For Memorial Day 2018: Remembering Our Veterans
For Memorial Day 2018 — click here for my site FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com with information about films and documentaries on a wide range of military topics.
And if you’d like to read the beginning of a fiction short story inspired by the real-life Los Angeles Veterans Court, here is an excerpt from my PTSD short story “Solomon’s Justice”:
Los Angeles, Present Day
Judge Robert Solomon made his way through the knots of people crowding around the boxing ring. Although in his early 50s, he knew his physique still retained remnants of his former boxing days.
Ahead of him he spotted Anita Lopez, a woman in her 30s dressed for fighting in the ring.
“Anita, are you really going to train for the charity event?” he asked her.
Anita flashed him a smile. “It’s for a good cause. Why shouldn’t I try?”
The judge laughed. “You think men seeing you in a skimpy boxing outfit will ante up the donations.”
Anita grabbed one of his arms. “Come on, Judge. You promised to give me some pointers.”
“If you think you can hold your own,” he said.
***
Dennis Waters woke up to find himself thrashing with the bed sheets. He did not even glance at his sleeping wife as he jumped out of bed, stuffed his feet into shoes, and ran out the bedroom door still wearing pajamas.
In the hall he yanked open the door of the closet, lifted a gun lock box out, and dialed the combination. He grabbed the gun inside the box and slid in the ammo clip.
Out on the street he stayed hyper alert to the surroundings, his eyes darting in all directions. No telling where danger would come from. It was up to him to protect his men.
He strode to the back door of a food chain establishment and with one hand pounded on the door while the other hand gripped the gun even tighter.
Only when he heard the shouted words “Put down your gun” did he spin around to face two police officers with their guns drawn.
***
In the courtroom of Los Angeles County Veterans Court, court clerk Claire Wetherly sat at her desk making sure everything was ready for Judge Solomon’s arrival in the courtroom.
To one side the judge’s court reporter, Michelle Nguyen, sat waiting. At another desk the judge’s bailiff, George Patton Holdauer, a member of the LA County Sheriff’s department, also sat.
Claire cast an experienced eye over the assorted men and women, ranging in age from the 20s to the 50s, sitting on the three rows of visitor benches. These were the defendants of veterans court who had to make periodic appearances in front of Judge Solomon. Claire wondered how many of them were actually following the judge’s instructions.
Now public defender Anita Lopez entered the courtroom, loaded down with a stack of files in her arms. Anita dumped the files on the long table facing the judge’s bench and came over to Claire.
“Morning, Claire,” Anita said. “Judge ready to go?”
Claire noted the red bruise on Anita’s left check but did not ask about it. Claire said, “He’s dealing with a request received this morning from Bernice Isaacs.”
Anita gestured to her stack of files on the table. “Which case is this about?”
“New one,” Claire said. “Army vet charged with threatening with a deadly weapon. He’s pleading out so he can be transferred here to veterans court.”
Before Anita could ask any more questions, Claire watched Sunil Patel enter the courtroom. An assistant district attorney, Sunil could always be counted on to wear very fashionable attire. Claire often wondered which way Sunil’s sexual preferences went, but she never said anything to him about this.
Sunil turned to look at Anita’s face. “What happened to you, Ms. Lopez? One of your clients not like the deal you made?”
Claire watched Anita hesitate, obviously trying not to rise to Sunil’s bait.
“Not at all, Mr. Patel,” Anita said. “Judge Solomon was giving me some boxing pointers and I forgot to duck.”
Just then Judge Solomon wandered into the courtroom fiddling with a tie around his neck. Claire still had to fight the impulse to call the courtroom to order whenever the judge entered. He preferred a more laidback approach to sitting on the bench.
“Counsel, may I see you now, please?” the judge said to both attorneys.
“Which case?” Anita asked.
“A new one.”
The judge walked out of the room followed by the two attorneys, and Claire noticed that the men and women waiting for their cases to be called seemed more restless than they had been before.
Claire watched the bailiff cast his eyes towards the waiting people, and they got the message and calmed down.
***
Anita Lopez sat at her desk scrunched into a tiny office facing Joan Waters, who crumpled tissues in her two hands. Anita had noted the woman’s dress and heels, obviously chosen as appropriate clothing for meeting with a lawyer.
Anita glanced down at Joan’s feet, where seven-year-old Denny played a game on the cell phone his mother had handed him.
“Dennis has never done anything like this before. He must have been sleepwalking — he would never threaten anyone with his gun.”
Anita looked at the file in front of her, then back at Joan. “Have you ever known him to sleepwalk before?”
Joan shook her head. Anita could see the effort Joan was exerting in order not to cry.
“Tell me about his Army service,” Anita said. “When did he get out?”
Joan hesitated for a moment. “He got out a year ago — an honorable discharge. He did three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He was home so little that I insisted he leave the service. We wanted — I wanted — another child. But I was so tired of being a single parent.”
Anita nodded. “And how has he been since he got out?”
Joan twisted her wedding band around her finger, glanced down at Denny, then back at Anita. “Distant. I can’t explain it. I look in his eyes and he doesn’t seem to be there.”
Again Joan paused; Anita waited for her to go on. “He doesn’t play with Denny. When he isn’t at work he just sits at his computer looking at pictures he took when he was deployed.”
“What kind of pictures?”
Denny spoke up from the floor. “Ugly ones. I made him show me. Lots of blood. I didn’t like it.”
Anita thought Joan’s face now looked even worse than before. “Denny, you didn’t tell me you saw any pictures,” Joan said.
“Daddy told me not to tell you. He said you’d be mad at him for showing me.”
When Joan didn’t respond, Anita stepped in. “Denny, that was very grownup of you not to tell your mother when your father asked you not to. And now your father needs our help.”
“Where is my daddy? Why isn’t he home?”
Click here to read the entire SOLOMON’S JUSTICE: A PTSD SHORT STORY for FREE on Wattpad.
Click here for information on PTSD.
And click here to read about the proposed TV drama series SOLOMON’S JUSTICE.
© 2018 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com
Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller