Defendant

claire-fuller-8
photo by claire fuller

You aren’t supposed to blame the parents, but you do anyway.

Parents are expected to stick by their children no matter what.

Maybe it’s worse than outliving them, sitting there in the courtroom while witnesses describe the horrors in excruciating detail, first to the prosecutor and then to the defense.

How familiar the situation must be to them, this cross-examination.

Do they sit there, searching their own flawed memories for a single moment when they might have changed everything with a word?

They only made it through the first two days.

Maybe they watched the rest from home on television.

 

Friday Fictioneers

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  1. rochellewisoff

    Dear J Hardy,

    Fortunately none of my kids grew up to commit heinous crimes, but I relate to this parent’s angst. There are so many things I wish I could go back and do differently. I’ll leave it there with sensitively written story. Well done.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

  2. Sandra

    Eerily, I entertained similar thoughts to this whilst listening to some heinous murder trial yesterday, where the accused were only fourteen at the time of the crime. Well encapsulated. Good one.

Don't just stand there.