My Wife Sent Me to a Psych Ward, So I Gave Her a Big Surprise novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Bag
On the fourteenth of January, the courtroom with the bad clock was full.
I sat in the front row of the gallery with Maura on my left and my mother on my right.
My mother had worn her hat.
Behind us, forty drivers filled the back benches in clean jackets.
The dispatcher had saved a seat for the gray-mustached driver's wife.
Brooks came in through the side door in a gray jail jumpsuit and stood at the defense table.
He did not look at the gallery.
The judge put on her half-moon glasses.
"Before I pronounce sentence, I will hear from the victims," she said.
The assistant prosecutor nodded at me.
I stood.
I had written nothing down.
"Your Honor, I'm not going to talk about the three years," I said. "I'll leave those to the record."
The judge waited.
"I'll talk about the tires. For ten years, drivers at my company ran on worn tires, because the money for new ones went to Mr. Teller's account. One of them slid into a guardrail on Route 33 two winters ago and broke his collarbone. He's sitting in the third row."
A man in the third row raised his good arm.
"And I'll talk about my mother, who stood at a desk 156 Sundays and was told there was no list with her name on it. She has not missed one since."
My mother did not move.
"I'm asking the court for one thing," I said. "That the first dollar Mr. Teller returns goes to the drivers' pension fund, before the company, and before me."
I sat down.
Maura's hand found mine and stayed.
"Mr. Teller," the judge said. "Do you wish to speak?"
Brooks stood a long moment with his hands at his sides.
"I was his best friend," he said, to the table.
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