When Justin woke up, he showered and dressed for court. It was becoming routine now. He wondered what it would be like to sit where Brian Kinney was sitting. His life in the hands of twelve strangers, having his whole life on display.

“Honey, it’s just you and me this morning,” his grandmother greeted him as he walked into the kitchen. She was wearing a hideous pastel dress.

“You look…great, grams,” he said, kissing her cheek.

“Don’t you let the judge hear you lie like that, he’ll think your judgement is for shit. This thing is just awful, your grandfather had it ordered for me. He was so proud he figured out how to work the internets.” Justin laughed. “I wouldn’t laugh so quickly, he ordered you something last night.” Justin stopped laughing.

“What did he order?” Justin asked suspiciously.

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise. But don’t worry, it said it was for the modern gay in the little description.”

Justin sighed. It was no use to keep denying it, his grandparents were accepting. Hopefully with time his mother would too. He just hoped whatever his grandfather ordered wasn’t sexual. With every part of him, he wished this. His grandparents called the internet ‘internets’. They shopped at flea markets for things they owned at one time that broke to replace them with the same, not get anything better. He loved them and they were nuts but a bit naïve when it came to new things. God, they were so embarrassing.

“So where is everyone?” he asked, changing subjects.

“Your grandfather took your mom and sister to pack some things. Don’t worry she’s going to grab some of your stuff.”

“Great, just want I want, my mother going through my draws.”

“Like she doesn’t already,” she tsked.

“Wait, what?”

“Shouldn’t you be getting to the courthouse? Listen to me, it sounds like you’re a lawyer or something.”

He worried for a moment that his grandmother wouldn’t be proud of his ambition to become an artist. “Is that what you want?”

She laughed loudly. “Hell, no. One crook in the family is enough.”

“Who’s a crook?”

“You didn’t think Cousin Tina made all that money playing the stock market, did you?”

Cousin Tina was just a hair younger than his grandmother. Her mother and Tina’s mother were twins. Tina lived in a huge house in West Virginia, with a pool and a pool boy that was twenty if he was a day.

“I never really thought about it. What did she do?” he asked curiously.

“Ah ah, can’t tell you that, I do have my secrets you know. Have you met Javier?” That was Tina’s pool boy.

“I haven’t been out to see her in years, not since dad forbade us. But Aunt Catherine sent a picture to mom a few months ago, he was in it.”

“That Tina, lawd have mercy. I can’t believe it, he’s young enough to be her grandson. I guess she’s, what do you call it? Ah yes, she’s a leopard.”

“Cougar,” he corrected.

“Whatever. Anyway, you better hurry up and eat,” she said pointing at a box of cereal.

“You made breakfast yesterday,” he pouted.

“That was a special occasion. If I made breakfast every morning you would never learn to make it on your own. I love your mother dearly, but she’s spoilt you rotten.”

By now he was getting a little angry, he wasn’t spoilt…much. Sure, Daphne said he was bratty…sometimes but his own grandmother.

“Am not.”

“Put the lip away. No need to pout like a five-year-old.”

He grabbed the cereal and poured it into a bowl he grabbed out of the cabinet. Then he poured the milk in, adding some sugar. His grandmother raised an eyebrow at him. He stared at her and added two more scoops. The tension was broke when she started laughing. “Just like your grandfather you are. Stubborn as hell.”

He laughed and started to eat. Halfway through with his breakfast he stopped. “Grams, what do you think of me being gay?”

“What’s to think about it? You are, fact. Still my first grandbaby. Still my sweet little Justin. I always knew, so did your mother, even though she denies it.”

“I heard what you told her yesterday. The story about the zoo.”

“Oh lawd, yes. That boy. You were obsessed with that boy.”

“What was his name?” Justin enjoyed hearing about stories when he was younger. After he overheard his mother and grandmother he wracked his brain. It came back but only bits and pieces. A tall, thin boy with torn jeans and sun glasses. He couldn’t see his face, but he remembered liking every time the older boy acknowledged him.

“Oh, it was so long ago, I don’t remember. Wait a second.” She closed her eyes. “Kenny. His name was Kenny.”

“Kenny? How’d you remember?”

“Another boy, not his friend, this one was a punk. He yelled something I don’t remember. Then he said something like, ‘Kenny, I knew your family is poor but I didn’t know you had to babysit kids and elderly.’ I remember because that was when he kind of changed. He went from laughing and talking to ignoring us. It’s when granddad and I decided to take you home because he was ignoring you then. It broke your little heart. You were screaming and kicking, your grandfather carried you away. Funny, I forgot that part until now. The man you chose to spend your life with, don’t let it be with someone who will throw you aside because of his ego.”

Justin laughed. “I promise, I don’t think I’m going to have that problem. I’ll have to meet a guy that meets my standards.”

“Keep your standards high. Your mother lowered hers and look what happened.”

“Hey, if she didn’t lower her standards, I wouldn’t have been born.”

“Well, not you. But maybe a grandson that picks up his dirty laundry.”

“You’re a mean old woman you know that?” he said without any heat.

“So, I’ve been told. Finish your food and get out of here.”

“Why, expecting a gentlemen caller? Should I tell gramps?”

“Please. Trust me, honey. With your grandfather, I have no need for another man.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“Eww. I’m leaving. You’re sick, that’s my grandfather you’re talking about with my grandmother. Sick.”

She was still laughing as he fled out the front door. It took the whole drive to get the images of his grandparents…together, out of his mind.

They were led into the courtroom, it looked packed. He took his numbered seat and looked down at his lap. Justin could feel the man’s eyes on him, sadly they were not the man he wanted to be looking at him. ‘Shit’, he thought, he shouldn’t be wanting a man on trial for murder looking at him. Shouldn’t but did, but instead of Mr. Brian Kinney, it was Juror number eight. The man was always sneering at him. Justin couldn’t think of anything he had done to him. The bailiff was always there, it wasn’t like they could even talk. Not that he wanted to talk to the man. It seemed that just Justin’s existence pissed the guy off. It didn’t help that the man sat next to him. Much too close if you asked him.

“The prosecution calls Joan Kinney.”

Justin watched as the defendant’s face went completely blank. It was almost like he wasn’t in the building anymore. A short, scarily thin woman walked into the courtroom. She was older, his mother maybe, she was followed by a younger woman who took a seat in the back.

“Please state your name for the record?” Lewis asked.

“Joan Marie Kinney.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I’m retired.”

The defendant snorted, the woman scowled at him.

“How do you know the defendant?”

“He’s my son.”

“What kind of son is he?”

“He’s been nothing but a disappointment since the day he was born,” she said harshly. It looked to Justin that even the prosecutor looked taken aback by her venomous words.

After a moment, the lawyer composed himself for the next question.

“Was Brian ever violent?”

“He’s always been a violent boy. He would fight constantly with his father. If his father was alive today, knowing the things Brian’s done. I can just tell you that wouldn’t go over well.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“This-this vile life he’s living. Fornicating with other men. It’s an abomination.”

The lawyer wisely wrapped up his questioning before the woman spouted more hateful words.

Brian’s lawyer then stood. “Mrs. Kinney, I only have one question. Why did you come today?”

“To make sure this perversion is put behind bars. Men like him shouldn’t even be on this earth. It’s wrong in the eyes of God. Jack was right, he should have died in the womb.”

Justin saw the hit to Brian like it was a physical blow. Gone was his blank look…at least for a few moments. Damn, this woman made his father seem like a saint.

More witnesses came, these were people from Brian’s work who knew both victim and accused. From what Justin heard, Kip was alright in his job but didn’t want to work for it. Brian worked hard, went above and beyond to get the job done. Even working holidays, in fact that Christmas was the first one he would have off in five years.

Just after lunch it was the defense’s turn.

“The defense would like to call Deborah Novotny,” the defense attorney called.

A plump woman with a dark grey dress suit walked up to the stand. Her hair was short and graying. What she was wearing didn’t really surprise Justin, but it must have the defendant. He choked when she walked past him. He had to know she was coming, right? She was his witness after all.

“Please state your full name,” the defense attorney, Mr. Donahue asked.

“Deborah Ann Novotny.”

“What do you do for a living, Mrs. Novotny?”

“I’m a waitress.”

“Did you see Mr. Kinney the day of December 24th, 2000?”

“That morning, he came in for breakfast. We close at after breakfast on Christmas Eve.”

“Did he seem different that day?”

“No, he was excited for his trip. I asked him to bring me back a t-shirt. He always does when he goes off on his trips. I have more shirts from Ibiza than people who live there.”

“That’s nice of him. Why would he do that for you?”

“I don’t really know. It’s just something that started when he was in college. He and some friends went to Mexico. He brought me back this shirt with a jumping bean doing the filthiest thing you ever saw.” She guffawed at her memory it seemed.

“Have you ever met Mr. Thomas?”

“No.”

“And how do you know the defendant?”

“He’s like a son to me, has been since he was fourteen,” she said.

Justin got the impression she was holding herself back for all she was worth.

“What kind of person is Mr. Kinney?”

“A good boy, even with all the shit…fuck…excuse me. With all the things that has happened in his life, it’s a miracle that a decent human being. He worked da-very hard to get where he was before all this happened.”

“So, you don’t think he could have killed Mr. Thomas?”

“Of course not. Brian may be a lot of things but murderer isn’t one of them.”

There were some more questions but she just seemed to repeat what she said and the lawyer looked like he was trying to keep her calm. That all went to hell when it was the prosecution’s turn.

“Mrs. Novotny, is it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a widow, are you not?”

Her eyes widened a little before narrowing. “No, I’m not.”

That seemed to shock the lawyer, like he wasn’t expecting that answer. “You have a son, is that correct?”

“Yes.” Even Justin could see her eyes shooting daggers at the man.

“Who is your son’s father?”

“I don’t really see how that’s any business of yours,” she snapped.

The lawyer spun around and walked to his desk, whispered between him and a blonde woman. “No further questions at this time,” he said.

“The defense calls Emmett Honeycutt.”

A tall, thin man entered the courtroom. He was wearing a peach suit that really stood out.

“Please state your full name.”

“Emmett Honeycutt.”

“Mr. Honeycutt, what’s your occupation?”

“I work sales in a clothing boutique.”

“Did you see Brian Kinney on the day of December 24th, 2000?”

“Yes, I had breakfast with him.”

This man seemed more controlled than the woman before him. The questions went back and forth. Finally, it was time for cross. Unlike before it seemed to go according to the prosecution.

“Mr. Honeycutt, has Mr. Kinney ever been violent that you know of?”

The man on the stand’s eyes shot to where the defendant was sitting.

“Well…you see…”

“Just answer the question please.”

“Yes, but it was self-defense.”

“That’s all, thank you.”

“You’re not listening to me. It was self-defense.”

“You may step down now.”

The next man wasn’t tripped up by anything the prosecutor said. Ted Schmidt was a plain man in a boring grey suit. But for as boring as he was he was a perfect witness. Justin learned more about Brian Kinney from this man than the others. It was clear the defense wasn’t worried about him being on the stand.

By the time they stopped for the night, Justin was ready to fall asleep. Even though it was a murder trial it wasn’t anything like tv. It was boring as hell. The only interesting thing was to watch Brian Kinney glare at everyone. Justin was starting to believe the man maybe capable of murder because if looks could kill, most of the people in the courtroom would be dead.