The Candy Store Catastrophe

Ceasar looked around before ducking into Lola's candy store. Police officer Jordan was told a robbery would take place at the candy store at 3:00 sharp. It was 3:01. Caesar walked inside. Jordan followed him. While Caesar was "checking out the candy", Jordan spoke to

Lola. "That man-" Jordan nodded at Caesar. "Is trying to rob your store."

    "Oh- um- what should I do police officer-" She looked at his name tag. "Jordan"

    "I'll take care of things ma'm."

    "Thank you very much sir. You are a great help."

    Out of the corner of his eye, Jordan saw Caesar stealing 10 milky ways, 9 jolly ranchers, 8 hershey kisses, 7 reeses pieces, 6 m&ms, 5 skittles, 4 snickers, 3 almond joys, two smarties, and one dum dum lollipop.

    "That boy- he is going to be as big as Russia one day," muttered Jordan.

Caesar finally noticed the cop staring at him and took off. He ran as fast as his legs could take him. Suddenly, he heard two gunshots fire. They missed him, but no less than a minute later, cop Jordan caught him. All of a sudden, he started punching Caesar really hard until he was unconscious. The only person who saw them was a tiny woman with a squeaky voice, whose nickname was Spit- Sally. The nickname wasn't given for nothing.

* * *

    It was the next day. Jordan and Caesar were in court. Caesar shuffled his feet nervously. He didn't feel so good. Jordan, on the other hand, had thought he did the right thing. Spit- Sally was the witness, and was chatting with the defense attorney. She was telling him about a dog she saw in the street. "What a perfectly precious puppy," she said, spitting in his face.

Judge Lawson banged his gavel and said, "Order in the court!"

The defence attorney and prosecutor made their opening statements. The trial had begun.

* * *

The attorney's each took turns. The prosecutor said Caesar was wrong in robbing the store. The defense attorney said Jordan was wrong in unreasonably firing the gun at Caesar. The one and only witness was called up.

"Sally Watson, please approach the witness stand," said the judge. "Tell your story."

"So... like," she giggled and twirled her hair. Then, when she thought nobody was looking, she snuck a glance at Jordan, and he looked away. "Um... well."

"Tic Toc," said the judge irritatedly.

Sally was scared now. Caesar looked very young. She didn't want him to go to jail, especially for something as small as stolen candy. Still, she reminded herself, she needed the money to feed herself and her children. "Caesar robbed the candy shop, murdered a woman in his way, and has stolen things in the past." She looked at Jordan. He gave the slightest nod.

"Anything to add Caesar?" asked Judge Lawson.

Caesar was speechless for a second, and shocked that this woman would utter such a lie. He sighed heavily. What could he do now? Nobody would believe him if he told the truth. He approached the witness stand. "Let me explain a little," he said. "I have a younger sister. She hasn't smiled since our parents died from hunger. We are orphans. We only have enough money to buy food, the least expensive food there is. My sister- I- I just wanted to make her happy," he said and thought back to his sister, all alone (only 8 years old) shivering, waiting for him to come back with the surprise he'd promised her in the little alley that was their "home". He burst into tears.

Judge Lawson's stern face softened a bit, but then he said, "No excuse for crime."

The judge made what he thought would be his final ruling. "You shall go to jail for 27 years. We'll manage your sister."

Caesar's hands were handcuffed behind his back. Two men started leading him to the door.

Right as they reached the door though, a tiny, squeaky, woman who spat when she talked screamed, "WAIT!"

Jordan's eyes widened. There was a buzz in the crowd. Spit- Sally said, "Please let me say something."

Judge Lawson raised his eyebrows, but said, "Order in the court. Please settle down everyone. Let Sally speak!"

Spit- Sally looked at her feet, then blurted out, "I lied. Jordan payed me to lie." She angrily threw the money in Jordan's astonished face. "What really happened was Caesar stole some candy from a store. Jordan tried to shoot him twice, but missed."

Heads were turning to face Jordan, who had slid down in his chair, and had turned a bright red. "And...," said Sally pulling the attention back to herself. "When Jordan finally caught up to Caesar, he started punching him quite hard until he was unconsious." After hearing Caesar's story, Sally realized they were the same. They were both poor and trying to take care of their families.

"Now I'll make my real final ruling," said the judge. "Jordan, you have violated the 8th amendment of the Bill of Rights, which is no cruel and unusual punishment. No government official can physically beat a citizen. You are fired from being a police officer, and will go to jail for 15 years."

* * *  

    As Jordan was being dragged off, Caesar asked Spit- Sally, "Why'd you decide to tell the truth?"

    "Because, we are the same, and money isn't everything," she said and smiled. Together, they walked out of the court, forgetting they were poor. They knew, now that they were friends, they could work something out.

The End