were performing and any other indications he was considering letting you go because of your age," prompted her lawyer, Ed Higgins.
"Well, Mr. Ken, err, I mean Mr. Thomas and me… we talked at least once a week about the upcoming events or contracts that needed to be negotiated. It wasn't every time but he did on occasion mention that he may have to replace me. He told me it was because I was getting up in years and he thought it would be best for the image of Three Finger Cove to have a more attractive woman doing the job.
"I couldn't believe he'd say that to me after I was recommended by some of the most influential families in Texas. I was their kid's nanny for many, many years and I was able to help raise their children into the wonderful and stable people they are today. I had asked them if I could help raise their children, and their parents wholeheartedly recommend me, but with this new hands-on parenting thing today they figured they'd try doing it themselves, and if they felt they needed help they would call me.
"I worked for Mr. Thomas for almost two years. At, first, there was no indication he wanted a much younger, more attractive person doing the job he hired me to do. It wasn't until I'd been working for Mr. Thomas for about a year that the innuendo and then his straight out telling me he was going to find someone else to do my job. He often mentioned the new person would have a college degree and have better looks as they would be on the front lines of meeting the people he interacted with at Three Finger Cove.
Mildred Johnston went on and on about how Ken Thomas mistreated her and constantly told her how he was going to replace her. She even went back to blaming Robert as being the instigator of the 'supposed' attack in the kitchen that got her arrested.
Mildred Johnston's testimony went on and on until the judge had decided it was time to end the afternoon's session. But before he declared the court's day over, he asked Ed Higgins if he needed more time to question his first witness. Mr. Higgins said he was through with Mildred Johnston, but he would like to reserve the option of recalling her if the need arose.
The judge agreed and he told Bill Jackson and Stewart Russell they could begin their cross-examination of the witness when court reconvened the following morning. The judge then told the participants to be ready to go at it first thing in the morning, at 9 AM. The judge then gaveled the day's proceedings to an end and he left the bench and retired to his chambers.
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