Disclaimer: Same as before, ya'll...yawns
Author's Note: Whoot! Twenty hits and no reviews! Yay! This is a record! I got the fourth and last Sisterhood book, so yay! I'm happy! I love Ann Brashares and want to write like her to an extent someday. She's my idol. Ya'll should read her stuff! XD
Chapter Two
Pashmina played with the hem of her skirt and fixed her scarf, tugging on its fraying ends as she slowly walked up to the stand. After her name had been called, her throat tightened and she began to sweat profusely, mopping the beads with the backs of her velvety paws. Taking in a breath, she let go of Dexter's equally clammy one and stood. Her heart skipped a few beats out of sheer anxiety, making her feel faint.
Breath quickened, she finally sat down at the stand, drained of all color, looking as white as the Bible page exposed towards her next to the rosy scarf she wore. The judge coldly cleared his throat, glaring down at her from his perch which was more like a tower. She felt the bailiff's stare as well.
"Miss Smith, would you please stand and take the oath?" he asked impatiently, holding the open Bible in one hand and fixing his navy badged hat with the other.
"Hm? Oh!" She got up on trembling legs and blushed. She bashfully looked down and placed her paw on the Holy Book.
"Do you, Miss Pashmina Smith, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
Pashmina wondered why these things always had to be so serious as she replied quietly with a "Yes." Then she realized that in this case, her own and her friends', that it was as solemn as it had to be. Their fates depended on this.
"You may now be seated for questioning." Pashmina sat shakily, squirming as the plaintiff's attorney crept up to the front with his lawyeresque shark-toothed smirk. That's when her eyes caught something a few feet away where the others were.
Maxwell subtly flailed his arms at her, frantically mouthing, 'Don't look so nervous! They'll think we're guilty!' She tried to obey and relaxed a bit, still feeling tense. She did not want to in jail for some ordeal she didn't fully understand.
"Miss Smith, on the night of the robbery-"
"Objection, your honor."
"Yes?'
"It wasn't a robbery, it was more like… community service!"
Groans, murmurs and a few gasps left the jury out of disbelief. The rest of the Ham-hams slapped themselves in frustration, sighing, wishing she'd picked her words more carefully. The judge looked utterly displeased.
"Any further objections from Miss Smith will be denied," he boomed, banging his gavel to the hard, round, and tall coaster-like thing on his podium. Pashmina angrily sunk back into her chair. "Mr. Clermont, you may continue to speak."
"Thank you, your honor." The man graciously moved his head down, turning back to Pashmina. "Miss Smith, when you and your friends broke into the repossession storage facility, what was going through your head?"
Pashmina drooped further into her seat, gulping. She sat up again, slumping away in a timid fashion.
"I was thinking that what we were doing was good. I-I thought we wouldn't get in that much trouble by just trying to do something for somebody who was in need." was her meek reply.
"And how is stealing helping out anyone else? Who were you taking those televisions for?"
"I-erm- we…We don't actually know their names, but when they told us they were victims of false repossession and that they needed our help, we volunteered." She took a pause.
Before she could continue, though, the man spoke again in a more aggressive tone.
"When things are repossessed, you usually cannot get them back without paying them off! …Am I right?"
"I honestly wouldn't know, Sir." Pashmina tried to be polite despite his scowl.
"Alright, so, say you did know. Would you have still gone?"
"I…ugh…"
"And tell me this. Since when did hamsters own eight televisions? What would they need all of those for?"
"Um…"
"Hm?"
"…I…We…um…"
"Are you in some sort of black market organization? A cult, maybe? Did you possibly think you were looting an abandoned area?" Pashmina remained silent, in shock.
"Miss Smith, please answer his questions," the judge said. Why did it seem like everyone was against them?
"I-I-I…I don't knoooow! Stop asking soooo muuuuch!" Pashmina wailed and burst into tears.
"Please step from the stand, ma'am."
She quickly obeyed the bailiff's orders and ran back down to her friends.
As she sprinted, Mr. Clermont grinned, shaking his head and muttering, "Blondes…"
"Are so great to fuck," a jury member added, sheepishly, getting slapped by a woman next to him. The attorney looked up and grinned at him, nodding.
Dexter rested a comforting paw on Pashmina's shoulder as she continued to weep. The others clustered nearer, feeling they were the only ones there for each other like a herd of deer during hunting season. It seemed as though everyone had their guns pointed at them, cocked and loaded. That's when Hamtaro was called to the stand for his testimony.
One by one, each Ham was interrogated. The jury was merciless, biased for the other side, practically having their minds already made up and the judge was not having a very good day. He was generous with convictions, but not with kindness.
But those were only minor factors compared to the main reason the Ham-hams felt they would lose this case. Their attorney had no idea what he was doing, and that diminished most of their hope.
"Zzz Zzz…"
"Sir…? Mr. Elder-Ham…?"
"Zzz…" The old man continued to snore.
"Hey, bub! Wake up so we don't hafta go to jail, ya fogie!" Boss roared in annoyance.
Pop!
Elder-Ham's nose bubble broke as the old man woke up. He opened his bushy, brow-covered eyes and looked up at the judge, disoriented as usual.
"Go on with what you were asking."
"Oh yes! How could I forget?"
"Yes?"
"…"
"You were saying…?"
"Go on…" Mr. Clermont encouraged as well.
"…Eh…I can't remember."
The inhabitants of the courtroom fell over.
"We're screwed!" Stan said.
"Oh yeah…" Howdy agreed.
"I don't wanna go to jail!" Oxnard complained in a blubbered manner.
"Ookyooooooo!" cried Penelope.
"Don't worry, Penny dear. I'm sure the rest will go fine," Pashmina reassured.
"Oui…Zat ees, eef vous 'adn't vucked zis up vor uz earlier!" Bijou snarled bitterly. Pashmina teared up.
The others looked at her in shock.
"Bij, that wasn't very nice," Hamtaro gently scolded.
"Or clean," Dexter agreed.
"Or ladylike," added Maxwell.
"Vell, eet's true."
They stopped and thought about it for a moment, looking at Pashmina then at each other. Shrugging, many replied all too simply,
"I guess you're right," and walked off as recess was called and the clock chimed noon. Pashmina let out a whiny groan, rolling her teal eyes, and stomped after them.
"We have reached a unanimous verdict…" one of the jury members squeaked in a terribly high-pitched voice. The paper she held in front of her contained notes, suitable for her fur color.
"What'd I tell you about those blondes?" The strange man from the jury said to another, still dwelling on his subject from earlier.
"Shut up." He was slapped again by the same woman plus two or three more.
"What verdict have you reached?" the judge inquired after she'd finished her opening speech.
Slowly, she opened her mouth and slowly, the words spilled out, it seemed to the Hams. While they held paws or crossed fingers, her words seeped in. Hearts racing, lunches resurfacing, they all heard the answer as Jingle continued to softly play 'Taps'.
"We find the defendants… guilty… of attempted theft," she dramatically answered.
The judge whacked his podium with the gavel to silence the buzzing room. In his regular booming voice, he announced in a monotonous rush,
"Defendants are found guilty. Their fine will be set at one million dollars, all together."
The Hams gaped with jaws dropped and a loud inward,
"HEKE?"
They heard the judge.
One million dollars was a lot. Dexter grabbed his calculator and entered in the numbers, dividing by sixteen. He knew he'd be able to pay off his, and some of his friends could as well, but not everyone could, so, to be good friends, they chose the second punishment. They were all going to jail for forty months, nearly a grueling four years, for something that was intended to be helpful, not criminal.
As they walked out of the building, blinding flashes and microphones were all around. The news wanted their scoop, but no one felt like talking as two slightly familiar faces came out of the crowd. The Hams tried walking past them, but they quietly called so nobody else heard,
"Thanks for taking the fall for us. It's better you go than us. Plus, we'll see if we can get you out." Those shifty eyes said otherwise.
At that, more charges would have been pressed, for each Ham wanted to shoot, stab, or drown those rats who got them into this mess. Good thing they had the sense to walk off right after having the nerve to say that. Tch. Some victims they turned out to be…