Resonance
Chapter Seven
In the visitation room, Waylon and Clayton sat together upon two creaky chairs at a splintery wooden table, pale light emanating from a solitary lightbulb above while a guard stood by the door.
Clayton tugged at his hair. "How much more of this will I have to take? Just sitting there and listening while they call me every filthy name in the book?"
"Keep your chin up," said Waylon. "The evidence is overwhelming that he's lying about you forcing him."
"But did you see how the jury reacted when Sterling started sobbing? How they glared at me like I'm a – a monster?"
"Mr. Burns is looking for dirt on his family as we speak. He's sure to uncover something."
"I wish I could have your optimistic spirit."
"Have hope, Clayton. Above all, have hope."
After visiting his brother, Waylon headed straight for Burns Manor. There, Burns greeted him and they sipped tea by the fire.
"Well, Mr. Burns? Have you found anything that could help my brother?"
"Sterling's father did violate, ironically enough, the Clayton Act, by engaging in certain exclusive dealings last year."
"Great! But is it enough to get him to incriminate his own son?"
"No, and it doesn't matter, anyway, as he'd never believe I would bring it to light."
"Why wouldn't you?"
"I was one of the ones he was dealing with."
"Oh. Did you find out anything else?"
"I uncovered a photograph of his brother drinking a beer."
"That's the worst thing? I can't believe that someone who'd do something so heinous as frame my brother would've kept his nose squeaky clean."
"I'll attempt to bribe his father. But I doubt he is as avaricious as myself, and he may require greater incentive."
"Please, do everything you possibly can. I promised him we'd keep him out of prison."
"I'll bribe the jury, too. They will acquit him, I assure you. Between my bribes and Clarrow's legendary oratory presence, I guarantee it."
"I hope you're right."
As court proceeded the following day, the Black-Haired Lawyer called Sterling's brother to take the stand. "Now, Chauncey, you are two years older than Sterling, is that correct?"
"Yes, sir. That's right."
"And you've lived together at the Stanton Estate for his entire life, is that also right?"
"Yes. That's right."
"And in that time, has he ever given you reason to believe he has any unnatural inclinations to others of his sex?"
"No. Never."
"You mean you never, not even once, thought he might have a deviate sexuality?"
"No, never."
"What do you make of Sterling's friends' claims that Clayton was unusually attracted to him?"
"Well, Clayton, we all thought he was a little off. But Sterling hated us pointing it out. He hated that we'd see something twisted about their relationship when he thought it was pure."
After some more questioning, Sterling's father took the stand. "Now, Mr. Stanton," said the Black-Haired Lawyer, "How would you describe your son?"
"He's an upstanding Christian. A gentleman, through and through."
"So you've never seen him exhibit any homosexual tendencies?"
Mr. Burns glared gleefully at him, almost imperceptibly nodding his head.
Sweat dripping from his forehead, he stammered and said, "No. I haven't."
"Big mistake," said Burns in a sinister whisper.
After steadfast denials, the Black-Haired Lawyer dismissed him and called Waylon to the stand. "How well do you know your brother, Mr. Smithers?"
"Very well. As kids, we were pretty much inseparable."
"Has he ever exhibited any violent tendencies or impulsive, lustful actions?"
"No. He's the gentlest man I've ever known."
"So you judged him to have a strong moral character."
"Yes, precisely. I could never believe that he would do something so heinous as this."
"Were you aware that he was a sodomite?"
"I was not aware he had homosexual inclinations until he told me on my graduation day. He always seemed like a normal boy to me. He certainly fit better into the mold of the masculine ideal than I ever did."
"On what day did you graduate?"
"May 27, 1932."
"I'll remind the court that the day Clayton was found engaging in unnatural acts with Sterling was the twenty-eighth of May this year. One day after you found out your brother was deviant."
"Yes, it was a day later."
"Then how can we trust your judgment about his character, when you deemed him a person of strong moral fiber when unbeknownst to you, he was perpetrating an abomination against the laws of God and nature?"
"After he told me, I still judged him to be of sound moral standing."
"Do you mean to say that you don't regard his vile passions as immoral?"
"I don't think they're vile if the man he is with is willing. And I have every reason to believe Sterling was willing."
"So you're telling me that you don't think there's anything wrong with a man lying with another as he would with a woman?"
"No. I don't see anything wrong with it." The people in the court chattered amongst themselves in disbelief.
"Clearly you must have a different idea of morality than the community does, if you think it's acceptable for men to perform these unnatural acts expressly condemned in the Bible."
"Frankly, I don't put a lot of stock into what an assortment of fallible, ignorant men wrote two thousand years ago."
"So you do not regard the Bible as a moral authority?"
"I think that many people use the Bible to live a more moral life. Ultimately, though, that moral authority must come from within. An evil man will cite chapter and verse to justify the institution of slavery; a good man will cite teachings of peace and humility. The Bible is a book; it requires the hand of man to choose which passages to practice and render it moral or immoral."
"Calling the authors of a holy book a bunch of ignorant men betrays a certain level of contempt for it. Are you contemptuous of the Bible?"
"I called them ignorant because they were. Regardless of whatever worth one would ascribe to their various teachings, that's indisputable. They thought the universe was created in seven days, that the Earth was young enough to now be six thousand years old, that the sun revolved around the Earth, and that the creatures of this planet were created as they are as opposed to evolving from more primitive forms. If they were ignorant of all that, then why could they not have been ignorant of people like my brother?"
The judge banged his gavel. "We are not here to try the biblical prescripts against sodomy, lest this become another Scopes monkey trial."
"No one here disputes that my brother engaged Sterling intimately. What is relevant to the court and to which I can attest, is that Sterling was in a romantic relationship with my brother for years."
The Black-Haired Lawyer said, "But wait – I thought you said you only learned of his homosexual inclinations a mere day before he was arrested for sodomy. How could you have known they were in a relationship years beforehand?"
"Because I'd been in denial, but his admission this summer removed all doubt. I remember the exact date I began to realize he was that way – it was September 15, 1928, the night they had met at Mr. Burns' birthday party. When we got home, I picked up the phone to call Mr. Burns, but Clayton was already on the line with Sterling. I heard Sterling invite him to have intercourse following a polo match."
"Oh, really? So you expect us to believe that even after this clear evidence that your brother and his new wealthy socialite friend were in a homosexual relationship, you remained in the dark for nearly four years?"
"Well, I hung up the phone before I could really confirm it, because it unnerved me. But there was no mistaking it – it was a limerick with the word 'chukker,' for crying out loud."
"And this is your sole evidence that Sterling reciprocated your brother's unnatural urges?"
"No. He was late to the dinner table, too."
"Oh, stop the presses! He was late to the dinner table! I guess every parent in America needs to solicit an alienist to treat their children's latent homosexuality."
"They both were late to the table, very late. They had been off together for quite awhile, and they were evasive about where they had been. Clayton told me at the time that he had been on the toilet, but he later told me that that night was when he lost his virginity to Sterling."
"And of course we can rely on his testimony. Do tell us more, and save us some effort by omitting the hearsay."
After some more questioning, Waylon was dismissed. "The next person I call to testify is... Charles Montgomery Burns," he said, looking pointedly at him. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead, the legs of his chair skidding on the floor as he stood. Once he'd reached the podium, the prosecuting attorney addressed him. "Mr. Burns, is it true you procured Clayton's lawyer for him?"
"Yes. I hired Darence Clarrow to defend him."
"Now, why would you be so interested in defending a sexual deviant?"
"Because his brother has told me that Clayton and Stanton were lovers. The allegations of assault are hokum, and I believe an honest man deserves a fair shake at justice."
"And so you hired a high-priced, famous lawyer?"
"Yes."
"This must have cost a lot of money."
"Objection!"
"Sustained," said the judge. "Now, you may continue your inquiry without probing into the legal expenditures of the defense."
"Very well," said the Black-Haired Lawyer. "Mr. Burns, why would you attempt to bribe a jury for the sake of a local pervert?"
"Confound it, I did not 'attempt' to bribe a jury, I succeeded!" The judge and other onlookers gasped, and Clarrow, Clayton, and Waylon slapped their foreheads. Burns glanced nervously around, tugged at his collar, and said, "And by that, I mean... I would never do such a terrible thing."
"Uh-huh. Then perhaps you can explain why Mr. Nimrod Flanders reported that he saw you bribing the jurors last week?"
"I was merely testing them to see whether they would do the honest thing and report me. As it seems one of them did, kudos to you, good fellow."
"Why is it, then, that you are so concerned with the fairness of this trial in particular? When you have consistently fought against the underdog in various court cases against your labor practices, why are you so invested in protecting this confessed sodomite?"
"Because his brother asked for my help, and I owe him. You see, he saved my life in a lab accident last year. I am indebted to him, and he wishes to see his brother get justice, so I am seeing to it as best I can."
Cross-examinations proceeded, and Clarrow proffered his closing statement: "Moral men and women cannot judge a man guilty on the basis of inconsistent testimony from the prosecution that hinges on the rank implausibility of a comparatively slight man overpowering a much larger man when there was no sign of a weapon or intoxication. This young man may not be a pillar of his community, but he is a human being and as such deserves the dignity of a fair trial. A man who seeks out affection from his own sex may be afflicted with some malady of the mind, but he poses no threat to society and should not be subject to the penalties appropriate to a man who coerces the unwilling. He cannot help the way his nature and his upbringing have made him, and it makes as much sense to punish him for his desires as it does to punish a man for wanting water.
"The morally righteous have banged on long and loud about the abomination of consensual intercourse between men, and it is they who most strongly call for this man's condemnation without scrutiny, for those who are most assured of their righteousness are those who are most likely to succumb to their lust for retribution. But this case is not about the rightness or wrongness of the defendant's desires or his decision to act on them. It is about how hatred of an act morphs into hatred of a person. It is about how the fear of being branded a degenerate leads those of weaker moral standing into betrayal. It is about how justice is not possible without love."