STONE
Hmm?
LEE
You’re going to testify FOR this murderer. You are going to get up there and put your hand on the Holy Bible and say that you believe, in your expert opinion, that the boy is out of his skull!
STONE
No, I don’t think so. I don’t think that is why Graine subpoenaed us. In fact, I believe she thinks Oscar is…perfectly sane. And I have to agree with her.
LEE
But…then—what? Why? Why is she calling us as witnesses?
STONE
I expect she wants us to testify that there is a God.
Scene Four
The courtroom. Somewhere in the middle of the space is the witness box. There might be a judge’s bench suggested in some way, but the judge him/herself should not be visible. ADAM and OSCAR sit at one of the long lawyers’ tables. THRINH and GRAINE sit behind them in the first row of observation benches. ALDINE sits at the other table. REV. LEE sits behind her. HUDSON is in the witness box, and JEFF circles him as he asks questions. HUDSON fiddles with his tie as he speaks.
JEFF
So, given the results of the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator, the Rorschach, the Glial Cell Mapping, and the numerous other physiological and psychological tests you administered to the defendant, it is your option that he is sane and fully responsible for his actions?
HUDSON
It most certainly is. He is completely sane.
JEFF
And are these tests ever mistaken, Doctor?
HUDSON glares at JEFF before answering.
HUDSON
Well, now, it’s important for ya’ll to realize how these tests work. It’s not computer dating. I don’t punch his answers into a terminal and get a read out. The tests provide me with a pool of data, which I interpret using insight and experience.
JEFF
But Doctor…the police found no drugs or money on the defendant when he was arrested. He is not wanted in conjunction with any other violent crimes. In fact, he has no history of violent behavior that we know of. You yourself have said that he is not a violent person by nature. The police found no signs of a robbery or, indeed, of a struggle of any kind. What, then, was the motive for this crime?
LEE gets ALDINE’s attention by yanking on her hair. She turns around and shoos him off.
HUDSON
Could be a lot of things.
JEFF
Could it be, as the defense suggested in their opening statement, that he heard the voice of God speaking to him? Telling him to commit this crime?
HUDSON
I don’t think so.
JEFF
So, then assuming the accused is not a fantastic liar, what did he hear?
HUDSON
Radio on too loud someplace?
JEFF glares at him.
Er…it is possible that he heard voices that were not of a schizoid-affective nature.
GRAINE and ADAM look at each other.
JEFF
Dr. Hudson, do you mean to say that the defendant could be sane and still hear voices?
HUDSON
Oh, sure. Happens to a lot of people. He does not exhibit any of the other signs of schizophrenia, the disorder most commonly associated with aural hallucinations. But he may have something called Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
JEFF
What is that?
HUDSON
When a person experiences a deeply stressful event, they can exhibit psychological damage long after the event is over. Rape victims, for example, might hear a voice in their head telling them that they are dirty or somehow invited the attack. It’s like a message from the subconscious.
JEFF
And this message can sound, to the conscious mind, like a voice?
HUDSON
Yeah, that’s right.
GRAINE leans over and whispers in ADAM’s ear.
JEFF
Dr. Hudson, do you know of any event in Oscar Telford’s life that might have led to such a condition?
HUDSON
As part of my psychological profile of the defendant, I compiled as complete a biography as possible. Telford told me he had no family.
JEFF
Are they dead? On vacation?
HUDSON
He didn’t say. But I inferred from his tone and demeanor that they were either killed or had abandoned him.
JEFF
And the traumatic experience of losing his family could cause him to hear voices?
HUDSON
Yup. He might feel alone, frightened, powerless. Like a kid lost in the grocery store. It’s only natural that he might hear the voice of what he believed to be an authority figure guiding him. The voice would become a kind of surrogate parent for him.
OSCAR laughs and GRAINE mouths “stop” to him.
JEFF
But he would not be insane?
HUDSON
Nope. He would still understand, on some level, that the voice was really his own. It would not be a psychotic symptom. It’s a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress of the traumatic incident.
JEFF
Have you seen this type of thing before, Doctor?
HUDSON
Oh, well…not quite like this exactly. But I did have this dog once who got himself stuck under the house—
JEFF
Okay! Thank you, Doctor. No more questions.
JEFF sits and ADAM stands and approaches the witness box.
ADAM
Dr. Hudson, in cases of patients with PTSD, do the voices normally advise the patient to commit violent acts?
HUDSON
I’m sure it’s happened.
ADAM
Doctor, haven’t the voices associated with PTSD been likened to hypnotic states in patients?
HUDSON
Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. It’s like they’re recovering memories or receiving instructions while under hypnosis. Their conscious mind becomes quiet and allows their subconscious mind to tell them what they need to stop the feeling of stress.
ADAM
I was once hypnotized by a magician I saw at a fair in college. My buddies put me up to it. He made me moon the crowd.
HUDSON laughs.
HUDSON
Good times. Good times.
ADAM
It was. Everyone laughed, including me. I’m a pretty jovial person, as my wife will tell you. She was in the crowd that day.
HUDSON
Bet ya she fell in love at first sight.
ALDINE stands.
ALDINE
Your Honor, I don’t see what Mr. Crawford’s courting rituals have to do with this witness.
ADAM
They don’t. Except that the doctor here would probably embarrass me by saying that mooning the crowd wasn’t some random, uncharacteristic act I would never have done on my own. He would say that I wanted to do it all along. Isn’t that the way it works, Dr. Hudson?
ALDINE sits.
HUDSON
That’s right. Even under hypnosis, a person cannot be made to perform acts that are fundamentally contrary to his or her true nature. You can’t make a chicken hunt a fox. The hypnotist can’t create; he can only bring to the surface what is already there.
ADAM
Dr. Hudson, you testified earlier that you found no predisposition to violence in Oscar Telford’s personality. Is that correct?
HUDSON
I…um…yes. He didn’t seem violent. At the time.
ADAM
In fact, you said that he did not have a violent nature at all. I can have the record read back to you, if you have forgotten.
HUDSON
No…I—I remember what I said.
ADAM
So, if Oscar did not have a violent nature to begin with, how could this ‘voice from the subconscious’, as you call it, convince him to do something violent? Wouldn’t that be a case of creating rather than just bringing to the surface?
HUDSON
/>
Uh…uh, well, I suppose so. But…but…it is possible…uh…that he did have a violent streak that was buried very deep.
ADAM
So, you may have been wrong in your earlier assessment of Oscar?
HUDSON
I…could be.
JEFF is trying not to laugh.
ADAM
Besides, if this so-called ‘voice from his subconscious’ came to him as a means of comfort for the loss of his parents, why would it suddenly tell him to put himself into even greater stress?
HUDSON
I’m not sure.
ADAM
Seems like you’re not sure of anything about this patient, Dr. Hudson.
HUDSON
I’m sure he’s not insane! And I’m damn sure he didn’t hear God talking to him!
ADAM
Thank you, Doctor. No more questions.
HUDSON fidgets on the stand, unsure of what to do next. ADAM goes back to the table and receives a discreet high-five from GRAINE. Black out.
Scene Five
OSCAR is alone in the courtroom. THRINH enters. She stops short when she sees OSCAR.
THRINH
Adam forgot his files. What are you doing here?
OSCAR
The bailiff likes me. He lets me sit in here after each session so I can sort of process the whole thing. Don’t worry, he stands outside the door the whole time.
THRINH
I’d better catch up with them.
OSCAR
Why are you doing this?
THRINH
It’s my internship. I’m going to be a lawyer.
OSCAR
Why?
THRINH
To help people.
OSCAR
People like me?
THRINH moves to the desk and places the files carefully in front of OSCAR.
You want me to be innocent.
THRINH
It doesn’t matter. If we can manipulate the rules in our favor, we win.
OSCAR
What about justice? I thought that was the point of the law.
THRINH
The law isn’t based on justice. It’s based on precedent.
OSCAR
What about the moral fabric of society?
THRINH
We have no moral fabric. We only have the law.
OSCAR
Then you have a problem. What I did. It’s against the law.
THRINH
But there were mitigating circumstances.
OSCAR
Oh yeah.
THRINH
Killing isn’t always against the law. There’s war. Capital punishment. And what about people who shouldn’t be allowed to live? What about Hitler or Charles Manson or Pol Pot?
OSCAR
Who am I to say? What was their crime? They killed people. You’re going in circles.
THRINH
Will you do it again? If God tells you to?
OSCAR
If God tells me to?
OSCAR leans forward and picks up one of the files on the desk and opens it. THRINH instinctively backs away quickly. OSCAR reads from the file.
“…possible delusions of grandeur, but otherwise mentally stable.” Is this what your expert is going to say?
THRINH
It’s what she found when she examined you.
OSCAR
What would you do if you could do anything? If someone said you could have anything you wanted, do anything, no matter how impossible it seems?
THRINH
I’d be the first Asian-American woman on the Supreme Court.
OSCAR
No, not that. That’s possible. I mean something really fantastic. Would you bring your father back?
THRINH
I—how did you know about my father?
OSCAR
I don’t know. Was he a lawyer, too?
THRINH
My father? No. He was an American. That’s all he talked about. How great this country is, how good it is to live in a place where you can work your way up from bag-boy to managing a supermarket in only eighteen years. He was probably the last person alive who really believed in the American Dream.
OSCAR rises, stands by the window, looking out.
OSCAR
Did you get along with him?
THRINH
We argued sometimes, but—excuse me, I have work to do.
THRINH moves to exit.
OSCAR
I mean, did you do things with him? Family things?
THRINH
Of course.
OSCAR
Like what?
THRINH
Just…things. Dinners. Softball games. I’m busy, so—
OSCAR
Did you have a barbeque on Easter Sunday and hunt for eggs?
THRINH
We never did that.
OSCAR
Some other holiday, then. Thanksgiving. Everyone crowded around a television watching football, waiting to eat. Or Fourth of July…
THRINH
My father loved Fourth of July. He’d rent a little boat and motor out into the middle of the lake.
OSCAR
And the air was warm—that kind of warm where you can smell everything on the breeze. The water lapping against the side of the boat almost drowning out the happy cheers of people in nearby boats.
THRINH
We’d watch fireworks and eat candied apples.
OSCAR
The kind that turn your tongue bright red?
THRINH
And they are so sweet, you can feel your teeth rotting. Once I accidentally got one stuck in my brother’s hair.
OSCAR
Accidentally?
THRINH
Well…I was ten. And my mother had to cut off half his hair to get the thing out. My mother was yelling and my brother crying, and my father just laughed and rubbed my head. He said, ‘that’s okay, sweetness. It’s not against the law to make mistakes here.’ Does…God tell you things about people?
OSCAR
People tell me things about themselves.
THRINH
How can you be sure you aren’t having delusions?
OSCAR
At first I thought that I did. But it seems to me that delusions would feel more…I don’t know…more imaginary. More like a dream. Like you get lost in it and lose sight of the real world. This is more like…hearing a song you know you’ve never heard before and knowing all the words by heart.
THRINH
Could you bring my dad back?
OSCAR crosses to THRINH. She starts to back away, but then forces herself not to. OSCAR reaches out and lifts the cross on her necklace.
OSCAR
Maybe then I’d be redeemed.
ADAM’s voice is heard from the outer office.
ADAM’S VOICE
Thrinh! Where are those files?
THRINH jerks away and runs out.
Scene Six
The courtroom. FATHER STONE sits in the witness box. ADAM paces in front of him. OSCAR sits at ADAM’s table, GRAINE and THRINH sit behind. ALDINE and JEFF sit at the other table. OSCAR, who has been attentive and engaged throughout the rest of the proceedings, now sits with his head down on the desk and seems to stare out of a window or at the wall.
STONE
…and so…Original Sin…is not the sin of sexuality, or even of knowledge. It is the sin…of disobedience. Adam and Eve were cast out because they did not obey the command of God to keep away from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And because of that sin, mankind is destined to sin forever.
ADAM
So, what you’re saying, Father Stone, is that disobeying God, well…it can have serious consequences?
STONE
Yes.
ADAM
I see.
ADAM paces around the room, occasionally glancing toward OSCAR who sighs loudly from time to time.
And…um, but that was a long time
ago. Could something similar happen now?
STONE
I don’t see why not. Time doesn’t matter. God is now as He was at the beginning.
ADAM
And if someone were to…receive instructions from God. Would he or she feel—given God’s history—that those instructions were to be obeyed, no matter what?
STONE
I’m sure he would. If he believes in God, that is.
ADAM
And, Father Stone, when you spoke with Oscar Telford…was it your impression that that he did, in fact, believe in the presence of God?
The Neophyte_a play in three acts Page 9
