Chapter 15 - The Courtroom
Small claims court was less dramatic than television and somehow more stressful.
Fluorescent lights.
Plastic chairs.
A vending machine humming too loudly.
Brent wore a navy suit and looked like he hadn't slept.
Grandma wore a pumpkin brooch.
Renee had told her attorneys weren't usually necessary in this kind of hearing, but she helped Grandma prepare.
Grandma brought a binder.
Tabs and everything.
"You made a binder?"
"Your grandfather loved binders."
Brent argued that Grandma had intentionally publicized the dispute to damage his standing in the community and at work.
The judge listened.
Then asked, "Did you enter her property at one seventeen in the morning?"
Brent shifted.
"We believed there was a hazard."
"Did you damage her decorations?"
"Not intentionally."
The judge looked at the still image of Brent kicking the wooden pumpkin.
"That appears fairly intentional."
Brent's lawyer objected to my description of the video.
The judge watched the video instead.
That ended that.
Then Brent made another mistake.
He said, "She turned the entire neighborhood against us."
Grandma stood when it was her turn.
"Sir, I didn't know half those people even had my phone number."
The judge's mouth twitched.
Grandma continued.
"I was angry. I did call people over. I did let a reporter interview me. I probably enjoyed being right more than I should've."
Brent looked surprised.
So did I.
"But I didn't tell anybody to threaten them. When people did stupid things, I told them to stop."
She paused.
"I can't make Mr. Lawson popular. That's beyond my skill set."
The judge lowered his eyes to hide a smile.
The claim was dismissed.
But before anyone could celebrate, the judge added something else.
He referred the vandalism evidence back to the county attorney with a note concerning restitution.
Brent's face emptied.
Outside the courtroom, he walked straight past Grandma.
Then stopped.
"This isn't over."
Grandma looked tired.
"I really wish it was."
Halloween was forty-eight hours away.
And Brent still lived next door.
May you like
—
