After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 22

December 8, 1992. 2:48PM.

After the hour long recess that allowed Ralph and Jeffery to finish consuming the packed lunch they brought, and for Laurie and Zoey to return so they could all head back into the courtroom together, court was brought back into session. All members of the court sat in the same seats they had been in before the recess. It was almost like school, Ralph noticed, in the sense that people tended to return to the unofficial assigned seats they designated for themselves. In an elective psychology class he took during his eighth grade year to help boost his GPA after the breakup, Ralph learned that people tended to find a space in a new area and stick to it because of its newfound familiarity. People gravitate towards comfort, especially in strange and stressful situations, such as being forced to go to court everyday while listening to testimony that has the power to determine their future, or that of someone close to them. The seat they sat in the day or hour before was the closest thing to familiarity and comfort anyone in the gallery of Courtroom 4 was going to experience today. Ralph couldn't blame them nor himself, for clinging to such a silly sense of security.

All the testimony for that day continued to pertain to the fire on the island, and the events and procedures of the day the boys were rescued. Ralph was sure that if he heard the date January 27, 1991 spoken into the air one more time, it would play on an endless loop in his head til death do he part with it. Ralph was surprised by how bored he was getting with each passing hour. He hadn't been prepared for the repetitiveness, for how long it would take to cover the rescue mission alone. Yes, it was arguably an important day regarding this trial, but Ralph didn't see the value in retrieving every last detail from dozens of people who were on site that day. It seemed that the only way most of these testimonies differed was in the various responders' interpretations of the same conversations, sightings, and evidence they encountered during the rescue. Ralph was pretty damn sure that the jury got the idea by now, but still, the endless stream of testimonies from EFR firefighters, Marines, Coast Guard search and rescue workers, and pilots continued.

At the end of the long, tedious day in the courtroom, Ralph was beyond happy to head back to their hotel room for the night. Despite having spent most of the day with his butt on a bench, he couldn't remember a time he felt more exhausted. And by the looks of it, it seemed many of his former squadron members were feeling the same way. Jeffery guided his son out of the row with a hand on the boy's shoulder, his wife and Zoey whispering in tow behind. Murmuring continued throughout the courtroom until they were on the outside of the doors. Whatever the reason, there seemed to be an unspoken rule about being quiet in the courtroom itself, even after it's been adjourned.

Zoey brought her voice up to a standard volume as she continued to debrief with Laurie, and now Jeffery, about the testimonies of the day and how they may affect Ralph's case. Ralph didn't have an ounce of energy left in him to listen to any more legal talk, making it too easy to tune out the conversation. His eyes darted around the large, open concept, very brown hallway outside the courtroom. He landed on Jack and Evan standing together several dozen feet to his left. Except this time, neither their attorney nor Paige were with them. Ralph watched observantly as Evan bent down in front of Jack to be level with the boy. Their faces were a mere few inches apart, and Ralph could see Jack pushing his head back against the wall in a failing attempt to put some distance between them. Ralph couldn't hear the words being spoken between the two from where he was standing, but he could sense by Evan's domineering body language that he was angry, seemingly at Jack. Ralph couldn't imagine what possibly about, given that they'd all just spent the whole day listening to repetitive testimonies that didn't pertain to the charges against either Ralph or Jack. But still, Evan in his tall and muscular form, cornered his much smaller son against the wall and evidently expressed a lot of anger. Ralph watched as Jack stood with an unreadable, empty expression on his face, staring into Evan's aggravated eyes without a hint as to what he was feeling.