Seven
Things
weren’t much better for Christian next day, he had to sit there and listen to
some expert droning on about how the bullets entered
The sun shone that morning and
school was out. It was always worse when
school was out; Larry was always at his worse when school was out. And today was no different, Christian had
just fixed himself some breakfast when he heard Anderson walking around
upstairs, listening intently the child made sure he wasn’t coming downstairs
then hurriedly buttered his toast and rushed outside into the warm summer air.
“Hay Chrissy…you wanna come round my house?” Kate asked, he nodded as he took a
bite from his toast then called muffin to heel.
That day he spend
with Kate they’d gone to the river and tried to make a dam across it with large
rocks while muffin played in the cool water. “Look gets that one” he instructed
Kate who looked around.
“Which
one?” she asked, as she tossed one of her long blond pleats over her shoulder.
“That
one” he pointed out a huge rock.
“I
can’t lift that Chrissy”
Christian
smiled happily, “Oh I forgot, you’re just a mere girl”
“Oh yeah? Well we’ll just see who’s a mere girl!”
“Well
go on…lift it”
“Okay!”
huffed Kate, she bent down but she couldn’t move it at all.
“Make
way for the expert.” said Chris smugly.
“Fine”
He
couldn’t move it either.
“Ha
you can’t move it either Christian Ingebrigtsen, so you must be a girl”
“I
could to”
“Can
not”
“Could to!”
“Then
move it!”
“I
will”
“When?”
“When?”
“When
will you move it?”
“When
I got time”
“When
you got time…what you mean is you cant move it…you’re
one big phoney”
“No
I ain’t!”
“Yes
you are!”
“No
I ain’t”
Kate
sat down on the grass embankment and begun taking off her shoes and socks.
“Whatcha
doing?”
“What
does it look like?”
Christian
laughed heartily, “I can see your knickers”
Kate
glanced down at her now tucked in dress “So, I don’t care, are you coming in?”
“In
a minute”
“Okay”
she said as she waded in “Oh my God its cold” she shrieked then laughed.
Christian
watched her for a while before he to removed his shoes
and socks and then jumped in.
“Have
you ever seen em big boys and girls?” Kate said suddenly.
Christian looked puzzled, “What big boys and
girls?”
Kate
grinned “You know the ones…they hang around here at night and go skinny
dipping”
Christian’s
eyes narrowed, “What’s skinny dipping?”
Kate
looked smug. “It’s when we take all our clothes off and swim”
“They
take their clothes off?”
“Sure, why don’t we do
that Chrissy?”
“No
way…I ain’t taking my clothes off Katy”
“Why
not…I’ll take my clothes off if you take your clothes off”
“No!”
“Why?”
“Coz…well
you’ll see my bits”
“What
bits?”
“Katy
Harper you know fine well what bits I’m talking about?”
Kate
grinned, “Oh them bits…well you’ll be able to see my bits to”
“Well
suppose I don’t wanna see your bits?”
“You’re
a guy, course you will, coz that’s what guys do”
“No
it ain’t!”
“Chrissy
don’t be a dork…come on let’s do it, just for a minute”
“Oh
okay…but just for a minute mind Katy”
They undressed and threw their clothes
onto the embankment then stared at each other. “So that’s what one of em looks
like!” Kate said quietly, Christian’s face reddened as he glanced at her. “And that’s what those look like” she glanced
down at her little bust “Mom said I’m gonna need to wear one of em bras soon.”
Christian felt even more embarrassed, “You can touch it if you like?” Kate told
him.
“Can
I?”
“Sure”
He
moved closer, his hand shaking as it neared her right breast.
“Katherine
Harper! You get your clothes on this
minute…this minute do you hear!”
“Oh
God it’s moany ole Baker she’ll tell my mom…I gotta
go” Kate panicked as she gathered up her clothes and rushed behind the tree to
get dressed while Christian got ready on the embankment. His clothes wet through.
They began the tedious journey home, only
to be confronted by an irate Maggie Harper. Kate’s mother, “Just you wait girl” she said
as she caught Kate by the arm and frogmarched her along the street. “And
you…I’ll be coming round to see your mom about you…you filthy little animal”
Christian looked scared, “Come on Muff…let’s get outa here” he said in a low
tone.
Anderson searched the whole night for
Christian after Maggie Harpers visit, he’d even called his brother and have him join the search. “Come on Larry…the boy’ll come
home when he gets hungry” Frank said, but Larry was determined. “Boy needs
taught a lesson Frank!” he retorted as he continued to search, “Yeah well I
suppose it can wait huh?” Larry shrugged off his brother, “You go if you’ve a
need to…I’m gonna find the little critter” Frank shrugged, “Suit yourself
Larry” he said as he wandered slowly away and Larry continued to search.
Christian held his breath as the man
neared, he’d been hiding in the bushes all night and was cold wet tired and
very hungry but none of that mattered, all that mattered was that he was safe
and Muffin was quiet. A branch broke underfoot which had muffin raising his ears
and listening intently. “Shhhhhh”
mouthed the eleven year old, but the dog jumped to attention and barked. “No
Muffin you mustn’t” too late, part of the bush was pushed back. “Gotcha, you
little goddamn son of a bitch!!!” Christian raised his arm above his head as
the stick came down on him. “You disgusting little swine!”
Larry hollered as he dragged the boy onto the pathway, and begun to beat him
with a large tree branch. Muffin barking and growling as he tried to save his master. Larry Anderson, now
turned on the dog bringing the stick down hard on its skull “No!” shrieked
Christian as he watched his dog stagger a little then fall. “Muuffiinn!
Nooooooooo!” he cried and tried to reach him, “Oh no you don’t you little
bastard I ain’t finished with you yet!” Christian kicked out at him as he held
onto his left arm, the pain from which was excruciating. “YOU KILLED MUFFIN…I
HATE YOU…I HATE YOU…I HATE YOU!!!”
“Get
Up!”
“No!”
“Are
you defying me boy?”
“I
ain’t going nowhere with you”
“What
the hell’s going on here?”
“Harper
this ain’t no concern of yours!”
“Like
hell it ain’t…I ain’t leaving this child here so you can bestow the same fate
on him”
“Yeah? Well
just remember you gotta come home sometime!”
Christian
watched as the brute walked away before crawling over to attend to his dog. “Noooooooo!” he sobbed into his fur, “Come on,
there ain’t nothing we can do for him…cept maybe give him a decent burial”
Christian stared up at the man. “But he’s still warm…maybe he’s just
unconscious or something?” Kate’s father crouched down “I’m sorry son…but your
dog didn’t stand a chance…he died protecting you…which means he must have loved
you very much” Christian looked down at his dog. “Come on I’ll take him…we can
chose a lovely spot for him, but first we gotta get the doc to take a look at
that arm” Christian nodded as he watched the man bend down and gently lift
Muffin into his arms.
Christian glanced across to where Lennon
was now cross-examining the witness then glanced across to where the jury sat listening;
he wondered just how many of them would be taken in.
Shebly side glanced Christian as she past
on her way to take the stand, a frown on her face. Christian stared at her, wondering just what
the hell was going on, the prosecutor smiled warmly at her then begun with his
questions. “Miss Geddes…how long have you known the accused?”
She
glanced at Christian “Just over a year”
“And
would you say you were relatively happy?”
“Yeah…sometimes”
“Just sometimes?”
“Yeah”
“Why?”
“Well
Chris has a temper and we fight a lot”
“Oh
I see…tell me Miss Geddes…has the accused ever hit you?”
“Objection
your honour…what relevance has this?”
“I’ll
allow the question you may answer Miss Geddes”
Christian’s
eyes widened, “Well once but…”
“He
hit you?”
“Yeah
but…he didn’t mean to!”
“What
makes you say that?”
“We
were arguing and he slapped me”
Christian
nudged Lennon, “She slapped me first!” he hissed.
Lennon
jotted it down while the prosecutor continued with his questions.
“Would
you say your boyfriend is a violent young man Miss Geddes?”
“Yeah…sometimes”
“And
on the night of the party did you witness this violence?”
“Yeah”
“Miss Geddes would you tell this court room exactly what happened on
the night in question?”
“In what way?”
“He
seemed to lose it and before I could do anything he had Larry by the throat and
was threatening to blow his head off”
“He
had him by the throat?”
“Then
what happened?”
“I’m
not sure I think someone pulled him off and Larry left”
“And
that was all?”
“Well
no…the party broke up after that”
“Oh
I see…the accused had ruined his own birthday party?”
“Well
yeah…sorta”
“Did
anything else happen that evening?”
“Like
what?”
“Oh
I think you know Miss Geddes”
Christian
lent forward and rested his elbows on the table.
“Did
you and the accused fight that night?”
“Yeah…we
did”
Christian
stared at her.
“And?”
“He
hit me then grabbed a bottle of scotch and stormed out”
“He
stormed out?”
“Err…yeah”
“No
I did not…
He
obeyed and allowed the prosecutor to continue.
The man walked briskly to a small square
table and lifted the items from it. “Miss Geddes…have you seen either of these
items before?”
“And this?”
“That’s
his gun”
“Are
you sure?”
“Yeah…look
it has his initials on it”
“Miss
Geddes I wont you to think very carefully, did the accused injure himself at
any time during the evening when you saw him?”
“No”
“You’re
sure?”
“Yeah”
“Then
you have no idea why blood from the accused would be mixed in with the blood
from the victim?”
“No!”
“And
as far as you’re aware he did not injure himself prior to or during your
fight?”
“No!”
“No
further questions your honour”
Shelby breathed a sigh of relief then
made to leave the stand, Christian sat in stunned silence trying to take it all
in, as Lennon got to his feet reading through a statement “Just a moment if you
please” he told Shelby she drew in a deep breath then sat back down “You’re
looking very lovely today Miss Geddes” he complimented as he neared her
She smiled “Thank you”
“Now
you identified that these were the very clothes my client was wearing on the
evening in question?”
“Yeah”
“Tell
me Miss Geddes is it not the case that any punk can go get these clothes?”
“Well
yeah but…”
“The
same clothes can be found at the nearest store”
“Yeah
but…”
Lennon
knew that the gun did in fact belong to Christian, but how was he going to
steer the jury away from that fact.
“You
identified the gun as belonging to your boyfriend?”
“Yes…it’s
his”
“I
think we established that fact…where did my client keep it?”
“I
don’t know”
“You
don’t know? You seem to know it was his”
“It
is his, look it has his initials right there!”
“Oh
yes…the initials…I’m sure my client isn’t the only person in the world with
those initials”
Christian
watched the man walk back to the table.
“So,
you said that on the evening of the party you and my client fought?”
“Yeah…we
did”
“About what exactly?”
“The
way he had acted with Larry”
“Oh
yeah that’s right you said didn’t you? Tell me Miss…Err” he consulted the
statement “Who’s idea was it to invite Mr Anderson to the party?”
Christian
straightened up and looked straight at
“Well?”
“Mine”
“Yours?”
“Yeah”
“You
saw fit to invite a man whom your boyfriend had a strong dislike for?”
“Yes…I
thought they might be able to patch things up”
“Why? What was so important that they patch things
up?”
“Nothing
I just thought”
“You
just thought?”
“I
thought it would be good if Larry could see his grand-daughter”
“Why?”
“Coz
he kept asking after her”
“I
see”
Christian
stared threw her which unbeknown to him made him look as if he didn’t care.
“After
Mr Anderson’s departure did my client say anything?”
“No! Not straight away…he just walked away”
“But
you said he broke up the party…did he order everyone home?”
“No!”
“Then
why did they go?”
“I
don’t know I think they felt awkward”
“Awkward? What would you say if I were to suggest that
they may have left to give Chris some space…he had just been through a pretty
hard time…it must have been a shock seeing the man who had made his life a
living hell for years?”
“Well
yeah maybe”
“And
is it not safe to say Miss Geddes that you both fought because he knew you had
invited him”
“No! We fought coz Chris takes his temper out on
whoever’s present at the time”
“You
fought and you say he slapped you?”
“Yes…no
not then he slapped me during another fight we had”
“Is
it not the case where you slapped him first?”
“Yes
but…”
“So
you are possibly as violent as my client”
“No
not as violent”
“But
you said you slapped him first! Which
means you must have lost your cool first?”
“No! Yes, oh I don’t know! Chris gets to you…he gets you so wound up
that you wanna k…” she stopped herself
“Kill
him?”
“Yeah”
“And
would you?”
“No of course not! It’s just a figure of speech!”
“A
figure of speech?” the man simpered as he glanced at the jury.
“Yeah”
“So
when my client got Larry Anderson up against the wall and threatened to blow
his fucking head off…would you not agree that it was just a figure of speech?”
“I
don’t know maybe…yeah”
“No
further questions your honour”
“Mr
Steadman…do you wish to cross-examine” said the judge.
The
prosecutor got to his feet.
“Just
a few more questions Miss Geddes…to get back to the clothes”
Christian
rolled his eyes.
“How
can you be so sure that those indeed belong to the accused?”
“Because…there’s
a button missing on his shirt”
Christian
closed his eyes.
“And
the gun Miss Geddes…can you be 100% sure it belongs to the accused?”
“Yeah…I’ve
seen it before”
“Okay
Miss Geddes…I have no further questions your honour”
The woman judge turned to Shelby “You may
step down” she said in a quiet tone of voice, Shelby swallowed then stood up
and walked from the courtroom head held high.