Sardines

Here is a story I had to write for my Writing for Publication class. I hope you like it. Here is the prompt: Write a narrative explaining why [an attorney, physician, police officer, judge, teacher, professor, nurse] find themselves in a hall outside a courtroom.



“All rise for the honorable Judge Malloy,” the bailiff shouted, and the courtroom rose. Malloy entered the courtroom and urged the crowd to sit down. He shuffled through assorted papers on his desk to jog his memory about the case at hand: Porter vs. Potter. It was a mess of a situation for all parties involved – Mike Porter, a 34-year-old professor of English at the University of Southern California was accused of having an affair with one of his students. The girl’s parents, John and Elizabeth Potter, brought him to court on charges of rape, for there was no way their daughter could perform such a despicable act of disrespect. This lawsuit was much to the chagrin of their daughter.

The trial had reached its third day, and Porter’s lawyers were able to call their first witnesses to the stand. Porter’s attorneys opted for the “good character defense,” as they aimed not to necessarily acquit Porter of his crime but at least reduce the sentencing. They had two witnesses lined up – one of Porter’s lifelong friends, who was an active and respected teacher in the county’s high school system, while the other was the girl’s physician who had examined her after the incident and felt the act was consensual, not forcible.

The questioning period came and went with no real surprises; each key witness served as the instrument the defense team hoped they would, which eased Porter’s tensions considerably. The Potter family’s team of lawyers admirably cross-examined them, and by the end of the day, those in attendance had no idea how the jury would rule. With the day’s time running out, the judge deemed that the fourth and final day of questioning would occur the following Monday. His final gavel strike of the day sent the courtroom heading towards the exit. The crowds dispersed first, and each team of lawyers, the Potter family, and the day’s witnesses followed them out into the hallway. The bailiff then handcuffed Porter and handed him over to a county police officer, who escorted Porter through the courtroom and into the hallway once the crowds had cleared.

As Porter entered the hallway, he glanced to a bench on his left and saw himself sitting there. After doing a double-take, Mike Porter, not a professor of English at all but instead a 56-year-old county judge, woke up and realized he was still confined to the straitjacket he was in when he had fallen asleep. Nurse Rosings sat to his left, monitoring Porter’s demeanor, for she had to keep an eye on him as he was about to go on trial for murder.