CHAPTER TWO

COURTROOM DRAMA

I realize that I kind of rushed the last chapter in my previous story, Family Affairs, in particular the custody trial of the Turners concerning Timmy. This chapter will go into a little more detail concerning that.

Trixie Tang and Timmy Turner were at the Dimmsdale Beach. They both smiled at each other. Trixie was sitting on her blanket while Timmy was laying on his stomach and looking up at Trixie with his blue eyes.

"His eyes are such a pretty shade of blue," thought Trixie to herself, "he's so cute, also."

With that Trixie reached over and ran her fingers through Timmy's thick messy brown hair. That's another thing she liked about Timmy; his thick hair.

Suddenly Timmy looked up just past Trixie. His expression filled with alarm.

"Timmy," said Trixie, "what's wrong."

"I don't know Trixie," said Timmy who stood up.

Trixie did as well and looked in the direction that Timmy was staring. She looked at Timmy. The eleven year old boy hadn't gone through his growth spurt yet, so he was still shorter than Trixie. In fact, he looked very small and very vulnerable making Trixie feel extremely protective of her boyfriend.

"Timmy," said Trixie, "I don't see anything."

"It's coming, " said Timmy, "I need to protect you and everyone again."

"What's coming?," said Trixie.

"That," said Timmy.

Suddenly, a gaping hole appeared in the sand and began to pull Trixie towards it. Timmy pushed the Asian American girl out of the way and stood between the opening and his girlfriend. It was ,now, pulling Timmy towards it.

"TIMMY," yelled Trixie.

The sand closed in around Timmy's feet, and it began to pull the buck toothed boy down. Trixie grabbed his hands and tried to pull him out. She did pull him forward some, but then Timmy fell forward and began to sink. The brown haired boy's body was at an angle and the sand began to cover his legs. Then his swimming trunks started to disappear under the beach. Timmy was sinking quicker. Trixie still had Timmy's hands in hers; she struggled to pull him out, but the force sucking him in was too strong. The sand was now up to his shoulders. The boy looked up at Trixie. He had a bittersweet expression on his face.

"So long Trixie," said Timmy.

With that Timmy's head disappeared beneath the sand.

"TIMMY," said Trixie, "NO!"

"NOOOO," said Trixie bolting up in her bed.

The young girl took a breath. It was just a dream. Trixie then looked up at her window. She thought she saw something; some type of movement. Trixie rushed to her window. There was something flying off in the distance. On a broom? That wasn't the weird part of it though; the weird part was that the person on the broom looked...it looked like Crocker.

The next day.

The Dimmsdale Family Courthouse was crowded not just with witnesses subpoened but with spectators. Apparently the entire town of Dimmsdale had taken an interest in Timmy Turner's home situation.

"Thank you Dr. Hunter," said the family court attorney, "you may step down."

Timmy's pediatrician went to his seat.

"The court now calls Geraldine Waxelplax to the stand."

The principal of Dimmsdale Elementary School got up and took the stand.

"Miss Waxelplax," said the lawyer, "how long have you known Timmy Turner?"

"Since the third grade," said Waxelplax.

"And how would you describe him as a student?"

"I would describe him as very kind and caring."

"Is it true that he's had some trouble academically in the past?"

"Yes," said the principal, "but he's doing much better."

"What do you attribute that to?" asked the attorney.

"Part of it was to due to a somewhat unbalanced teacher who used to work for us and seemed to get a pleasure out of failing Timmy."

"You said part of it," said the lawyer, "what other factors would cause it."

"Timmy is fairly bright person," said Waxelplax, "but he has a lot of problems focusing and he has an extremely short attention span. It's likely he has ADD, Attention Deficit Disoder."

"You said likely, you don't know for certain."

"No."

"Why not?"

Waxelplax drew in her breath and then said,

"Because his parents have never had him tested for it. I, in fact, have mentioned it several times over the years to them and recommened that Timmy be tested for it."

"And why did his parents never had him tested?," asked the lawyer.

"Because," said Waxelplax, very uneasily..."well..."
"Well what?"

"They seem to forget things about Timmy all of the time. In fact, there have been times when Timmy had things after school and his parents were supposed to pick him up but they've forgotten him. I've had to drive him home sometimes," said the principal.

"In your opinion, would you call Todd and Theresa Turner neglectful parents."

"Yes," said the principal, "I think they love Timmy but he is clearly not their priority."

"What would be your recommendation?," asked the lawyer.

"I would recommend that Timmy should be removed from the Turner home for a period of time," said Waxelplax, "and stay with the Johnsons while we work with the Turners to be better parents."

"Thank you Miss Waxelplax," said the attorney, "You may step down."

This line was questioning went on with every subpoened witness . Basically the story was the same; Todd and Theresa did love Timmy and at times showed him some affection. However, mostly they'd be wrapped up in other things whenever the boy needed them. Sometimes when Timmy was hurt, they would clean up their acts, but never for very long.

The trial was nearly ended.

"Your honor," said the lawyer, "we've heard the same story about these parents over and over from other people, but now we're going to hear the story from the one who is the victim of all of this. I call to the stand Timmy Turner."

Alden Bitteroor, again, met with Vlad Plasmius/Masters and Calamitous. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Where did you go Bitteroot," asked Vlad.

"Oh just spreading some mischief," replied the wizard, "nothing important."

"Speaking of mischief," said a small squeaky voice, "what did you do to Sheen?"

The trio of villians looked down at the bottle which now contained a shrunken Jimmy Neutron. Bitteroot smiled maliciously and said,"I just sent him far far away."

"So beaver boy won't be able to get any help from him," said Calmitous, "or Neutron"

With that Calamitous held the jar that contained Jimmy. He, then, slammed the jar down on the table. It didn't break but it caused Jimmy to fall over plus the young genius grabbed his ear in agonizing pain. The evil professor just smiled.

"Not so nice when it happens to you is it Neutron?"

Jimmy just glared up at Calamitous. He felt like crying, but he did retain his composure.

"Well," said Vlad, "we may have somewhat neutralized the threat from Jimmy and Sheen, but that Turner boy has other allies."

"I know," said Alden, "I've even heard he's has a genie on his side and that is a very powerful ally to have."

"Yes," said Vlad, "it is, but there is one thing that's even more powerful than a genie and that's the GHOST of a genie"

Suddenly a female magical being appeared.

"Gentlemen," said Vlad, "I'd like you to meet Desiree."

Timmy looked down. He felt sick to his stomach.

"I call to the stand Timmy Turner," repeated the lawyer.

"Timmy," said A.J, putting his hand on his friends shoulder, "go on, it's okay."

With that Timmy got up and approached the bench and sat down.

"Timmy," said the attorney, "I'm going to ask you a few questions and I want your to answer them honestly."

The boy nodded.

"Is it true that your parents went on a ski vacation and a beach vacation last year."

"Yes," said the boy quietly.

"And where were you during this time," asked the lawyer.

Timmy looked down, a grim look on his face. For a minute, he didn't say anything.

"Timmy," said the judge

"I was...at home," the buck toothed boy stammered.

"Alone?" said the attorney.

"Yes, said Timmy.

"Weren't you supposed to go with your parents?"

The boy nodded.

"Did they say why you didn't go?"

"Yes..." said Timmy,..."it was ..."

The boy looked down and then added in an almost whisper

"because they...forgot me."

"Could you repeat that Timmy so the court can hear?"

"It's because they forgot me," said Timmy a little louder.

A silence hung over the courtroom. Todd and Theresa Turner looked like they wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

"And that's not the first time they've forgotten you is it?" asked the lawyer.

"No," said Timmy very quietly.

"In fact," said the lawyer, "even sometimes when they are paying attention to you, they don't seem very interested in you, or in fact wish you were somewhere else."

"No," said Timmy, "my mom and dad love me."

"I didn't ask that Timmy; what I'm saying is there are times when they,..and I'll try to put this delicately...wish they didn't have a child."

"That's NOT true," shouted Todd Turner, "we LOVE our little girl..."

Todd turned red realizing how bad his outburst looked. The judge glared at him and said,

"Mr. Turner please maintain silence."

"Well, Timmy," said the attorney, "is it true that they've often said they wish they didn't have you."

"Uh, no," said Timmy, "they want me...my mom and dad do want me."

"Your honor," said the lawyer, "I'd like to present you with exhibit A; this video tape."

The judge nodded and the attorney pushed the tape into the VCR.

The image showed Todd and Theresa Turner jumping up and down on a trampoline.

"Yaaaah!," said Mr. Turner, "Timmy's going to military school."

"What?," said Timmy shocked, "You guys can't be serious."

"Sure we are," said Todd, "in military school you'll learn things like discipline and..."

"We can FINALLY rent out your room," finished Mrs. Turner.

The entire courtroom gallery glared at the Turners. Suddenly all of the spectators and witnesses were holding tomatoes in their hands.

"Uh-Oh," said Todd.

"Desiree," said Bitteroot, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I would say so," said the ghostly genie, "it's not every day a second rate magic being such as yourself gets to meet an all powerful GHOST GENIE."

Alden swallowed hard. He was very powerful, but even he knew he couldn't take on Desiree so he let the insult slide.

"Are there any other allies of Turner's we need to alleviate," asked Calimitous.

"There's the matter of Fairly World," said Bitteroot, "granted that's an entire magical world, but I have something that can completely obliterate it."

Bitteroot put his hand towards the window.

The four looked out the window and they say a massive whirling vortex.

"Desiree," said Alden, "I'd like you to meet the Darkness."

After the judge had restored order and the Turners had cleaned themselves off, he turned to Timmy.

"Timmy," said the judge, "you may step down."

The boy did as he was bidden.

The judge looked very somber.

"After all things considered," said the judge, "and all of these testimonies from these witnesses I have come to a decision. In my opinion while the Turners do seem to care about Timmy, they are extremely neglectful. Now, I don't believe it's any real maliciousness on their part; it's just they aren't able to cope with the responsibilites of being parents as well as others can. So my judgement is that Timothy Turner will be in the custody of Alex and Helen Johnson for the period of one year. During that time, the Dimmsdale Social Services as well as representatives from Family Court will work with the Turners. Next year at this time, we will revevaluate whether Todd and Theresa Turner are fit to be young Timmy's guadian."

With that, the judge smacked his gavel down and said,

"Case dismissed."

There was a gasp and a silence.

Please review. I know this is a long chapter, but I had several loose ends to tie up. Hopefully everyone is in character and I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!