Lost and Found

The fluorescent light shined harshly in her swollen eyes as Dyna sat beside
the prosecutor; an assistant DA designated to her case. The courtroom was
nearly empty. They had arrived early so she and her children could be
emotionally prepared for the verdict. Greg had been gone for almost a year. His
death by multiple gunshots lead to this trial and the upcoming verdict today. It
did nothing to sooth her or her two children’s souls.
“Are you ready?” Liam asked gently. “You don’t have to say anything. You
can simply let Judge Stone read the sentencing then it will be over. You can put
this all behind you.” He looked up at the old gray mechanical clock covered with
a grate. It hung from the ceiling with a quiet dignity that so often wasn’t seen in
the courtroom. He turned back to her, her face still clouded in thought and
wrapped in sadness.
“I don’t know. I can’t hate him but he can’t get away with it,” her high voice
held a soft lilt. That coupled with her Boston accent made her sound even more
strung out.
“He won’t. You saw. He was found guilty,” Liam reminded as the people
began to file in.
“I mean I have to say something to him. He thinks he can accept his
punishment and everything will be forgotten by those he abused. I won’t let that
happen.” She wiped her eyes as she shifted in the hard white pine chair. The
similar wooden table before them held his opened briefcase, various notes
scattered about and a set of papers that he needed to signed. Beside the
briefcase was a plastic glass tumbler filled with water and a filled, sweaty pitcher
on a large coaster. Yet before her was a single sheet of paper displaying a printed
statement. It was stained by tear drops, yet remained legible.
Liam nodded. “You’ll get your chance.” Suddenly, a tall man with a swatch of
messy amber hair leaned over the railing. Wearing a new Gitman Bros. ® dress
shirt with a very sharp blue stripe, and highly detailed weave along with a tab
collar and French cuffs and khaki Dockers slacks, he tapped her on the shoulder.
She twisted around, annoyed until she saw who it was; her former brother-in-
law, Brad.
“I just got in. I wanted to make sure you knew I was here.” He smiled softly.
She smiled back. Yet the sadness clouded it. “I will be. Are you sure?”
“Yes. I am not leaving you up here alone. My brother might have been a

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rough man who cuts his own path but he was still my brother. You’re family.
Besides I need to get away from Shelby before the pain gets worse. She decided
that she will be a surrogate mother to pay her way on Broadway.” The hurt
echoed from him as he spoke. Ohio State will be good for both of us, Columbus
is a beautiful city.”
She looked at the eighteen year old man standing before her, he was leaving
home and going to college and yet he was willing to let her and her children live
with him while he was doing it. He’ll be an excellent father one day.
“See you soon,” he said as he sat down. She turned just in time to see the
man found guilty of murdering her husband being escorted into the courtroom in
handcuffs, clothed in an orange jumpsuit. The bailiffs remained beside him as he
sat next to the public defender whose table was empty save the pitcher and glass.
Finally the doors to the courtroom were closed. A bailiff walked up to the bar
attached to the witness stand and announced in a loud, sonorous voice. “All rise!
Massachusetts criminal court is now in-session. The honorable Harrison Stone
presiding.”
Judge Stone flowed briskly from the doorway behind the bench to his seat.
He scanned the courtroom with a dispassionate gaze. “Be seated.”
Everyone sits down in a uniform fashion. Outside of a few spectators, its
mostly local media present in the galley area. The defendant looks at the table as
he sits while Dyna looks at him.
“Council for the prosecution, I am to understand that the victim’s widow
wishes to make a statement to the court prior to the reading of the sentence,”
Judge Stone said stoically.
Liam rises. “That is correct, your honor.” He looks over at Dyna nodding. As
she stands the courtroom doors open softly. A woman with two children enters
the room. She seats the girl aged 8 first while the boy roughly 11 sits a row up,
quietly sullen. She, wearing a mask of weariness, says nothing. She simply
brushes an errant cherry strand of hair from her eyes as she takes her seat.
Dyna notices them when she turns to face the now guilty defendant. She
smiled and waved before composing herself. The judge nods when she looks to
him, clears her throat and begins.
“I have many emotions swirling in me. Anger, malice, heart break, betrayal,
disgust and remorse. None of those will do anyone any good. I have instead
decided to forgive you of your crime. I do this because I believe you lost yourself
a lot time ago. You need a sozo; a savior. I know I did. See you didn’t steal Greg
from me. You simply deprived me of his companionship and him of his earthy
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body. This is not an easy choice. Nor is it a choice I enjoy.” She paused, gulped
air. Tears welled up, rivulets drawing paths across her cheeks. He continued to
look away. “I want you to feel the pain you caused me and him. However, I
cannot, in good conscience, do that because I was forgiven for my sins. I was like
you in my youth. It almost brought me here. Yet someone stepped out for me.
They told me the truth. So I tell it to you. I forgive you. Just as Jesus has
forgiven me, he can forgive you too.” She looked up at Judge Stone. “Thank you.”
Judge Stone nodded to her. “We were brought here to pronounce sentence on
Sean Tennison who has been found guilty of murder in the first degree. As there
is no other punishment for this crime other than life without the possibility of
parole that is the sentence.” He slammed the gavel. “Court is adjourned.” He rose
and walked back into his room.
However, as Mr. Tennison was being escorted out of the courtroom, the little
boy ran up to him. “You took my father! How are you going to replace him?”
He broke down into tears. “I can’t. Maybe her God can.” He stared at the floor
as he was walked out the room.
Dyna ran up to the child with his dusty tan hair and ruddy face. “You
shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s worse off than we are. He’ll spend the rest of his life in a steel
box. We get to be free and never see him again.”
“Never?” the little girl with crimson curls asked as she bounced over.
Dyna looked at her daughter. “Never. Now we go live with Uncle Brad for a
while. OK?”
They nodded as they left the courtroom. Dyna realized that she really was
free. A weight had been lifted. The future was open. And her savior was waiting
to direct her in it. She believed that because if she didn’t 13 years ago she would
have been left the courtroom in chains to a life without parole. A life in darkness.
Yet now as she left the courthouse, she was in the light. The sunlight. And it
would get better. It always did.

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