Kat’s Testimony and Daniel’s Verdict:

The trial went on for like weeks. Kat barely got a moment to rest. She didn’t even read the paper with me like she normally did. Despite all of that, Kat kept a brave face. I looked up at her as she was brushing my hair one evening.

“Will Danny-boy be okay?” I asked.

“I don’t really know yet, Claudia,” she said. “We will stand by him and hope for the best.”

“What will happen if he’s found guilty?” I asked.

“He’ll go to jail,” Kat said.

“Why?” I asked. She sighed as she started on the other side of my hair.

“It’s the country’s new regime now,” she said.

“But what did he do?” I asked.

“Nothing wrong.”

“So why do they say that he did?”

Kat paused for a long moment. “It’s a difficult matter that even I don’t understand.”

I looked down at my lap. “Oh…”

“Yes.”

Kat is to testify today. She’s been dead serious for that whole morning.

“Can I trust you to dress yourself?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I said.

“Show me,” she said. I picked up the dress that I chose for myself the night before. The black velvet dress with white lace wasn’t my favorite, but Kat told me that I had to look nice for court. That was the only nice-looking dress I owned that would fit me at the time. I tried to be a sport about it.

“How do I look?” I asked. Kat nodded at me.

“You look nice, love,” she said. “Come here, I’ll fix your hair.” I followed her into her room. Once she brushed my pigtails, we hurried to Paul’s car. I felt stuffed in next to Lyle and Kat in the back. The former looked at me in a funny way. I frowned at him.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re in a dress,” he said in fake shock.

“Shut up,” I whispered.

“Behave, you two,” Kat whispered.

“Yes!” Lyle and I said together. Paul pulled out of the driveway. I practically memorized the way to get to the courthouse by this point. It looks the same as it did yesterday. I’m starting to not like this place anymore.

“How long will this take?” I asked.

“We’ve been over this, Claudia,” Kat replied. I sighed aloud.

“Fine,” I said. Paul pulled up into the parking lot and stopped the car. Kat ushered my brother and I out. As we walked inside, I noticed a familiar face in the crowd of people. Milo Cash stared dead-on at me as I walked by. I looked pretty much confused.

Huh? What’s he doing here?

Someone nudged me from behind. I turned to see Maggie pushing me along. Apparently, I was so busy staring at Milo that I must have stopped walking.

“Sorry,” I whispered. I followed after Kat and Lyle in the courthouse. To be honest, I was getting pretty sick of seeing the same packed courtroom every day. In fact, I already knew what was coming next. More false testimony from the police and students that were surprisingly on Danny-boy’s side. I didn’t understand it. These were the same guys that bullied him around. Yet, here they were coming to his aid in his desperate time. I turned to Kat in the courtroom. She only patted me on the head. I think somehow she what I was thinking. Yet, I had another question on my mind. What was Milo Cash doing here at this trial? He has nothing at all to do with Danny-boy. So, why?

Naturally, I had to find out.

I waited until the court let out for recess. I practiced what I would say to him when I found him.

“What are you doing here?” I rehearsed to myself. No, too mean.

“Why are you here?” Too rude.

“Hey Milo, fancy seeing you here.” I sound like an old lady.

I shook my head to myself. Damn it, it’s not turning out the way I wanted. I dug around in my brain to find the right way to greet him. Suddenly, someone grabbed me on the shoulder from behind. I was about to jump and scream when that same person grabbed me and dragged me around the corner. I tried my best to fight them off and scream. I felt my body turned around to see Milo Cash himself staring at me. I looked at him with me eyes.

“Milo!” I gasped through his hand.

“Shhh,” he whispered. That jerk waited until I calmed down some.

“Why are you here?” Milo asked in a low voice. He lowered his hand.

“Kat’s testifying today,” I said. “Why are you here?”

“My uncle’s on the jury,” he said.

“Oh,” I said back.

“Think he’ll get out?”

I shook my head at him. “I can’t really say. What do you think?”

Milo’s face didn’t change. “He won’t get out.”

I frowned at him a little bit. “Why not? He’s innocent.”

“I know that.”

“So, why?”

‘They want to make an example of him.”

“Who does?”

“The government.”

“Hey! What are you kids doing here?” we heard a man shout at us. Milo and I looked up to see a guard walking over to us. He didn’t even give us a chance to talk.

“The recess is over!” the guard barked. “Get back in the courtroom!” Milo grabbed onto my hand and led me away before I could even say a word.

We made it back just in time to see Kat be called up to the stand. I hurried over to where Lyle was sitting.

“What did I miss?” I whispered.

“She’s getting ready to testify,” he replied. Below, Kat put her hand on the Bible and swore herself in. Then, she took her seat. First up was the prosecution.

“Ms. Gains,” he said. “You are a professor at Berlin University, am I correct?”

“Yes sir,” Kat replied. “I teach British literature there.”

“The defendant is your student, yes?”

“That’s correct.”

The lawyer stroked his thick, black mustache. “And there was no school that day, was there?”

“No, sir.”

“And why is that?”

“We got the order to cancel classes right after we all got on campus.”

“At what time exactly?”

“Seven o’clock, sir.”

“Seven o’clock. And why did the defendant show up anyway?”

“I assume…”

“No assuming, just answer the question.”

“He doesn’t really know how to operate a computer too well.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How does he not know how to operate a computer?”

“His mental disabilities make it difficult for him to comprehend.”

“So why did he come to school that day?”

“He must have thought that it was a normal school and came for remediation.”

The jerk narrowed his eyes at him. “And he didn’t know anything about this protest as he claims?”

“That is correct.”

The jerk raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you sure about all of that?”

Kat nodded at him once. “Yes, his school records confirm this fact.”

“How exactly did he get into Berlin University in the first place?”

“Scholarship.”

“No further questions.”

I hated that guy as he returned to his seat. “Jerk,” I whispered to Lyle. My brother nodded. Now, it was Paul’s turn.

“Ms. Gains, tell us more about my client’s mental condition. To put it bluntly, he has the mind of an eight-year-old child.”

“Well, Daniel has aspersers’ and can’t really cope with our students.”

“How is his IQ?”

“It’s low, sir.”

“How low would you say?”

“He struggles with writing and basic academic functions. I have one of his essays right here.” Kat handed Paul the essay for him to read over. He looked her in the eye.

“Going by this and his psychological records, would my client even comprehend what was going on around him as he entered the campus that day?”

“No, sir, he would not.”

Paul straightened up his glasses. “So, that day would just be a normal day to him only with the crowds of students and the police fighting against each other?”

“Yes, sir. He was just there at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“No further questions.”

I thought Kat did an excellent job on the stand and I was sure that Danny-boy would be able to go free. Yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Milo was right in some way or another. I tried to tell myself that Danny-boy would be fine. But after looking at the worry on Danny-boy’s face, that sinking feeling in my stomach just wouldn’t go away. All I could do was wait as both sides rested without calling Danny-boy to the stand eight days later. It would only get worse as the jury came back with the verdict. Danny-boy broke down crying as they read: guilty. I just sat there in disbelief.