THE CUCKOO'S EGG

by Galen Hardesty

Chapter Fifteen

THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE

~*~

Daria surveyed her lunch tray with something akin to despair. Macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, a gummy, half-baked dinner roll, and severely overcooked cabbage. This was bad, even by Lawndale High standards.

"So, Daria, can you bring us up to date on how the lawsuits are going?" Jodie asked.

Glad to be distracted from the nutritional wasteland that was her tray, Daria said, "Sure. It's not like I'm going to be doing much eating today. The malpractice suit against Drake is under way. I'll be in court for at least the next two days testifying. We're pretty sure we'll win, but they may appeal."

"The suit against Manson was settled out of court. The school district doesn't pay any damages, but Manson has to get a psychological evaluation, do a bunch of community service, and then requalify for the counselor job if she wants it back."

"So Manson is gone?" Jane asked Daria.

"For a couple of months at least. She has to do five hundred hours of community service at the homeless shelter and then be re-evaluated."

"Oh, that poor woman." Jodie shook her head. "She'll be a completely different person after that experience."

"A better one, do you think?" Daria asked.

"Probably so, for the most part, although she may need to be retrained not to pee in alleys and curse like a syphilitic sailor. I guess you'd prefer she not come back here at all, Daria."

Daria smirked at Jodie's homeless shelter memories. "No, actually, now that she's so thoroughly broken in, it'd be kind of a shame to have to start breaking in a new one. Besides, I want to ask her how the new sphincter is working out for her."

"Ooh, rub salt in the wound, eh? You're vicious, Daria. That'll stand you in good stead out in the real world. What about O'Neill?"

"O'Neill will get evaluated too, and be unofficially counseled."

"Unofficially counseled? What does that mean?"

"The Superintendent or someone will talk to him, but it won't go on his record. I think they'll just tell him to grow up and get real."

Jane made a faint snorting noise. "What do you suppose are the chances he'll do that?"

"I'd say slim and none." Jodie smiled ruefully.

"That would be my first reaction too, but the school of hard knocks never closes." mused Daria.

"Neither does the fool killer." smirked Jane. "So I guess it's a race."

Jodie giggled. "Jane, you've been hanging around Daria too much. Her cynicism is rubbing off on you. What about Ms. Li, Daria?"

"I imagine Ms. Li will get some sort of talking to for letting Manson get away with that crap for so long, but that wasn't part of the settlement," Daria replied.

"And the drug company?" Jane asked.

"The damage suit against Scutter Pharmaceuticals has to wait until after the criminal trial for bribery and racketeering. Mom thinks that if they're found guilty on any count of that, they'll settle the suit out of court. I probably won't have to testify at the trial."

"I see what that old saying means, about the wheels of justice grinding slowly," mused Mack.

"Mom says these cases are being resolved unusually quickly," said Daria.

"Dang," Mack said, shaking his head. "I'd hate to see slowly, then. Say, are you going to eat your roll?"

"Be my guest." Daria said as she nibbled some macaroni and cheese.

Jane paused in picking through her pasta salad for olive bits. "Wasn't there someone else?"

Daria thought a minute. "Oh, yeah, the store, because their pharmacy should've already pulled the Prohappia. They settled. We agreed to take the award in the form of a scholarship so they can hide it in their scholarship program. They agreed to make it transferrable so I can give it to Quinn if I land another scholarship."

Mack had a wistful look on his face. "If you get accepted by a top-ranked school, and decide to use it yourself, that could be worth…"

Daria nodded. "A lot."

~*~

"Don't fidget, Daria. You look wonderful! So young, so bright , so …sharp…"

Helen and Daria were standing just outside Courtroom One in the Carter County courthouse with Eric Schrecter and Wanda Farafield. The marble walls and granite floors of the edifice were impressive but not welcoming. The few massive oak benches against the walls did not tempt the weary litigant to seek her ease thereon.

"I look like a fake Japanese schoolgirl wardrobed for a porno movie," Daria muttered. She was wearing a navy blue blazer with gold buttons and a crest on the breast pocket, a white blouse, a blue plaid pleated skirt, white calf length socks, and her Doc Marten's Mary Janes- the only part of her outfit that hadn't been bought specifically for her court appearance.

Helen looked shocked, and Eric Schrecter looked embarrassed, but Wanda, the firm's PR expert, smiled knowingly.

"That's partially deliberate, Daria. We want your appearance to push a lot of the same buttons. We want you to look as young and innocent and studious and defenseless as possible, to make every adult in the courtroom want to protect you."

"I understand that, and I'll play along with it. That doesn't mean I like the look. I feel naked without my boots. And I still think the headband is overkill."

Wanda smiled. "Trust me, Daria, it's just the right amount of kill."

Eric turned his attention from Daria to her mother. "Helen, that was good work with those subpoenas. We seldom see a case where the defendants are caught this flatfooted, and we wind up with this much incriminating evidence. You should be proud of your mom, Daria."

Daria thought about her black bag job that had led to the subpoenas. She looked at Helen and smiled a small smile. "Mom has an instinct for that sort of thing. I hardly ever get away with anything when she's around." Helen rolled her eyes but returned the smile.

That elicited a low chuckle from Eric. "Neither do I," he said. "Helen, I still want to know how you knew what they had, and where."

Helen and Daria shared a look. "No, Eric, you really don't," Helen said. "Trust me on that." A bailiff opened the courtroom door and they filed in.

~*~

That afternoon, Helen and Daria walked down the steps of the courthouse and turned toward the parking lot. Helen said, "Daria, that was one of the most moving performances I've ever seen from a witness. I had no idea you could act like that."

"Acting? Is that what you think I was doing?"

Helen turned her head to look at her daughter. "Well, um, what were you doing?"

"I was just being honest and open about the pain and suffering I actually went through. Normally, I keep my feelings to myself because I figure they're nobody else's business. But I want to make damn sure those people pay for what they did to me."

"And what about me, Daria? I'm the one who filled the prescription. I'm the one who made you swallow the pill."

Daria chose her words carefully. "You're different. You're my mother."

"Oh, Daria, I'm so sorry for what happened. I'd never have given you that pill if I'd known what it would do to you. I only did it because the doctor said it would help you, and I love you and want you to be happy."

"Yeah, I know."

"But I won't make that mistake again. From now on, I'll listen to you, and I'll be sure I have all the facts before I make a decision like that. I promise."

"And I'll remind you if necessary." Daria looked down at the ground and continued in a mumble, "and I, um, loveyoutoo."

Helen looked at Daria and smiled a very unlawyerly smile. "Tomorrow is going to be tougher, I'm afraid. Counsel for the defense will cross-examine, and they won't go easy on you."

"Hmf. If they think they can break me down, they're in for a surprise. And the harder they grill me, the meaner they'll look, and the more jury sympathy for us, right?"

"Yes, Daria, but don't get overconfident. They have more up their sleeves than simple intimidation. Be very careful what you say."

~~~~~

It was afternoon as Daria descended the courthouse steps again, only a few days later it seemed, although much had happened. The sun on Daria's face felt extra good today. It felt like victory. Morgendorffer versus Drake was over, and they had won. She had won. On paper Daria Morgendorffer was now worth two million dollars. Daria smiled. She knew that she would almost certainly never actually receive that much, but on the other hand, she probably would receive some substantial amount. Eventually.

"You do understand, don't you, that Drake's insurance company will appeal, and drag this through the courts for as long as they can? And the drug company will help them," Helen said.

Daria turned to her mother. "Yes, and I wanted to talk to you about that. I'm thinking that I can probably come up with a way to make myself and this case a colossal pain in the butt, a pain they'll want to have done with as soon as possible."

"Don't bet on it, Daria. These people are tough."

"Well, I'll bet there are ways to make it more advantageous to them to pay up than to drag it out endlessly through the courts."

"There are things you can't do or say about a case on appeal."

"That's what I want to talk to you about."

It suddenly dawned on Helen that Daria was saying that she wanted to learn some law. Specific information for a specific purpose, admittedly, but she actually wanted to study law. And Helen knew enough about Daria's reading and research habits to know that when Daria became interested in a subject, she researched it intensively, and her specific interests often broadened into much more general ones.

"All right, Daria. We can talk after dinner."

"Do you think I could come to the office and look some things up there?" Daria asked.

Helen felt like shouting, but restrained herself. She smiled and said, "I think that could be arranged."

~~~~~