THE THIRTEENTH OPTION - Living Through the Depression

266. THE THIRTEENTH OPTION - Living Through the Depression:

And thus the gentlemen of the jury took their seats and the others arrived – those who would watch and comment and criticize – and then the judge himself came in and sat down on the big royal elevation but just as he did so the chair itself creaked and broke and the lower leg twisted itself out and deposited the judge upon the floor by which time a messenger had arrived bearing papers from a notary which attested to the fact that the manufacture of that chair was already suspect but by then the judge had reasserted himself forward and slain the two guards who’d allowed this to happen and as beleaguered as everyone was - for fear is a great leveler and evidently no one really wishes to die - the room was abuzz with crickets and wallflowers and the old woman who had walked up from the basement was relating the story of the estate sale from Saturday at which an ancient man had come in asking far too many questions of the house and time and home and possessions and he walked away purchasing nothing and that had made everyone suspect of his motives and "WHEW! was he strange!" she’d said and "all we were trying to do was help out the Marsden family which was in some hard times after Helen died and by selling the old house and all she’d once had they were getting some financial savvy into their lives and even the grown kids were happy – even though Helen was dead – because they’d been able each to take their own favorite things and photos and mementos for themselves so that anyone else traipsing through the house wouldn’t matter to them" and just then the judge arose and said "I still profess that you all were trespassing and had no real business in that place for in reality it was not yours and never had been but for this moment we’ll let that pass" and he sat back down with a big pass of air and it was actually that pass of air which had gotten my interest but again he started professing something sonorously like a judge in the true modern sense of the word "I am not an impartial observer here you see and never have been for there was a time when I was deeply in love with Helen and she with me so I must take objection to this course of events and they say that Justice is blind but let me tell you it’s a false blindness which is caused by nothing more than – if you’ve never noticed – the blindfold upon her eyes which is processed and put in place by enemies of the court and they seem to feel that if you convince enough people of your impartiality and blamelessness then that will simply make it so but it never does and the entire thing is a pack of lies and actually I’VE HAD IT I’m done I quit I’m leaving this bench!" and with that he left the chambers and was never heard from again not even in the annals of legendary justice or any of Albee’s plays or anything of that nature and since that time – and probably because of it – it has became really boring to just hang around - and so everyone then left one at a time singly or in clumps but I REALLY HADN’T NOTICED.