A Quality of Light (25 page)

Johnny’s attorney cleared his throat and said, “Your Honor, it has just come to my attention that the court could be saved considerable time this morning by hearing from two individuals who were also involved in the altercation that brings us here. I believe testimony from Ralph Wendt and Neil Metzger can resolve this issue without further cost or impediment.”

Judge Hallett asked the prosecutor if he had any objection to hearing from the students. When no objection was raised, Ralphie moved to the front between the lawyers’ tables.

“My name is Ralph Wendt,” he began shakily, looking around quickly and gulping. “I’m … a friend of Joshua Kane and Johnny Gebhardt. We’ve been to school together since we were kids. At least me’n Joshua have been. I’ve known Johnny for about four years now.”

“And why are you here, Ralph?” Judge Hallett asked, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands on the bench in front of him.

“Well, I’m here because I was there that night and I saw what happened. I fought just as hard as Johnny. All you need to do is look at the raccoon eyes on Hollingshead to figure that out,” he said to a burst of laughter from around the room.

The judge banged his gavel for quiet. He said, “This may not yet be a formal proceeding, but I will have no uproar in my courtroom! Any further display and I’ll have it cleared. Go on, Ralph.”

“I wasn’t gonna say nothing. I figured if I did I’d get in trouble too. But Josh and Johnny have always been good to me. I was a jerk when we first met but they treated me right, you know. These guys have been on Joshua’s case ever since he walked into school this
year. I’m in his home room. I seen it. I heard all the names and the swearing that he’s had to put up. Not just from these guys but from a lot of people. I never did nothing to try’n help him or make them stop and now I’m real sorry about that. I didn’t wanna be left out, you know. I figured if I stood up for Joshua I’d be off the hockey team, off the football team. I wanted to fit in, you know. Not be on the outside? I was stupid.”

“Okay, I appreciate that, Ralph, but what do you have to tell us about this incident specifically?” Judge Hallett said.

“Specifically? Well, Joshua wasn’t drinking. He was with us all night. Me, Johnny, Connie. Mary Ellen dumped him right in front of everybody and left to hang out with Hollingshead and Begg and their friends.”

“Hollingshead and Begg? The victims, you mean?” the judge asked.

“Well, yeah,” Ralphie said, looking at me nervously. “Anyway, he went out to talk to her about it. After about five minutes me’n Johnny got worried on accounta Chris and Al had been trying to fight him all year. So we followed him out. When we got out the back door we heard a lotta shouting and laughing and Mary Ellen screaming at someone to stop. We ran over to the bleachers where everything was happening and Joshua was being punched and kicked by four of them. We ran over and started to pull them off and the fight broke out. No one figured Johnny was that tough. I sure didn’t.”

“What happened exactly, Ralph?” Judge Hallett asked.

“I remember yanking Chris Hollingshead backwards before Johnny cranked Allen Begg a real good one on the side of the head and knocked him down. Chris tried to nail Johnny with the bottle that was lying on the ground where he landed, but Johnny ducked and the bottle broke against the bleachers. Johnny punched and kicked Chris and he fell on some of the broken glass. That’s how he got cut so bad.”

“John Gebhardt never struck him with the bottle?” the judge asked.

“No sir. He didn’t have to,” Ralphie said to another, lower titter of laughter across the room.

The judge glowered at the crowd until they fell into silence.

“I squared off against Steve and Kevin. They’re big but they can’t fight for beans. And Allen, well, he’s just plain mean. Johnny kept knocking him down but he kept getting back up so Johnny would knock him down again. He’s mean but he can’t fight either. At least, not good enough to take Johnny.”

Allen Begg stared at the floor.

“So what they said, about Joshua being drunk and all, well, that’s bullshit. They started it right from day one at school. And that night, it was four against one. If we hadn’t gone out when we did, Joshua would probably still be in the hospital,” Ralphie said.

“Why didn’t you say anything before this, Ralph?” Judge Hallett asked.

Ralphie took his time answering. “Like I said, I was scared. I didn’t want to be on the wrong side. I thought this was an Indian and white guy thing and, well, I’m white. I thought I had to stick with the white guys. If I defended Joshua I thought everyone would go against me. Already people are callin’ us who hang around with him Injun lovers. But it’s not about that. It’s about what’s right. It’s about friendship. It’s about rememberin’ when people been good to you and these two spazzes have always been good to me. Even when I was bein’ a jerk back in public school, they treated me right. And I guess I’d rather have Joshua and Johnny for friends than these creeps!” he said, pointing at the four Walkerton kids. “Least they have enough balls to fight fair!”

“Anything else, Ralph?” the judge asked.

“Just that I’m sorry. I shoulda been braver. I shoulda stuck with my friends. I shoulda stood up for Josh when all this started.” He looked at me with shiny eyes and I nodded. He grinned.

“Thank you, Ralph. Next.”

Ralphie went to stand beside Connie, who slipped an arm around his shoulder. He hung his head and looked at the floor, one big meaty fist rubbing the corner of his eye. Neil Metzger strode to
the front of the room and introduced himself as class president of Walkerton Secondary School.

“A bunch of us got together, Your Honor, and decided to offer our testimony if the court needs it. There’s a bunch of us that know all about the trouble that’s been going on in our school since the start of the year. We should never have allowed it to go on as long as it did. Maybe we were just scared like Ralph was or maybe we just didn’t care enough. But we know we were wrong. Especially now,” he said.

“There are a number of us who knew about the plan to lure Joshua to the dance. We knew that Mary Ellen was supposed to get him there and then the guys were going to do a number on him, but we didn’t try to stop it even though we knew about it. I’ve got a list of names of people who are willing to come forward and testify to that. We were wrong, Your Honor. We were all wrong.

“We should have been braver. We know that now. But I guess we were all like Ralph, here. We didn’t want to cross any lines because we were afraid we’d be all alone on the other side. Being a teenager is all about not being alone, or different. But I guess we learned it’s about being honest too. Even if it’s tough. We’re sorry it went as far as it did,” he said and handed his list of names to the prosecutor.

The courtroom was abuzz. When I looked at Johnny, he was staring straight back at me, shaking his head with an absolute look of wonder on his face. I grinned and shrugged, casting my eyes up to the ceiling and beyond. He grinned back, circling one finger around and around one ear. Judge Hallett banged for order.

“Well, I wish all preliminary cases were this easy to adjudicate. Would there happen to be anyone else who would like to say a thing or two?” he said wryly.

Everyone fell into silence when Mary Ellen Reid stood and walked to the front of the room. Her shoulders were shaking slightly and her step was hesitant. When she got to the front of the room she looked at me briefly. When I nodded encouragement, she gulped nervously and faced the judge’s bench.

“I’m Mary Ellen Reid, sir,” she said quietly.

“Yes?” Judge Hallett said.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It wasn’t! I thought it was just a big joke. I thought everyone knew that. I didn’t know that people actually
hated
Joshua! These are my friends. I grew up with them. We make fun of people, sure — like people with pimples, homely people and the ones who dress funny — but we don’t
hate
them. At least
I
don’t. I don’t hate anyone. When they asked me to get Joshua to the dance, I thought it was just so they could scare him and get a laugh out of him being there. No one was supposed to get hurt. It was just supposed to be fun. Like the name calling we did. I said those things too, sir, but I didn’t
mean
it! I didn’t think anyone did. It was just funny. When they started beating him up it scared me. I didn’t know they could be like that. He only ripped my dress because he was falling down. And it wasn’t him who was drinking — it was us. We were the drunk ones.”

“I’ll ask you the same question I asked Ralph, Mary Ellen. Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Judge Hallett leaned forward in his chair and stared straight at her.

She swallowed nervously. “Because I was afraid. Because I’ve known these people all my life. I thought I owed them some kind of loyalty. I was afraid I’d be alone, unpopular, an outcast. I was afraid that I’d be on the wrong side of the line, like Neil said. But it’s not about lines. I know that now. It’s about what’s right. What happened to Joshua and Johnny wasn’t right.
We
weren’t right. If anyone deserves a beating, it’s us for thinking we were so much better. And it’s me for not seeing that the people I called my friends could be wrong. That if I didn’t say anything I was wrong too. I’m sorry. Dad. Mom. I’m sorry. Johnny, Joshua, I’m sorry. And I apologize to the court too, Your Honor.”

The courtroom was abuzz again and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Reid join hands, their faces solemn. Judge Hallett leaned back in his chair, removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger.

“In light of these developments I’ll see both counsel in my
chambers. Court will recess for fifteen minutes,” he said.

As the crowd filtered into the hallway I turned to see the Reids standing beside their daughter. Mark Reid whispered into Mary Ellen’s ear while Mrs. Reid stood stock still, the picture of propriety and composure. The noise in the hallway was tremendous. Neil approached my family with Mr. Holmes directly behind him.

“Joshua, I’m sorry we didn’t help you earlier. I guess none of us really realized how nasty things were getting. But I hope we helped today,” he said earnestly.

“You did,” I said. “And I guess no one really knew how tough things were going to be.”

“I’ve been an educator for thirty some years now, Mr. Kane,” Mr. Holmes was saying to my father. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, you read about it happening in big-city schools, the US, you know, but you never think it could happen in your school, in your home. I hope you and your family will accept my apologies on behalf of my school.”

“Yes,” my father answered quietly.

We spent the recess talking with as many people as could squeeze through to reach us. When the bailiff shouted to reconvene, I spied the Hollingshead boys and their cronies standing sheepishly behind a circle of their parents, with a wall of students preventing the flight they so obviously wanted to make. They were ushered into the courtroom with little ceremony. Johnny sat alone at the front of the room, ramrod straight, staring at the judge’s bench.

“Well, this has certainly been a different scenario than I expected,” Judge Hallett said, rustling papers into place in front of him. “I want to thank Ralph Wendt, Neil Metzger and Mary Ellen Reid for coming forward. I don’t feel it’s necessary for the students who have volunteered to testify to do so at this time. In light of the presentations we have heard today, I do not feel this court requires any further action on this matter. Charges against John Gebhardt are dismissed. It is the court’s belief that he acted in defense of his friend and although his reaction was extreme, it was not unwarranted. But I wonder if Joshua Kane would stand.”

Caught by surprise, I sat there until my father lifted my elbow slightly and I stood nervously. The judge looked at me briefly, then continued.

“Joshua, you have been, by all accounts, the victim in this case, along with your friend John, who has had to spend time confined unnecessarily. You have the right to press charges against the individuals who assaulted you as well as for the harassment you received prior to the incident. I would, in fact, encourage you to do this. If you wish to have them charged, we can take care of that immediately. Is that what you want to do now, Joshua?”

The room was silent. I gazed around, catching Mary Ellen’s eye, then the blank faces of my tormentors and finally Pastor Chuck, who crinkled up the corners of his eyes and nodded encouragement. I looked at my parents, who watched me carefully, and over at Johnny, who held me in that pure, open gaze. Revenge was mine if I would have it.

“I only want one thing, sir,” I said.

“And what would that be, Joshua?” Judge Hallett asked.

“I want an apology from everyone that was involved, both to me and to Johnny.”

“Very well,” Judge Hallett said, banging his gavel a time or two. “Apologies are certainly due. At the very least. You’re an honorable boy, Joshua. I admire that greatly. Court dismissed.”

We were immediately surrounded. I fought through the throng and worked my way to where Johnny stood. He grinned broadly at me.

“You knew,” he said.

“Kinda. But not really,” I said.

“Man, when I saw all those kids, I thought — they’re all here to hang me. And Ralphie! Holy! Who’da figured? And Mary Ellen? Wow! I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“So … you wanna get outta here or are you starting to like this jailbird stuff?”

“Well, I thought I’d hang around and see if they give me a new suit and a couple bucks, but no, let’s get lost!”

But Mr. and Mrs. Gebhardt were standing right there. They stared at us blankly. There was a quiver in Ben Gebhardt’s hand as he reached for his son, and Mrs. Gebhardt swallowed and dabbed at her eyes with the corner of a hanky. Johnny stood stiffly, unmoving. The three of them stood there, merely staring at each other, Johnny and his father shuffling from foot to foot.

“Let’s go home, son,” Ben Gebhardt said in a gravelly voice.

Johnny looked at him hard. “No, you go ahead. I’m gonna stick with Josh. I’ll see you later.”