1979
"My clients have done nothing but demonstrate that they have the best interests of the child at heart, they've donated countless hours of their time as well as their personal funds to his care. Surely, we can all agree that the mistakes of youth are no good reason to keep two loving parents from their own flesh and blood, especially two so willing to follow all the rules and regulations that go along with adoption" Marvin's doing his best to argue our case in front of this panel, but the stony look from the judge says it all. Thanks for playing, but the state is walking away from here with Connor.
We haven't been allowed to see our son in two weeks, apparently our bad influence is too great on him. Verena tells us he asks about me and Stevie daily. He cries when he won't get to see us and doesn't sleep well. The lawyer for the state agency looks as dry and impersonal as the rest of the people in this courtroom. I wish they'd at least try and act like human beings, I'm not some faceless entity on a file I'm a man, and Stevie's a woman. And Connor's an innocent bystander in all of this "Your honor, our agency admits that Mr. and Mrs. Buckingham have done a lot in the last few months to try and bond with Hunter" his name is Connor. My son's name is Connor not Hunter.
"But regardless of that their well published history of drug use, alcohol abuse, fighting both on and off the stage, inappropriate extra-marital associations etc. has made them in the eyes of the state as unfit a home for a child as they home Hunter was taken from" my fist clenches Marvin pats my shoulder standing in my defense "Your honor, the Buckingham's lead an alternative lifestyle but it's not all inclusive. They've managed to separate themselves from their rock and roll ways the last few months to care for Connor-I mean Hunter-and I have their word that they would devote as much time and energy to his care as any so called normal parent"
"The word of two drug users is hardly-" the gavel smacks, the judge finally stopping the tide of nonsense issuing from the state's lawyer "Mr. Pritchard, I would ask that you confine your summations to the facts and not speculations based on tabloid rumors. Have either of the petitioners been arrested in the last year for drugs?" no, the last time I was arrested was in 1971. San Francisco, there was a music festival and I was drunk/high. Stevie had to use her whole week's wages to bail me out. I felt so lousy I stayed away from booze and pot and the guys for months.
"My client has stayed consistently on the good side of law enforcement for almost ten years, whatever rumors may exist about his drug use" Pritchard points his crooked finger at Stevie "And what about her?" crossing her arms my wife turns toward him "What about me?" the gavel bangs and I grab Stevie's hand "Mrs. Buckingham it is not your turn to address the court"
"Mrs. Buckingham has never been arrested, never had so much as a traffic ticket" she hasn't driven since the sixties "I was referring to her open romantic attachments to several men while still married to Mr. Buckingham, I believe a Mr. Don Henley detailed a few anecdotes from their affair quite candidly in a recent interview" that rat bastard. I knew about the affair and I've forgiven Stevie for it, after all I wasn't exactly faithful myself. "There's also a lighting producer and a sound manager to take into consideration, as well as a James Iovine".
"My clients had an open marriage for a time, it was experimental in nature and has since been discontinued. There's nothing more to it than that" Marvin pivots expertly, all those years of courtroom litigation making him a formidable opponent "Duly noted, the court will recess for the day. I'll make my final decision on custody by the end of the week, you are all dismissed"
The look Stevie gives the states attorney might shrivel a normal man at forty paces, Pritchard appears to be a cold fish however barely affected by anything let alone common decency. Outside I finish smoking a cigarette watching the throngs of lawyers and judges leave the court house for the day, it's half past five in the afternoon. I don't have any faith that we're going to win this thing, each second underneath the glare of that attorney's beak was like hell.
