The judge looked ready to start rubbing his temples. In fact, he already was a moment later. A sign of frustration. Something that didn't surprise him at all. Especially after Dr. Bendor had given his testimony, explaining what he had found out, as a starting point. Officer Lou himself would be up soon, but the judge decided to let the Tabooties try to explain themselves.
Officer Lou was not surprised to see that things were going pretty badly for them. A part of him felt some sense of sympathy. But the other knew that they had it coming.
"So let me get this straight." The judge started to say. "You thought that it was a good idea to allow your son to roam around an extremely well known and popular tourist attraction, filled with tens of thousands of people, if not more, alone?" He turned his head to glare at the two parents. "Am I understanding that right?"
Mr. Tabootie fumbled for an answer. The struggle in his eyes was apparent. He knew that finding a simple answer for that was going to be impossible. If not, at least very difficult indeed. And why wouldn't it be? That man never could figure out a good explanation for what he and his wife did.
Indeed, the other people in the court were silently agreeing with him, even though they hadn't heard yet what he had to say on the matter. Their glares were rather obvious. Regardless of what happens today, this would forever stain them.
"W-Well, I... You see, your honor..." Mr. Tabootie was struggling for words to say. His eyes shifted left and right before focusing on his wife back on the defendant's desk. It was as though he were trying to communicate telepathically with her. His face scrunched up as though disappointed before looking back at the judge. "Nothing happened, so..."
Officer Lou hissed lowly at this. Was this man really this much of an idiot? He was being prosecuted, for crying out loud. The least that he could do was try to defend himself and his wife more properly. With statements like that, he was just dooming himself. Of course, he himself couldn't try to help. That wasn't what he was sent here to do. He was sent here to tell the truth.
And the truth did not favor those two parents.
Mr. Tabootie struggled to try to speak again. "Wh-What I meant to say was..." He swallowed hard. He looked as though he had a hard time trying to figure out what to say. Or maybe he did have something that he could say, but he was too afraid to do so. However, he eventually did manage to make himself talk. "Neither of us thought it was that dangerous. There were so many people there, so if anyone tried to hurt him, we would know about it. And Rudy... Our son knows how to handle himself. We only walked away from him because we were...confident."
The judge stared at the man for a few moments, furrowing his eyes. Then he released a small growly statement, "Is that so...?"
Mr. Tabootie nodded his head. "Yes, your honor."
Officer Lou wanted to say something. But it wasn't his or Dr. Bendor's turn to speak again yet. Instead, that turn belonged to the prosecutor. What was his name? Officer Lou couldn't really remember. But at the moment, that man was the one dealing with the parents.
There he stood, walking back and forth, his arms folded behind his back. His eyes were staring intently at the parents, scrutinizing them silently. The glare was practically visible for everyone to see. The man was barely giving the parents a chance to look away. He was studying the father's words carefully. And from the looks of it, it didn't seem like it was working all that well.
"You think that is a good enough excuse to leave your son alone? Because he 'knew what to do'? Because you thought he'd be safe in a crowd?" The prosecutor stated. He stared at them carefully before shaking his head slowly. "Never before had I ever seen such a poor excuse used in an attempt to defend something so atrocious."
"But you don't understand..." Mr. Tabootie tried to say.
The prosecutor wouldn't let him finish. "What kind of parent would leave their ten year old child alone, unintended, in such a place? What if something had happened? You don't know anyone there, did you? What if someone had grabbed your son while you weren't looking? You didn't even try to look for him until an hour after the fact, am I correct?"
Mr. Tabootie bit his lip, looking like he was really struggling now. "Well yes, but he..."
"And your son had no cell phone with him to call you in case he got lost?" The prosecutor narrowed his eyes when the man shook his head. "No? Then what would have happened if the boy got lost? What if your son got mixed up in the crowd? What if he had went back with the wrong parents?"
When neither Mr. or Mrs .Tabootie could come up with an answer to that question, the prosecutor let out a small hiss as he walked over towards the bench, coming in a little closer. He placed his hands on the table and leaned in a little closer to them. Not too much, but enough to send a clear message to them.
"Did you think any of this through at all? Did you really abandon your son over some belief that he was somehow self-sufficient enough to take care of himself in a large crowd? Did you really think that he would be fine and that no one there would think of hurting your boy?"
Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie exchanged glances with each other. The crowd listened more intently. Officer Lou, and he guessed so was Dr. Bendor, glared softly at the prosecutor and the parents, wondering where this was going to go next.
Officer Lou knew that this point in time was coming. In a matter of seconds, the prosecutor was about to tear down this 'defense' the parents had put up. It remained to be seen if they could come up with something else, or if they were going to remain completely stumped after this. A part of the officer did hope that they had at least something up their sleeve.
But why did he get the feeling that this was not going to be the case? Even Rudy, who had been hoping for a positive outlook, seemed skeptical now, worried of what might happen.
"I..." Mr. Tabootie tried to say. He ended up tripping over his own words.
Mrs. Tabootie spoke up in his place. "Please, we love our son. We would never deliberately put him in harm's way."
The prosecutor didn't look like he was buying this. Staring into the large woman's eyes intently, he asked, "Then would you mind explaining to me, explaining to everyone, just what you thought you were doing on that day? Why did you just leave your son like that? Based on what evidence we were given, you didn't even tell your son to come with you. All you did was just walk away."
"Well we thought he would be..."
"Enough of that excuse. It's fallen flat. Are you sure the more likely reason is that you just simply didn't care enough to make sure that he followed you, and instead you just walked out to do whatever you wanted?"
Mrs. Tabootie shook her head from side to side. "No, that's not true! We didn't deliberately abandon him!"
The prosecutor raised an eyebrow. "But you just admitted to abandoning him?"
"What? No, we..." Mr. Tabootie struggled to speak.
Officer Lou remained silent the entire time. He crossed his arms against his chest and leaned back. It would seem that things were already falling apart. He hadn't expected it to happen in exactly the same way or the exact same time frame. But regardless, here was the downfall. Now what remained to be seein is what would happen to the Tabootie family.
"You claim that you love your son. Explain to me... Explain to everyone in this room..." The prosecutor spread his arms outward a little to indicate everyone. "..why you couldn't just grab your son's arm and start to walk in that place as a family unit, as you claim that you are?"
Neither parent could say anything to that. They both knew that they had no answer. They looked at each other with mixed, shamed emotion. The prosecutor simply let out a small sigh.
"...I rest my case."
sss
Rudy could feel his heart pounding inside of his chest. It thumped and thumped, and he put his hand to his chest, rubbing it up and down slowly. He gritted his teeth, feeling his teeth bit against his lip. He tried not to let his eyes shift around too much and he forced his facial expression to relax a little more. He didn't want the judge or anyone else around him take it the wrong way.
He really didn't want to be up in here in this chair. He really didn't want to say anything against his parents. He had already done enough damage. He feared that anything he said now would be used against them. And that was something that he really didn't want. He loved them and he just wanted to get out of here.
But now the prosecutor had called him up and wanted him to speak now. Rudy couldn't try to defend his parents outright or else it'll look like he's covering something up. He understood that this train of thought was being repeated over and over again in his head, but he had to keep reminding himself. He couldn't risk slipping up.
Rudy watched the prosecutor carefully. He hadn't been called up too long ago. The prosecutor himself was still pacing around as he tried to think of something that he could say. Rudy really had no clue what to expect. He tried to prepare the best that he could, gripping onto the table tightly and continuing to keep an eye on the man.
Eventually, the prosecutor turned his head and gave Rudy a sideways glance. It was enough to nearly make Rudy jolt. He did force himself to settle down, wetting his lips. But he couldn't stop his heart from pounding.
"Rudy Tabootie..." The man started to say. Rudy straightened himself up and waited for the first question. "How would you describe your relationship with your parents?"
Rudy remembered a similar question was asked of him by Dr. Bendor. And he also remembered that this question ultimately led him down the path of his parents getting in some deeper trouble. He would not make that same mistake again. He cleared his throat. "There's never been any issues. We get along just fine."
He tried not to flinch at this opening statement. He had a feeling that this might bite him back later on. But regardless, he forced himself to keep going.
"They've been there for me. Helped me when I needed it. I never really felt...unsafe around them." Rudy could feel his chest tightening at this as he struggled to keep going. He hadn't been fully prepared, not to the degree that he had hoped to be. "I... I do care about them. And they care about me. Is that a good enouh answer?"
Rudy had a feeling that this wasn't going to work. It still sounded like he was trying too hard to defend his parents, the very thing that he knew might sink this trial. He was simply trying to explain what he saw as the truth. He had been asked about their relationship. What other answer could he have given?
Then there was the possibility that the prosecutor deliberately asked him this question to get this kind of a response. And of so, he was quite the sneaky jerk, wasn't he? Or maybe this was normal procedure. Rudy didn't know quite as much about trials compared to his folks.
The prosecutor nodded his head slowly. "I see. Okay, so I don't suppose you'd mind answering another question?"
Rudy tried not to raise an eyebrow at that. Wasn't he already going to be answering more questions anyway? He shook the thought out of his head. "Go ahead." He prepared for whatever was about to come.
"Right." The prosecutor gave pause for a moment as he tried to think of just what to say next. "What are your thoughts on your parents leaving you at the Roman Colosseum? Were you afraid at all?"
"I... No, I felt...fine." Rudy realized that this might have been a horrible answer. But despite that, he continued on forward. "They wouldn't have left the area, so I just explored around. They even told me where they would be."
This did cause a small stir among the people in the room. It wasn't much, but it seemed like he had gotten some people talking. He couldn't tell precisely what they were doing physically thanks to his blurred vision, but a part of him still hoped that this might alleviate at least some of the venom spewed at his parents.
"You say that they told you where they would be...?" The prosecutor sounded slightly incredulous. Rudy didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He waited in silence to see how the man would continue. "Are you aware that this was not brought up when Dr. Bendor spoke with you?"
It wasn't? Rudy thought for sure he brought it up. Or was he just remembering wrong?
The prosecutor continued, "So you can affirm, with a hundred percent positivity, that your parents told you were you were before they left?"
Rudy nodded his head affirmatively. "Yes. My dad went to an italian... some kind of italian food stand, and my mom went to get some kind of vegetable." Rudy paused for a moment, trying to think of how to continue this. A part of him really hoped that this would turn things around slowly. Maybe get them to realize that he was not as bad off as they thought he was. "I knew where my parents were. I saw which directions they left in. I could have easy found them again."
"That does seem likely, if your parents really did tell you where you were." The prosecutor stated. Rudy struggled not to frown at the man. "But there is something else that I'd like to ask."
"And what would that be?"
"Even if your parents did tell you where they would be, why did it take an hour for them to find you again? You did say it took an hour, right?"
Rudy nearly froze at this. That's right. He did tell them something like that. An hour for his folks to reunite with him... He didn't even know how long his parents were looking for him. No matter what he said, it still would reflect badly upon them. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good plan, after all.
The prosecutor pressed on, "Just what were you doing in that hour? You say that you went to explore the Roman Colosseum. That is a big place. It's so easy for someone your age to get lost in the crowd." The man leaned in a little closer. "How did you feel being in the middle of that tourist attraction alone?"
"I felt...fine. I didn't feel like I was in danger. I told you, I knew where my parents were." Rudy said.
"But they were outside of the colosseum. That's where the food stands are. You were in the center, where most of the people were. You were surrounded by a lot of people. What if you couldn't find your way back?" The man asked, his voice sounding a little more demanding, as though he felt that he was onto something.
Rudy tried to counter it the best that he could. "That wasn't an issue. There was a big opening there. How could I have gotten lost?"
The prosecutor stared at him for a few moments. He then tilted his head to the side and asked the piercing question, "What if someone had grabbed you?"
The other people in the room feel more silent than ever. Rudy couldn't bring himself to respond to that. He was frozen like a deer in headlights.
"With all those people around, would your parents have heard you? Would they have been able to find you?" The prosecutor seemed to narrow his eyes, but Rudy could hardly tell. What he could tell was the man was getting closer and getting more and more intent on proving his point. "Are you aware of just how much of a bullet that you dodged? Are you aware of what could have happened as a result of your parents not sticking with you like they should have been?"
"I..."
Rudy tried to think of something to say. But he felt ashamed when he realized he just could not. He wanted to defend them so badly. In the end, though, he could not deny that this man had made a very good point. He really could have been the victim of some kind of crime and his parents wouldn't have been able to hear him.
As much as he hated do it, he had to fall silent. There wasn't anything he could say to make this better.
The prosecutor gave pause for a moment, and then said, "To continue..."
Rudy prepared for the next question.
sss
She had to fight every urge that she had, every ounce of her that kept urging her forward, to not rush out and stop the prosecutor from continuing to talk to her friend. She had been trying her hardest to be patient, but she could not allow this to keep continuing. She couldn't allow this to carry on.
And yet... Penny knew that's exactly what she had to do. She was in no position, no power, to try to do anything otherwise. She was not going to be able to do anything to stop this. She was not going to be able to stop it from happening. No matter what, she was going to have to deal with the fact that Rudy was going to continue to be interrogated like this until it was all over.
Penny tried to remain at least a little bit calm during this, but she found it increasingly impossible. The things that the man was saying was boiling her blood. She knew how the Tabooties were and they weren't like what this man was implying. The prosecutor was trying to make Rudy's parents sound like a bunch of criminals.
But unfortunately, as far as she was aware, neither she nor her mother could really say much. They had not witnessed the incident. In fact, they hadn't seen any of these things taking place. They could offer a defense for the Tabooties if they were called. But at this rate, Penny had little reason to believe that things would happen that way. There was no reason for her to doubt that this man would just keep drilling Rudy for answers, and all she could do was just...watch.
She silently hoped that Rudy would be able to hang on. She hoped that he and his parents got out of this okay. She hoped that everything would turn out all right. She had a feeling that something would happen. She still hoped that she would turn out wrong.
She looked up at her mother. She could see how her mom had her eyes glued on what was happening, occasionally looking over at where Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie were before looking back. She could see how nervous her mom looked. This did little eto help put Penny's mind at ease. If even her mom was worried...
Mrs. Sanchez had quickly taken notice of how Penny was looking up at her like that. She swiveled her head over and smiled down at her daughter. Penny looked up at her mom intently, biting her lip firmly. There were so many things that she wanted to say to her mom. But she couldn't bring herself to say anything of them. She could only just stare intently, a part of her really hoping that everything was going to be fine.
"It won't last long." Mrs. Sanchez said. She probably realized that, at this point, it would be useless to say that it would be 'all right'. "You don't need to worry."
Penny wasn't really sure if she could believe that. Something told her that things were going to just keep getting longer and longer and... Yeah she got the point. The prosecutor seemed to pay special attention to Rudy for some reason and she couldn't imagine why. Was he trying to get a confession out of him?
Penny continued to watch the prosecutor speak to Rudy, and she could feel her stomach twisting, the feeling of nausea taking her over. If that is what that man was planning...
She struggled to keep herself silent. The man was ultimately just doing his job. Grilling people for answers and trying to make a case. It was just hard to relax, especially since the Tabooties had no defendant attorney of their own. She didn't know why. Her mom said it was because they declined and wanted to defend themselves. Penny wanted to think that this was the case. Mr. Tabootie did sometimes come across as the type of man who would want to do something like that.
But what if that wasn't the case? What if something more unfair was going on?
Penny shook her head once and she turned her attention back to the trial. She tightened her lips as her teeth pressed against her lower one. She hoped that Rudy could figure out some way to get out of this mess.
sss
"I..."
"Please give an answer."
"I'm not sure if I..."
"So you're confirming it then?"
"No, I..."
"Then answer."
Rudy could feel sweat moving down his face. He could feel his breathing increase rapidly. He could feel his mouth remaining open wide, feeling the inside of it going dry. Rudy wiped the sweat from his face in a quick, almost professional motion in an effort to hide just how torn up he was inside. It hadn't actually been that long and already he felt like hours had gone by.
The prosecutor had asked him a question regaring the fall from his house. He had asked just how it happened. The prosecutor had been saying that it was related to abuse and that, despite Rudy's constant recounting, one of his parents deliberately through him out.
It was such a sickening thing to accuse his parents of. It didn't help that a lot of the neighbors were siding with the prosecutor on this. Even those who should have seen what really happened. Rudy didn't know if they were just getting so caught up that they forgot, or if they did genuinely believe that their parents were guilty of such a thing.
Either way, it was bone chilling for him to think about. He started to imagine what would happen if his parents miraculously got out of this. Would the neighbors say that it was a botched trial? Would they want to see the two of them locked up? Would there be anything that could be said to change their minds?
He knew the answer to that and he did not like it.
"Rudy."
The young boy lifted his head up, finding that the prosecutor's eyes were upon him again. Rudy struggled to say something, but he ultimately decided to stay quiet, instead waiting for the man to speak for himself.
"Do you care to answer the question?" The man asked. "We're all waiting." Rudy still remained silent. "Do you need me to repeat the question? I'll be glad to do it." Without waiting for Rudy to answer, the prosecutor immediately proceeded. "If your parents did not toss you out the window like you claim, then what did happen? How did you fly out of the window?"
Rudy bit his lip firmly at this, unable to think of a response. How could he respond to this? He still hadn't figured it out yet. He couldn't very well say that he had been flung out due to an activity in ChalkZone. And yet he had been forced to take the oath. He could lie, but he knew the penalty of doing so. This...wasn't going to be easy.
But he also knew that he couldn't just keep silent. He couldn't just make the others wait for an answer. The longer that he stayed silent, the worse things were going to get. So he struggled to find something to say, something at all that seemed to work. Then he spoke the first thing that came to his mind.
"I was skateboarding in the house." Rudy blurted out. The audience gasped at this and he thought he could hear his parents murmuring loudly. The prosecuter just stared at him with what he guessed was a perplexed expression. Rudy hesitated for a few seconds before he managed to continue, "I was just...having a bit of fun and I...fell out."
There, he said it. He gave some kind of explaination. He told this person a story that could explain what happened. Whether or not he would buy it was another thing entirely. But he still silently hoped that it would work. He just wanted this to end.
Everyone in the room was utterly silent. Even the juge hadn't made so much as a single grunt. Rudy looked around, noticing that none of the 'blobs' were even trying to talk. They were just too busy staring at him with...whatever kind of expressions that they were wearing. But it was clear that his statement had gotten their attention. Their stares seemed to pierce right through him.
After a while, the prosecutor broke the silence. "So you're trying to tell me that your parents let you skateboard in the house? Are you serious?"
Rudy tried to respond, but he was cut off.
"Okay, so barring the fact that I don't think anyone has claimed that you ever skateboarded, what about your parents' responsibility? If it is true that they let you do this, then why didn't they watch you? Why didn't they ensure that you would be safe?"
Rudy stammered, "W-Well, it was because they..."
"They...what...?"
"They... j-just..."
"We are all waiting, Rudy." The man stated. How many times had he said this already? Rudy had honestly lost count. He wasn't really sure if he cared to remember. "If you have something to say, please just say it."
Rudy struggled to think of something to say. He wanted so much to say something to help his parents out. But he was having trouble figuring out anything. He did not know where to begin. He did not know how to even start explaining. He could feel his mind spinning around and he just...
Rudy shut his eyes tightly, seething through clenched teeth. What hope did he have in saying anything useful, anyway? He was already driving his parents further and further down into trouble. He could attempt to fight back and try to say something else, if he were able to figure out anything. But he could only just continuously draw blanks, something that honestly terrified him.
He couldn't bring himself to look at his parents. He felt too ashamed to. Even though he wouldn't be able to make out their faces, he would know that they were going to be so disappointed in him. His chest burned and his heart raced, and he could feel sweat moving down his face slowly. He licked his lips and swallowed hard. He took in a few shaky breaths as he continued to wrack with his pained mind for something to say. But the more he tried to do this, the worse he started to feel.
"Rudy, answer the question." The prosecutor pressed on. His voice was more firm this time, making Rudy flinch. He tried to speak, but he shut his mouth, keep himself quiet. "Come on, Rudy. We.."
"I think that's enough." The judge spoke up, slamming his hammer down. "Why don't you carry on to the next question?"
"Right, sorry, your honor." Replied the prosecutor.
Rudy didn't know if he should feel relieved by this or not. On the one hand, at least he didn't have to worry about answering that question now. But then again, what if it backfired on him? What if the others took it as...something more? And just what other questions did the prosecutor have in mind? Rudy tried to prepare himself the best that he could. But even in his attempts to do so, he was still taken aback by the next question.
"Rudy, would you say that your parents put your well being over theirs?"
This question was quite a shocker. There were increased murmurs, some of them worried. The judge seemed a little shocked by this, but did nothing to stop the prosecutor from asking the question. Rudy himself was frozen solid. His mind reeled inside of his head as he tried to think of whether or not that was a legal question to ask.
"W-Well of course they..." Rudy had to pause for a moment, trying to think hard on the question. What was the appropriate way to answer? "They do care about me, if that's what you're asking. I've told you this already."
"Yes, but considering that they had more time to spend putting away clothes and watching sports than to make sure that you were not going to hurt yourself..." The prosecutor held his hand up in gesture. Rudy thought he saw something of a smug look on the man's face as he thought he was getting closer to selling his 'deal'. "And then when you and they were taken by the scientists for questioning, they didn't stand up for you. All they cared about is how their son was going to make them famous."
"Th-That's not true...!" Mr. Tabootie shouted.
"Order!" The judge responded, quickly stopping Mr. Tabootie from getting another word in edgewise.
The prosecutor pretended that this never happened, his eyes fully on Rudy. "Is this something your parents do often, Rudy? Would you be able to tell us anything that would contradict that?"
Rudy could feel emotions surging inside of him. He struggled not to bite his lip again as he stared intently at the man before him. He wanted to try to think harder and say something that would help. But in his state, it was hard to think clearly, difficult to fully assess the situation. He ended up speaking what came to mind, and it wasn't exactly a good thing.
Rudy said, "They do so care about me! Why are you trying to paint them as the bad guys?! Why do you insist on trying to twist everything that I say?! If they didn't love me, why would they have kept me around?!"
The prosecutor looked a bit taken aback by this, but still pressed on. "There are plenty of parents like that. Pretending to love their kids but in the end..."
"Just shut up! You don't know anything about them! You don't know what kind of relationship that we have!" Rudy continued to shout, unable to stop himself at this point. He was too fired up to think of stopping. "I'll have you know that I help my dad out at work and he appreciates it! How do I know that he appreciates my help? The time when I came up with an idea for the meat convention, he pushed me in front of him to show up to this steer king guy because he was confident in my abilities!"
It was at this point that Rudy had to stop. He had to take in a few breaths to try to settle down. As clarity began to seep over his head, he had sudden, horrifying realization.
He had said too much there.
Rudy felt a cold chill rushing through him as he realized the wording was...really off. He could sense the accusing glare from the prosecutor, the disbelieving stares from the rest of the audience. He could feel his parents' disappointment and the shock from his friend and her mother. Rudy wanted so much to take back what he had said. But it was already too late.
"So you're telling me... telling everyone... That your dad 'displayed' you to another person like you were a trophy?" The prosecutor didn't sound like he was really that surprised. If anything, it just further confirmed his suspicions. "Care to tell us what your mom was doing?"
Rudy couldn't answer.
The prosecutor stated, "Oh I know. She was there with him, wasn't she? Your mother was helping him do that. She was helping to 'show you off' like you were some kind of commodity."
Rudy tried to fight against the urge to throw up as the prosecutor continued to make these bold claims. He shook his head rapidly, a few tears starting to form in his eyes. "Y-You're wrong! That's not true at all!"
The prosecutor wasn't convinced. "Oh really now? Are you going to now say something else happened? Are you going to continue to try to convince us that your parents didn't do that with you?" The prosecutor paced back and forth in front of Rudy. "Because if you admit that you lied, under oath, do you know what kind of trouble you would be in? I sure hope that your parents did something right and taught you that much."
Rudy glared at the prosecutor, narrowing his eyes into slits. But he couldn't really think of a rebuttle to that, and his emotions weighed down upon him heavily. He wasn't able to keep eye contact for long and he had to turn away, staring off into the distance.
And of course, the prosecutor took that as more proof of what he had been rambling on about earlier. "I see... Then I can presume that this stuff really did happen. Are you going to try to tell me that your parents pushing you in front at this other guy, this steer king fellow as you referred to him as, you going to say that it was an act of love?"
Rudy refused to look at the man in the eyes.
"What kind of parent does that to their child? What kind of parent tries to hide behind their own kids? What were your parents afraid of?"
Again, Rudy declined to answer. He had already botched things up terribly. He couldn't afford to mess things up even further. So all he could do was just keep his eyes away and try to stay quiet. Maybe the prosecutor would get bored and move on.
But apparently the judge wouldn't let it remain this way. "Rudy Tabootie, it would be wise for you to answer."
The young ten year old boy flinched at this. He could sense the seriousness in that man's voice. He knew just how much he had meant those words and he could detect the underlying... Not so much threat, but the judge might be moved to take legal action if Rudy continued to refuse to answer the questions. Was this how things really worked in trials? He had no idea.
"Rudy Tabootie."
Rudy slowly shut his eyes, a part of him wishing that he could just escape what was happening. Pretend that nothing was going on. Pretend that this was all some sort of bad dream and he would wake up soon.
But he couldn't convincine himself for too long. The thoughts continued to reign down on him and he could feel the pressure going. He couldn't continue to dodge the questions. He had to say something. And that included if he didn't know what to say at all. How was he going to deal with this situation? How could he hope to...
He had already botched things up. There was hardly anything that he could do to make it worse.
"My parents... weren't afraid of anything." Rudy said flatly. He reopened his eyes and stared intently at the prosecutor. "And you should be ashamed of making that kind of accusation."
This time, the prosecutor couldn't really think of a response. Rudy hardly called it a victory. But at least this disgusting man was quiet for a while. It gave him some ability to relax a little and try to focus on something more pleasant. Such as getting out of this place. But there was still more of this to burden, wasn't there?
"Mr. Gregory, do you have any more questions for Rudy?"
Oh so that's what his name was? Rudy didn't catch it earlier. Not that he cared, really.
Mr. Gregory opened his mouth to speak. But then slowly shut it and shook his head. "No, I do not." He took a small step back and nodded his head to Rudy. "You may step down, Rudy."
Rudy didn't respond nor did he cast a glance in his direction. Rudy just hopped out of the dreadful chair and made his way towards the prosecutor's table. He hated to have to sit there, but that's what was expected of him. He had no interest in talking more to Mr. Gregory. He ignored him completely as he sat down.
Although he felt some sense of satisfaction of finally stumping the man, a part of him realized that the trial was not over yet. And he might not have 'won' the debate with Mr. Gregory after all. Maybe he was just so tired of this that he decided to stop.
Indeed, the man didn't look like that he was ready to give up yet. And Rudy himself had already poured fuel into the fire. He knew that he made things much worse. He could only hope that his parents, somehow, were able to get out of this.
So...what was next?
"Mrs. Sanchez!"
Rudy stiffened up at this sudden call. Weren't the Sanchez not going to... Or had he misunderstood? Rudy fought against his growing headache as Mrs. Sanchez got up, albeit reluctantly, and moved towards stand where Rudy had been. The woman walked by Rudy and, for a moment, everything seemed to freeze as the two gave each other a brief glance. Then she continued forward.
After the woman sat down on the stand, Mr. Gregory stated, "Mrs. Sanchez, do you promise to tell nothing but the truth?"
The vet didn't hesitate to nod her head. "I promise."
"Good." The prosecutor stated simply, having regained his professional voice from earlier. "Now onto the first question..."
sss
Mrs. Sanchez was struck with such a flurry of emotion, she could no longer remember if she was supposed to be called up or not. Perhaps she was and she just forgot all about it. But regardless, here she was, sitting on this chair, ready to answer whatever questions this man was going to give her.
She tried to be prepared as possible for whatever was about to come. She had seen the way that this man had reacted with Rudy. She had seen Rudy's increased tension. She knew from the get-go that this man liked to pry for information. He had nearly made Rudy shut down more than once with how intensive that he was with this.
But she herself had been scrutinized before. As angry as she was right now, she felt as though she were in a better position to handle Mr. Gregory's antics. She tried to force her mind to remind in a sort of locked mode, preventing too much emotion from getting in to squander her answers.
But perhaps she will still end up underestimating her situation. Only time would tell on that.
Mr. Gregory cleared his throat, his eyes moving up and down as though trying to get a good, clear vision of the woman before him. He let out one more small cough before he proceeded. "Now, Mrs. Sanchez... You say that you've been friends with the Tabooties a long time, am I right?"
"Yes." Mrs. Sanchez stated, trying to sound as clear as possible. "I've been friends with them for a long time. Ever since I moved here, actually. They were..." She gave a brief pause. She wasn't the most comfortable with talking about her history. But she knew that it had to be done. "They were the first to greet me and the first one to make me feel welcome here."
"Is that right?" Mr. Gregory asked. Upon seeing the woman nodding her head, he continued, "And in all your time knowing them, did they ever seem off? Out of place? Did they ever do anything that made you feel uncomfortable?"
"I..." Mrs. Sanchez found her mind being reeled back and she had to freeze for a few seconds. It felt like the gears of her mind were turning and flipping around, causing her eyes to be opened up. She remembered how...
No... She had to get that thought out of her head. That was not going to help with the situation.
"N-No. They didn't do anything I thought was suspicious." Mrs. Sanchez said firmly.
Mr. Gregory tilted his head to one side. "You didn't think them leaving their son going off alone, playing with bleach, was strange?"
Mrs. Sanchez stuttered at this. "I..."
"You hesitated earlier, Mrs. Sanchez. Do you care to tell us what you are hiding?" Mrs. Gregory growled softly. "Do I need to remind you that you are under oath? You cannot purposely withhold information for the sake of another. You do realize that is obstruction of justice, don't you?"
Mrs. Sanchez closed her eyes and nodded her head. "Yes, I am aware."
"Good. So, will you please tell us what's on your mind? Perhaps you would like to share with us another point in time when these two had been suspicious?"
Mrs. Sanchez cast a glance over at Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie. She felt bad about what she was being forced to do. But she felt as though she had no other choice. She wasn't even born in this country. As an immigrant, she felt more pressured to obey the law. She didn't want to drag Penny into this mess if she could avoid it.
And she knew that if she tried to lie again...
Mrs. Sanchez finally spoke, feeling sick while she did so. "There was one time when Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie here had grounded Rudy from going to a concert."
"That's not odd behavior, Mrs. Sanchez. What point were you trying to make?" Inquired the prosecutor.
"I took Penny there myself and..." Mrs. Sanchez struggled to think of how to put this next part into words. "There was something strange going on set and... Oh, to make a long story short, I saw Rudy there. I even watched the recording and sure enough he was there."
There was a bit of silence spreading throughout the room. Mrs. Sanchez never felt so horrible before in her life. She could have kept her mouth shut, but instead she felt pressured into doing this. Now she realized how Rudy must have felt when he kept making things worse for his parents. This was not going to end well.
Indeed, she could see just how pissed some of the audience members were getting. There were already looks of anger before, but now there were looks of absolute disgust. This wasn't something that Mrs. Sanchez was particularly proud of.
"So you're saying that Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie had absolutely no idea that their son had been out? They hadn't seen him leave the house?" The prosecutor casted a glare in the Tabooties' direction. Though Rudy was not the recipient, even he cringed, as did Penny. "How could they not have noticed?"
"I..I'm not sure. They were confused as well." Mrs. Sanchez stated.
"Did they ask how he got there?" Mr. Gregory asked.
Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. "No, they did not."
Mr. Gregory narrowed his eyes once again. "So not only did they not realize that their son was missing from their house and gone off to a music concert alone, they didn't bother asking how in the world it had happened?"
The only thing that Mrs. Sanchez could do was just look away.
