The Verdict
by M.C.
Judge must rule on a very unusual case


Judge Helen Gilbert had to admit this was a 'first' for her. After ten years
on the bench, handling a wide variety of domestic abuse cases, this was one
for the books. She had dealt with many - far too many unfortunately - cases of
child abuse. And, of course, many instances of wife beating. There was even
the occasional - though far too rare - cases of husband beating. But this was
the first time that anyone could remember a case in which an entire family was
being battered and abused. What made this peculiar situation even more unusual
was that both the parents, as well as the two large 17 year-old twin boys,
were being abused... by a 15 year-old girl.

Helen glanced down from her podium at the pathetic family that sat in her
courtroom. Seated in front of her was Bill and Mary Morgan and their two sons,
Rick and Jeff. Off to the side sat a pretty, red - haired girl named Linda. "
Very well," Helen began," we'll  start this hearing with you, Mr. Morgan;
please approach the bench." Bill Morgan, a large, well built - if somewhat
overweight - man, took a seat near the judge. He had played football in high
school and now worked as an auto mechanic at a local gas station. People who
knew Bill considered him to be something of a bully, a man with a temper. "
All right Mr. Morgan, can you tell me about your relationship with Linda."

Bill Morgan shifted uncomfortably in his chair. " Well, you see your honor,
it's like this: My wife and I have always tried to adopt foster children in
order to give them the love and warmth they deserve; we've had several others
before. When we met Linda at the agency, she seemed so nice and sweet. And
when we heard about the tragedy of both her parents being killed in an
automobile accident when she was very young - and no close relatives to take
care of her - well, we felt it was our civic duty to take her in. As foster
parents we believed we could  give her the love and understanding a young
child needs when growing up." When she heard this, Linda began to giggle.

"You'll have your turn to tell your side of the story, Miss Morris. I request
that you just sit quietly for the time being."

 "I'm sorry your honor," the redhead replied with a sly smile, " I'll try to
control myself from now on."

Turning back to Bill Morgan, the judge asked,"and when did the 'problem' with
Linda begin? "

"Well, we had her for about a month and everything seemed to be going
splendid. Then, about two weeks ago, I came home from work and I saw something
I will never forget as long as I live. This 15 year-old girl, that we so
generously let into our home, was beating up my two sons." ( Helen looked over
at the two boys. Both were nearly six feet tall and must have weighed close to
190 pounds. Linda couldn't have stood more than five feet seven and weighed,
perhaps,140 pounds at the most ). " She had them both pinned up against the
wall and was banging their heads together. My boys were both crying and
begging her to stop; but she kept on pounding them and laughing."

" So what did you do about that ?"

A lengthy pause followed before Mr. Morgan continued. " I - I tried to break
up the fight."

"And? "

Another long pause, Mr. Morgan put his head down. At length he answered in as
low a voice as possible," she...she then beat me up also."

Again giggles were heard from the pretty 15 year-old girl.

" You mean to tell me that this girl beat up both of your sons and you as well
?" Helen asked incredulously.

" And that's not all I did to you, is it Mr. Morgan?" Linda said with a smile
on her pretty face.

"And what else did she do to you? " Although Helen knew she was being very 
unprofessional now, she was too intrigued by what she was hearing to stop.

Bill Morgan began to sob." She...spanked me. All we wanted to do was give her
a loving home and she turned on us like a rattlesnake. Then she threw us out
of our bedrooms and made us all sleep down in the basement at night. She
orders us around like we're her slaves. When we don't do what she demands of
us, she beats us up again." Nancy, Bill's wife, and his two sons, Rick and
Jeff, all nodded in agreement." It's been terrible these past two weeks; just
awful. That's why we turned to the courts to get her out of our home; we just
can't take anymore of this abuse."

" Very well Mr. Morgan, you may return to your seat."  Slowly, the humiliated
man walked back to where the rest of his family sat. Helen paused for a few
moments,  trying to absorb what she had just heard. Then, turning towards
Linda she said," and now you, Miss Morris, what have you to say about all of
this? "

As the pretty girl approached the judge, she flashed a smug smile at the
Morgan family. Sitting down near Helen, Linda began to speak:

" First of all judge...err, your honor, everything you heard so far is bunk.
All this talk about 'civic duty' and providing a home with love and warmth is
pure bullshi...err, that is to say untrue. There are only two reasons why the
Morgan family wants foster children in their home.  The first is because they
need the money the agency pays them; and the second is because they want
someone to do all the housework that they are just too lazy to do themselves.
Bill goes to the bar every afternoon after work and boozes it up. When
he comes home in the evening, he is too drunk to do anything except crash down
on the couch and watch T.V. until he falls asleep. Nobody likes him because
he's such a mean, nasty bully. Since I've been living with the Morgan family,
Bill's been fired from one job because he couldn't get along with anybody at
the garage.

Mary is an alcoholic; she must have 20 bottles of liquor stashed away in her
cupboard. As soon as Bill leaves for work in the morning, she starts to drink
and is useless for the rest of the day. ( Both Bill and Mary stared down at
the floor in front of them as Linda spoke ). As soon as I moved in with them
they made me do all of the household chores that she should have been doing,
as if I was their maid.

And as for the 'boys', they are most useless people I've ever seen. All they
do is fight with other kids in school; they were expelled for a week for
fighting last month. And when they're home they ordered me around all the time
and called me names. One day, when their taunting got to be too much, I
finally decided 'enough is enough'. I challenged them to a fight and kicked
their asses in ( at this point Linda rose from her seat and flexed her muscles
- muscles she had developed from intensive weightlifting over the past four
years - Helen was awed by the size of them ). When Bill got home, I decided it
was time to settle my score with him too; so I beat him up also. He deserved
the spanking I gave him because, as a father and head of this sorry household,
he should be setting an example of proper behavior for his sons. Instead, he's
a worthless father, and a poor provider for his family.

I then decided that the whole family needed to be taught a good lesson; so I
took over the household. Yes, I beat them up on occasion, but only when I felt
it was necessary; they needed some discipline in their lives; they have no
idea how lucky they are to be a family. Yes; I lock them in the basement at
night. That's because I know they'll try and do something to harm me while I'm
getting my beauty sleep ( Linda giggles again). I've been in many foster homes
in my life but these people are the biggest bunch of losers I've ever seen."

As Linda spoke, Judge Gilbert glanced down at the report in front of her. In
cases like these an investigator is usually sent out do a background check of
the situation. Unfortunately, because of her heavy caseload, Helen wasn't able
to read the report prior to the hearing. What she saw stunned her. Linda was
indeed correct in her assessment of the Morgans. In fact it was even worse
than she described. Bill had, in fact, been fired four times during the past
two years for his inability to get along with his co-workers. Mary suffered
from depression in addition to her alcoholism and the boys were failing all of
their subjects in school. Of the three previous foster children they've had,
two ran away and the third was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion." This
is the most dysfunctional family I have ever seen," she said to herself.

When Linda finished telling her side of the story, Helen glared at the
Morgans. " You, Bill and Mary, are not only unfit to be foster parents, you're
totally unfit to be parents altogether. How you were even able to qualify for
the foster program is beyond me. But this much is certain...I'm not only going
to remove Linda from your home, I'm also going to remove your two sons and
place them in a 'good' foster home before you completely ruin whatever chances
they still have to lead productive lives; this is my verdict! "

When she heard this, Mary Morgan broke down and began to cry. " Please don't
take my babies away from me...I don't know what I'll do without them, I just
don't know what I'll do." Bill and his sons just sat there, stunned; unable to
speak. Their family - such as it was - was about to be broken up, destroyed.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. When they had gotten married - nearly 20
years ago - Bill and Mary had all those great intentions that newlyweds have
when starting out; working hard together to build a successful life for
themselves and the children they planned on having. Somewhere, however, their
dream got sidetracked. Bill never could keep a steady job, despite his skill
as a mechanic; his nasty temper always got in the way. He began to frequent
topless bars and spend his money on strippers. Mary, overwhelmed with the
responsibility of raising her twin sons by herself, turned to her only friend
for solace...the bottle. As the years went by, Bill and Mary became more and
more detached from their parental responsibilities. The wayward behavior of
their sons was the byproduct of their neglect. To any objective observer,
Judge Gilbert's verdict was the only possible course of action to rectify the
situation; if it could be rectified that is. There was one exception
however...

"Err...your honor, may I have a word with you...in private? "

"Why yes, Linda; of course. Come into my chamber."

The judge led Linda into her chamber and closed the door behind her. For a few
minutes the only sound heard in the courtroom was that of Mary's sobbing.
Soon, giggling was heard from within the chamber; followed by laughter.
Finally, the door to Helen's chamber opened and the Judge and Linda emerged,
with smiles on their faces. Judge Gilbert looked sternly at the Morgans and
said," Linda has convinced me to reconsidered my original verdict. Instead of
taking your sons away from you and placing them in a foster home, I'm going to
place you all on probation for one year...you have twelve months to clean up
your act. And, to assist you in your rehabilitation ( Helen looked over at
Linda and winked ) I'm placing  Miss Morris in charge of your household. I'll
be checking up on you from time to time to see how you've progressed; that
will be all."

Linda led the stunned family out of the courtroom and into their car. When
they arrived at their home, she marched them into the house and sat them all
down at the dinning room table. Standing in front of them with her hands on
her hips, the 15 year-old girl laid down the law. "All right you guys, this is
how things are going to be done around here from now on:

Bill, you are to come directly home from work each and every day. If I ever
hear that you've been to a bar again, I'm going to spank you so hard you won't
be able to sit down for a week. Furthermore, you're to turn over your paycheck
to me every week. I'll put it in my account and decide how much of an
allowance to give you and the rest of the family; depending on how well you
behave yourselves. You're going to start being a real father to your sons,
I'll expect you to spend at least a half an hour a day with each one.

Mary, you've had your last taste of alcohol. You're to throw out every bottle
of booze you have today. If I catch you drinking again, I'm going to tape your
mouth shut and only open it to let you eat. I'm also going to enroll you in
an  A.A. chapter and you will attend all of the meetings.You too are to spend
more time with your sons... be more of a mother to them.

Rick and Jeff, for the next few months I'm grounding you.You're to meet me at
the Jr. High School every afternoon at 3 p.m. and we'll walk home
together...and don't be late! When we get home you're to go directly to your
rooms and do all of your homework. If I ever hear that you've been fighting in
school again, I'm going to beat the crap out of both of you. There will be
no dating or 'hanging out' with your friends on weekends until I give you
permission to do so. If any of your friends give you problems with this then
just tell me who they are and I'll 'take care' of them. We'll be spending our
weekends together as a family from now on. Rick, you wanted to join the
wrestling team at your high school; I think that's a good idea. It will help
you get out a lot of the aggression you have inside of you. After you've
finished your homework, you and I will wrestle for an hour each day. I'll
teach you some holds which may help you.

I expect this house to be kept clean and orderly at all times. We'll divide
the household chores equally; I'll do my share of course. I know you don't
like taking orders from a 15 year-old girl but let's face it, this family is a
disaster; you're lucky I was able to talk Judge Gilbert into giving you one
last chance. Now, I want you all to go upstairs and straighten up your rooms;
I'll be inspecting them in an hour, and they had better be clean...or else."
Linda smacked her right fist into her left palm to emphasize her point.
Slowly, dejectedly, the Morgan family walked up the stairs and into their
rooms; their freedom was now gone, their lives forever altered...by a 15
year-old girl. Their lives would never be the same.

Six Months Later

Mary Morgan finished folding the last of the laundry. She put it all into a
basket and began to walk up the stairs from the basement. She stopped briefly
and watched her husband mowing the lawn from the living room window; something
that would have been impossible only a few short months ago. What was really
amazing however, was the smile on his face...he actually seemed to be enjoying
himself. Not only was he holding on to his job now but he was even given a
promotion to chief mechanic at the garage he worked for; it's what he'd always
dreamed about becoming. Making her way upstairs, Mary entered Jeff's bedroom.
He was so busy studying for his SAT ( Scholastic Aptitude Test ) exams that he
didn't even hear her come  in. Mary smiled as she watched him for a few
moments. Almost a lost cause scholastically, he was now among the top students
in his grade; college now seemed a certainty. Leaving him to his studies, Mary
moved on to Rick's bedroom.

Opening the door she gazed down at a sight that would have amazed most other
mothers, but was just a daily occurrence in her household. There was her large
son - and varsity wrestler - lying on his back, struggling in vain to pry open
the muscular legs of his 15 year-old opponent. Linda was laughing as she
easily held him in place with her scissors. " Give up, tough guy ?," she
teased. Rick valiantly fought on for another minute before collapsing on the
floor, exhausted. " Yes, I give. You win Linda...again." Linda reached over
and playfully tweaked his nose."You may be the best wrestler at Cleveland High
Ricky boy, but around here you're still second best. Rest up for a few minutes
and then we'll go at it again. Remember, I treat you to dinner if you ever
beat me." Mary placed Rick's laundry on his bed and quietly left the room.

When she entered Linda's immaculate bedroom, Mary took out a bar of chocolate
from her pocket. After placing Linda's clothes on her dresser, she put the
chocolate bar on top of the clothes. Attached to the chocolate bar was a note;
a note that expressed Mary's deep gratitude towards the young girl who,
through her strength, discipline and love, had saved her family. The note said
simply," Thank you."