The Contract

by Jerry D. Young

  “Now. Onward. Who is next?”

  “I want to tell you the real truth!” Rodney said, leaping to his feet before his father or the attorneys could stop him.

  “Good. You being the one on the other end of the big stick, so to speak, I think we should hear your side.”

  Harry chuckled. Bridgette had whispered the translation to him.

  “What?” Rodney asked, totally confused.

  “Tell him your side, you idiot!” his father whispered to him.

  “Oh. Yeah. Jason hates me. I been making moves on his girlfriends. He just cannot deal with it rattly. So he tried to kill me with the javelins. Sixteen times.”

  “Rattly?” Judge Grovener asked.

  “I think he means rationally,” Jason said.

  Everyone, including the Faulkenberg group looked relieved at that translation.

  Judge Grovener looked down at Jason. Jason shrugged. “We just had some psychology in health class. Rodney and I are in that class together.”

  “Oh.” The judge looked over at Rodney.

  “That pretty much sum it up?”

  “Huh?”

  Judge Grovener frowned. “Is that all you have to say?”

  “No. I think he should go to jail for at least twenty years for trying to kill me.”

  “Shut up and sit down,” James Faulkenberg told his son angrily.

  “I will allow that particular outburst,” the judge said.

  “Who else?” he asked.

  Kathy raised her hand.

  “Ah. The lady in question.”

  At the snort from Rodney, the judge shot a warning look toward Faulkenberg’s attorneys. They hurriedly, and very quietly grouped heads with the Congressman and Rodney.

  “Miss Wilkenson. Please tell us what you know of the incident.”

  “Rodney grabbed me. He said he wanted to talk to me about what I did the night before. He had already seen me three times that day and said really nasty things. I was afraid he was going to hurt me. I tried to jerk away. But I could not. The night before I caught him by surprise. But, he was ready this time and I could not do anything! If Jason had not…”

  “I get the picture,” the judge said. “Take a moment to calm down. Then I need to ask you a question.”

  Kathy bit her lips together and wiped her eyes.

  Kathy’s mother kept her hand on Kathy’s waist to help reassure her when Kathy nodded and said, “Okay.”

  “It is obvious you were upset, and scared. This was on the athletic field at your school. Did you really think anyone could actually hurt you there, with all the other people around?”

  The question was asked quietly, but it was obvious that the judge expected an answer. An answer that was realistic.

  Kathy’s lip started to quiver. “Not kill me or anything. Not really. Not even beat me up. But Rodney hurts with words, too. And really hurt me once, with just one poke… Down here… when I was eleven… I was afraid he would hurt me like that again. It was only one second… less… the other time…”

  “I am going to kill…”

  Coach Crandall and Harry had Mr. Wilkenson out of the room before he could finish the sentence.

  Mrs. Wilkenson held her daughter as she sobbed.

  “Now, this certainly throws a different light on the incident,” the judge said, looking over at the Faulkenberg group. “Five minutes, then it is your turn again.”

  “Your Honor, the girl’s father made threatening…”

  “I heard no such statement,” Judge Grovener said sharply.

  The attorney quickly turned to the Congressman, seeing the steel in the Judges posture.

  Coach Crandall put his head back inside the door. “Bootsi!”

  He motioned her outside.

  “Get your father down here!” the coach told Bootsi. “I have to get back inside. The bailiff will let this slide, if we just get him calmed down and do not let him back inside. Believe me, he sympathizes, but he does have a job to do.”

  Bootsi nodded. She ran to a phone, used it then came back only a minute or so later.

  “He is just down the street. He will be here in just a couple of minutes.”

  Mr. Wilkenson was pacing, glancing over at the door of the courtroom and muttering. The bailiff had gone back inside, but when the coach checked to see if the Judge had started again, Coach Crandall saw the bailiff standing just inside the doors.

  “Dad! Over here!” Bootsi called when her father entered the courthouse.

  “You going to arrest me, Bob?” Mr. Wilkenson asked.

  “Hell, no, Alvin! I just have to get you away from here till you calm down, or you will get arrested.”

  “That kid… that animal… touched my daughter when she was eleven!”

  “Yeah, well, we will definitely be following up on that. But Judge Grovener is a very good judge. And a very good man. The Congressman has no idea who he is dealing with. Now, you are going with me. I was just coming off duty when Bootsi called. We can go down to the station. I can get you in the weight room. You can work off some of that steam there.

  “Bootsi, you page me when we can come back.”

  “Okay, Dad.”

  Mr. Wilkenson turned to Coach Crandall. “Thanks, Coach, for getting me out of there. I would have done something really stupid, if you had not. And thank the bailiff. I think I am lucky he did not put me down.”

  Bootsi’s father said, “If it was Judge Grovener’s regular bailiff, Harry, there was no luck involved. He chose not to put you down. Come on. I want you out of here, now.”

  Coach Crandall and Bootsi went back inside. The coach whispered to Harry, “He is gone. With a cop friend. And Thanks.”

  Harry nodded and moved back to the bench.

  When Harry looked at Judge Grovener and nodded the judge looked at the Congressman. “You ready to get on with this, Jim?”

  The congressman nodded. One of the attorneys stood. “Your Honor, this so called information from the distant past, and even from the night previous to the day in question is immaterial. It has no bearing on the specific events of the attack on my client’s son.”

  Judge Grovener looked over at Kathy for a moment. She had composed herself.

  “I do believe that I will allow those events you mentioned be dealt with separately.” He surveyed the courtroom. “No further mention of the Halloween Party events, nor anything previous. Keep all remarks pertinent to the activity on the athletic field.

  “Now, who will speak next? How about you, Coach Crandall?”

  “Yes, sir, Your Honor.” Coach Crandall stood. “I had the javelin throwers doing a light practice that day. Everyone, actually. It was a warm day, after several cold ones. We had been working inside. I did not want anyone to pull something. Runners were…”

  “I do appreciate the physical aspects of training regimens, Coach. But I really need the details of the javelin incident.”

  “Yes, Your Honor. I heard Rodney yell. I turned around to find out why, and saw Jason McKindrick throw the last javelin. I immediately asked him what he was doing, using very un-teacherly language, I am ashamed to say.

  “As I was trying to determine what had just happened, Rodney ran up, saying that Jason had tried to kill him by throwing javelins at him.

  “I sent Rodney up to the office, the others to the gym, then talked to Jason, to try and find out his side of what had happened.”

  The coach looked over at Jason. Jason smiled encouragingly.

  “And?” the judge prompted.

  “Jason told me he had thrown the javelins in a manner to make Rodney move away from Kathy Wilkenson. That he had no intention of hitting him with one, only scare him.”

  The coach fell silent.

  “Did you believe him? Do you believe him now?”

  “Yes. Then and now. It was still a terrible and dangerous breach of athletic safety regulations. There had been an incident at Montrose High recently and we had gone over the safety aspects of several track and field e
vents. Jason knew exactly what he was doing.

  “I suspended him from the team, initially, for a month, with other restriction on his athletic activities. After consultations with his guardian, our Vice-Principal in charge of discipline, and Jason’s attorney, I suspended him for three months, and increased the other discipline similarly.”

  “Do you believe Rodney was in any danger from Jason?”

  “Yes, Your Honor, but minimal. Anyone can trip, or get a flake of dust in the eye during a toss. But the risk was miniscule, in my opinion.”

  The judge nodded. “Coach Andrews?”

  She stood. “Your Honor, I did not see any of the javelins thrown. Only when I noticed my ladies deviating from the run I had sent them on, being very specific about stay away from the javelin throwers target area, did I look around.

  “I saw a line of javelins across the athletic field, and Rodney running toward Coach Crandall and Jason, as were several other people.

  “I realized there was something wrong and ran over. Coach Crandall was dealing with the situation. I instructed those in my charge to return to the gym to get their showers, as this happened just before end of period.

  “Coach Crandall asked me to see to his calls, as well, after he had sent Rodney to the office. I saw him talking to Jason.

  “After he sent Jason to the office, he talked to me about what I had seen. I told him what I have told you.”

  “Did you see any of the activity involving Kathy Wilkenson?”

  “No, Your Honor. Vicki Murcheson is their sponsor. She was called away right at the start of the period. The cheerleaders are a good group. Angela Griffon was left in charge to simply step through a new cheer.”

  “I do not remember hearing her name mentioned as being here.”

  Bootsi raised her hand.

  “Yes?” the judge asked.

  “Angela had to leave, too, before it all happened.”

  “But you were there?”

  Coach Andrews sat down and Bootsi stood.

  “Yes, Your Honor.” Her eyes went to Rodney, then Jason.

  “As the young man said, just the truth,” Judge Grovener prompted.

  “None of us… the cheerleaders… like Rodney. He is always trying to touch us… where he should not. And he says terrible things. When we saw him headed toward us, we all did what we usually do. We went in the other direction.

  “I should have stayed with Kathy, but I did not know she had knelt down to tie her shoe.” Tears started to stream down Bootsi’s face. “I am sorry, Kathy. I should have been there to help!”

  She wiped the backs of her hands across her cheeks to clear the tears and looked at Judge Grovener again. “I did turn back when I heard Rodney yell at Kathy. I realized then that she was not with the rest of us. I did not really see the first three javelins land. They were just suddenly there. But when Rodney started to run I watched Jason throw each of the rest. He put them two or three feet behind Rodney each time.”

  “Did you try in any way to stop him?”

  “If I had been close enough,” Bootsi said, glaring over at Rodney, “I would have hit him in a spot lower than Kathy did. He would still be walking funny.”

  “Uh, I actually meant, did you try to stop Jason McKindrick,” the judge said, finding difficult not to smile at the young woman’s expression of rage.

  “Oh. No. Of course not. Jason did the right thing. Rodney tried to hurt Kathy. Jason stopped him in the best way he could. I am afraid, that if it had been me, I probably would have been trying to hit Rodney, not just get them close to him.”

  The judge raised his hand toward the congressman’s attorneys.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.” He looked at Bootsi. “Try not to make inflammatory statements.”

  “Yes, Your Honor. Maybe I better just sit down, then.”

  The judge nodded.

  Alan stood up. “Your Honor,” he said, “I think Jason did the right thing. If I had thought I could have helped, I would have. But I am not nearly good enough to do what Jason was. I just kept feeding him the javelins. I took Mark’s and Randy’s out of their practice bags when Jason had thrown all of his and mine. They had to go back to the gym and did not see anything. Randy’s wrist was bothering him. Mark went with him to the nurse for an ice pack.”

  “I see,” the judge said, studying Alan. He looked over at Jason. “So, they were not all your javelins?”

  Alan sat down, realizing the judge was finished with him.

  Jason stood up, knowing Judge Grovener was bothered by the fact that he had use someone else’s javelin.

  “You have something else you want to say?” the judge asked.

  “I thought you might want to ask me about the borrowed javelins. Whether or not I felt using them would pose additional risk of inaccurate throws.”

  “The though occurred to me,” the judge said. “Elaborate.”

  “No additional risk. The track team has twenty practice javelins. New this year. All from the same lot. Not identical, but very, very close.”

  The judge looked at the coach. “That is right, Your Honor.”

  “Sit down.”

  Jason sat.

  Of those that had witnessed the event, only Sara and Trinity had not spoken.

  Trinity stood up. “We were running. I heard Sara say something. Then I saw Rodney grab Kathy’s arm. She almost fell when he jerked on it. Then the first javelin landed and Rodney let her go. The second one had Rodney backing up. The third and he was running for his life.”

  She bit her lip. “I did not mean that Jason was trying to kill him! I just meant…” Trinity cut anguished eyes toward Jason.

  “I mean, Jason kept throwing javelins, just behind Rodney as he ran away, across the field.”

  Trinity dropped into her chair. “I am sorry, Jason!”

  The judge’s eyes were drawn to Sara as she slowly stood.

  Sara looked at Kathy, then Rodney, then Jason. Finally she looked at Judge Grovener.

  “I think I had better just sit back down. Everything I say will be inflammatory. Like, We all told the truth. Rodney is a liar.”

  “I see what you mean. Sit down.” Judge Grovener said.

  He raised a hand toward the other side of the room again. “I already told her to sit down. Not to mention I had fair warning that the comment would be inflammatory. I will give it the same weight as the other inflammatory statements.”

  “Now,” he continued after things had settled a moment, “The way I see this, is that the crux of the matter is…”

  The judge frowned at Rodney.

  “That means the pivot… The key… Explain to him,”

  Judge Grovener took a moment, then continued. “The crux of the matter is whether or not Jason’s intent was to inflict harm or to prevent a perceived harm. Which brings us to the actual ability of the young man’s throwing arm.”

  He looked at Jason. “I propose to test it. We will reconvene at the school in one half hour. Make sure you have at least sixteen javelins available, Coach Crandall.”

  He banged his gavel once and left the courtroom.

  Jason sat calmly as people glared at one another as the courtroom emptied.

  They stood in two groups, near the center of the athletic field. Harry helped Bridgette set up the portable recorder and her note machine as Judge Grovener walked over the area.

  “Now, unless Rodney wants to recreate his run with Jason recreating his throws, I think we will just use some targets to see how accurate Jason is.”

  Everyone looked stunned for a moment.

  Coach Andrews said, “The archery targets.”

  The students, except for Jason and Rodney, hurried off with the coaches to bring back and set up one of the heavy straw archery targets.

  “Show me,” the Judge said.

  “How far back?” Jason asked.

  “Ninety feet.”

  Harry stepped off the distance. The judge asked, “Everyone agree this is ninety feet?”

&n
bsp; There were no dissenters.

  Alan handed Jason three javelins. They were all in the bull and center ring in seconds.

  “Whoa!” the judge said.

  “It looks impressive, Your Honor,” Jason said as Alan ran down to get the javelins. “But that is not how I was throwing to chase off Rodney. It was slightly further, but mostly, I was throwing an arching trajectory to make them enter the ground and stand up.”

  “He can throw the damn things all day long,” James Faulkenberg said. “It still will not prove he can throw and not hit a target. Particularly just two feet away, twelve times in a row.”

  “I know how we can prove it,” Alan said. “I know he can do it,” he continued. “I was there.” He reached down and handed several javelins. He tossed another sideways to Jason.

  “Show the judge, Jason.” Alan ran down the field, at an angle.

  Jason hefted the javelin, waited a few more moments, then ran and threw.

  Alan never looked back. The javelin landed two feet behind him. He kept going. Sara handed Jason another. It too, landed two feet behind Alan as he continued to run.

  After the third, the Judge reached out and touched Jason’s arm. “Enough.”

  Alan finally looked back, when he heard no further thuds.

  He slowed, turned, then jogged back.

  Judge Grovener looked over at Jim Faulkenberg. “Adequate?”

  “No. It is not. He is Jason’s friend. They could have set this up. Timed it out. Rodney says he was running for his life. Taking evasive action. A simple run, like the target, proves nothing.”

  “I was a very good offensive back in college, Your Honor,” Harry said. “I can juke with the best of them.” He was taking off his gun belt. He handed it to the Judge.

  He took one of the javelins from Alan and handed it to Jason. “I’ve seen you compete, boy. Show ’em what you can do.”

  Harry started jogging downfield, then put on a burst of speed. Jason watched for just a moment, then ran and threw. Alan tossed him another javelin. Harry had changed direction slightly. Each of the next five javelins landed slightly behind the running black man.

  “Beyond my range,” Jason said quietly, when Alan handed him a seventh javelin. “He is a lot faster than Rodney.”