After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 99

Labour Day weekend was welcomed by the members of Courtroom 4 at the Chatham County Juvenile Courthouse. There was nothing Jack Merridew and Ralph Langley were looking forward to more than a three day weekend. An extra day away from the courthouse meant an extra day to sleep in, play video games, go shopping, and eat excessive amounts of junk food.

The end of the trial was nearing, and everyone affected by it could feel it in the air. The defense's case was expected to take far less time than the prosecution's case, which was quite typical. Many of the witnesses Barnes will have called during her run at the case were the very ones Jeremy Reynolds had on his own witness list, and the cross-examinations he did on those witnesses during Barnes' time in the spotlight would speed up his own case later on. The boys' families were all expected to return to the stand, as were some of the first responders to the rescue scene. The biggest change that was bound to occur in the shift from the prosecution to the defense was that the boys themselves were set to testify. And in spite of the fact that Barnes' time controlling the narrative was almost up, the boys knew they weren't out of the woods yet. Their own testimonies could make or break the case, and it was hard to forget that even on the best of days.

Jeffery and Laurie took Jack and Ralph shopping at the biggest mall in Savannah on the Saturday before Labour Day. Because of the Langleys financial status, they didn't shop so much as window shop and stop for lunch. Jack noted how different the outing was from the shopping trips he usually took with Paige. For his sister, shopping was a whole day event. She'd spend more hours trying on clothes than most workers spent in the office on a given day. Jack enjoyed shopping with the Langleys much more. It felt like a family outing rather than a dreaded jump from outlet store to outlet store.

Jack and the Langleys only spent a combined two and a half hours at the mall before heading back to the hotel for some down time. For Jeffery and Laurie, that meant sending emails, making phone calls back to East Point, reading, and napping. For Jack and Ralph, it meant sitting in front of the TV in Jack and Paige's room playing endless streams of video games until their thumbs hurt. The boys snacked on leftover fries from their lunch at the mall between games and during bathroom breaks. Paige returned to the room just before dinner. She made small talk with Ralph while Jack chimed in every now and again for her to shut up and let them play, but as usual, Paige wasn't overly fazed by her brother's crude remarks.

Ralph, Jack, and Paige all joined Laurie and Jeffery for dinner at a conservative restaurant serving reasonably priced entrees later that evening. After they finished their main courses, Paige and Jeffery kindly argued over who would pay for what while Jack and Ralph tried their hand at the claw machine in an effort to win a half decent prize. By the time all five of them were back at the table for dessert, Paige announced that she was going to be heading back to Dalton for the remainder of Labour Day weekend. She scheduled breakfast with a friend from college on Sunday morning, and brunch with another on the Monday. She also broke some rather exciting news; she had a nursing job interview scheduled for Sunday afternoon, which was in some way connected to the breakfast she would be having that morning. It was hard for Ralph to wrap his head around all the details, but Paige seemed happy about it, so he thought he oughta be happy for her too.

Jack on the other hand, was evidently more suspicious than excited for his big sister.

"Why do you need to get a real job right now?" he asked in an unidentifiable tone. "I thought the whole point in you taking nursing was so you that you'd have the option not to work at Solight if you didn't want to" he hotly reminded her.

Jack was obviously upset about Paige's job interview, but Ralph didn't have a clue as to why.

"It was" Paige agreed, "but things have changed since I was in nursing school."