After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 45

January 4, 1993. 8:29 AM.

If you asked Ralph Langley, he would tell you that the eleven-day holiday break from court felt a lot more like eleven minutes. Before he knew it, Christmas was over and he, Jeffery, and Laurie were packing their bags to head back east to Savannah.

They made the drive on the 3rd, and spent their first night of the calendar year in the same little hotel room they called home for most of December. It was strange, being back in that room after almost two weeks away. Ralph wasn't sure which felt more like his permanent residence at this point; hotel room 513 or their family home in East Point.

Ralph now stood in one of the many line-ups at the front desks of the Chatham County Juvenile Courthouse next to his father, who stood next to his mother. They wore their nice formal suits, just like most of the others in their line and those around them did. Ralph noticed Larry and his family up ahead in the line just beside theirs. If he glanced around, he would've seen a handful of the other former Unit 8 boys and their families, but Ralph didn't glance. His eyes were stuck on the oblivious figure of Larry ahead of him. The boy's hand was held in that of his mother, whose hair was as golden blond as her son's. Ralph couldn't imagine what it was like to be Larry right now. Ralph already felt like a zoo exhibit here, even without being the center of the whole court's attention.

About twenty minutes before the clock would strike nine, the Langleys met Zoey Berman outside of the courtroom. She greeted them warmly, wished them a happy new year, and guided them to one of the deliberation rooms so they could get caught up on what today's proceedings would look like.

Ralph's eyes found Jack and the Merridew family as the clock struck nine o'clock and Judge Eldeson was surely making his way slowly to the judge's bench. Jack looked like he always did in court; dressed in one of his many fine suits, his hair nicely combed, his piercing blue eyes on the front of the room. Ralph's chest hurt just looking at him. He was so angry at Jack for giving up on them again, for deciding that being with someone else was easier. But Ralph was also smitten with Jack's natural beauty, and the memory of what his name sounded like in Jack's cracked but alluring voice.

"All rise, the honorable Judge Eldeson presiding" the opening line broke the silence, and the rest of the courtroom stood on command.

"You may be seated" Judge Eldeson declared, and the rest of the courtroom sat on command.

After the remainder of the opening proceedings were completed, Dana Barnes took to the front of the room, and brought her all consuming arrogance with her. She made a quick opening statement to recap her case and why they were all here today. She then called in her first witness of the day.

To Ralph's surprise, the first witness of 1993 wasn't just someone he recognized, but someone who had been a witness before this court already. Officer Bailey returned to the stand for the second time now. He was first called back in mid-December to tell the court all about the RAF International Military School Training Program. Aside from the fact that he already testified about it, Ralph was sure that he wasn't here to talk about Bainbridge Military Academy at all.

The questions Dana had for Ronald Bailey were very similiar to those she asked Principal Stone just before the holiday break. This time, the Head Officer was being questioned about his knowledge of and experience working with Larry. Instead of dredging up the disciplinary action taken against him during school hours, Barnes questioned Officer Bailey about Larry's track record during military training. There was only one report written on Larry in regards to military training, but of course Dana intended to milk it as far as it would go.

She questioned Officer Bailey about signing off on the report, how he felt about it and its connection to Larry's less than stellar student record in regards to classroom learning. Officer Bailey didn't know Larry all that well, but he shared the details of his remembered interactions with the boy, and the report he signed off on before mailing it out to his parents.