Malibu: Green V Green 2

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Doreen Green's mental fitness to take the stand is assessed by a rather rotten judge.


Judge Eric Donovon strode into the court room, once again enjoying the sight of everyone standing to meet him. With a slight hurry to his step, he climbed the small set of stairs to the bench and took his seat. Waving everyone to be seated, Donovon looked over his docket for today - first up, a mental fitness hearing for a minor in the case of Green Vee Green. It took him a moment to puzzle out what that meant since the couple's son had already been cleared. Looking up, he spotted the mutant child immediately and had to shake himself slightly to stop staring at what looked like a squirrel's tail.

It had been his impression that she would be unavailable to testify given that she was on the other end of the country, never-the-less, "Alright, in the case of Green Versus Green, regarding the mental fitness of daughter, Green, Doreen Stephanie, age...sixteen - this court is now in order." Best to bounce her quickly and get on with the day - it wasn't like a mutant had a place on the witness stand anyway. "Let's get on with it, Miss Green, please take the stand." Doreen had been forced to dress up for this as well, and though the clothes were modified so her tail didn't cause a problem, she really would've rather been wearing jeans, a t-shirt and sandals instead of a dress and shoes. She felt clumsy like this. But her balance was always perfect, so she made it to the stand without tripping up too much. She thought.

She looked out in the court room, out past her Dad's lawyer to her Dad, her expression sad.

Before the bailiff could swear her in, he needed to establish that she understood what the truth meant. Leaning over, he put on his best smile - despite the turning in his stomach - and hoped against hope that she was not as stupid as she looked. "Now, Miss Green, we have to swear you in...do you understand what it means to tell the truth?" he said in the most condescending tone possible.

"Yes," Doreen said, not letting him rile her. She was used to it, "It means you're honest, and you don't lie. A two year old knows what it means to tell the truth."

With a nod and a grunt of acknowledgment he motioned for the bailliff to swear the girl in. Once she'd given the oath, Donovon locked eyes with her father's attorney, "We'll start with you, Mister Grossman." Mr. Green's lawyer stood with a slight nod towards the judge as acknowledgement. A warm, gentle smile appeared on his face as he walked to the stand. "So, Miss Green... may I call you Dori? That's what your family calls you, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Doreen said, her gaze going away from her Dad and settling on his lawyer, "You can call me Dori." Okay, this didn't seem so bad.

"Thank you, Dori. It's a bit unnerving, isn't it? Being in court? It was very brave of you to show here today." Grossman's voice was soothing, his expression friendly and sympathetic. "Do you understand why you're here today?"

"Um, a little, I guess," Doreen said and then nodded, "This is the hearing thing," she said, not remembering the correct terminology for it. Or if there was. "To see if I'm fit, right?"

"That's right." Another encouraging smile. "To see if you're fit to testify in open court in your parents' divorce case." He paused, waiting for her reaction. Doreen flinched a bit at the D-word, "Yeah," she managed, "That's what Mom's lawyer said." Grossman nodded. "It's not easy, I know, seeing your parents split up, especially not in court. You just want to do whatever you can to help them, don't you, Dori?"

"Of course, I mean, they're my parents," Doreen returned. Regardless of all this stupid stuff.

"Even if that means giving evidence at the hearing? In open court in front of everyone? You can do that, can't you, Dori?" "Yeah," Doreen said, "I think I can. I mean," she paused, wasn't this not what they wanted? Crud, this was so confusing.

"Did you want to say something?" asked Grossman, sensing her confusion. His demeanour didn't change, however.

“Hmm? Uh, no, I guess,” Doreen said. Honestly, she was now horribly confused about exactly what it was her mother’s lawyer had wanted her to do. She hated this whole situation, in fact. Her tail twitched, a gesture of both confusion and frustration.

"No further questions, your Honor," Grossman said, deciding that to push things any more would backfire. They wanted the girl to testify and have one of her mutant fits, after all. "Thank you, Dori." He moved back to the table, to sit beside Dori's father, looking rather pleased with himself.

Without looking up from his file, Judge Donovon motioned to the wife's lawyer, "Proceed counselor."

Elizabeth Conroy stood and walked confidently toward the witness stand, a look of seriousness to her features. "Doreen, please tell the court who Monkey Joe is."

Doreen raised an eyebrow. Monkey Joe was outside, waiting for her because of the court house's rules on pets inside. She had wanted to bring him in, she really had, "He's my friend. Well, and my pet. I guess he's both my pet and my friend. He's outside right now."

"Your pet, you say. But, didn't you always refer to him as your best friend?" Elizabeth asked, looking over at Grossman before turning her attention back to the witness. "Someone you talk to regularly?"

"Yeah. I talk to him all the time," Doreen said, "He's nicer than a lot of people."

"And what sort of things does he say to you?" Elizabeth asked, glancing up at the judge to gauge his reaction.

"He talks about food a lot," Doreen said, "but that's not uncommon. A lot of people and squirrels talk about food."

"So you hear squirrels talk all the time." Elizabeth noted, hands clasping behind her back as her features took on a thoughtful air. "Would you say you're more comfortable with them then you are around people? That you identify more with squirrels?"

"It's part of what I do," Doreen said smiling, "I guess I kind of am, but I like my friends at my new school too. I suppose squirrels like talking to me though because not many people do. Talk to them, I mean. Though I guess people don't really talk at me much either. They just stare."

"Hmm, of course," Elizabeth murmured thoughtfully, and then smiled at Doreen. "Why do you think they stare Doreen?"

"My tail. A lot of people stare at my tail," Doreen said, looking back over her shoulder slightly, "I like it though. It takes a lot of shampoo. It's sort of annoying that way."

"Why do you think they stare at it?" Elizabeth asked, walking to the far side of the witness stand and back again as she talked. She needed to find a natural way for Doreen to disqualify herself from testimony, and while she knew the young girl wanted to help her mother, this wasn't proving easy.

"Because people aren't supposed to have tails," Doreen said simply, looking down at her hands.

"And do you believe you're not a person, Doreen?" Elizabeth asked, face impassive at Dori's response.

"I am a person!" Doreen said firmly, "I am," it was underscored with a soft clicking noise, that once focused on could be seen to be coming from her.


"No further questions, your honor," Elizabeth said.


"Thank you Ms. Conroy." Judge Donavon shuffled some notes around and considered what was happening very carefully. Obviously, Mr. Grossman wanted this...thing on the stand- which seemed contrary to what his known sympathies were. Conversely, Conroy, the bleeding heart liberal that she was, was trying to discredit what used to be a perfectly healthy young woman. Curiosity got the best of him as he reached his decision. "I've reached a decision," he began as the nimble, but obviously nervous, girl stepped down from the stand. The room rose again, in respect of his authority.

"I find Miss Doreen Green to be mentally fit to give testimony in the great state of California. We will adjourn for the day, reconvening to hear her testimony at," he checked his watch dramatically. "Two o'clock PeeEm tomorrow to hear her testimony." With a bang of the gavel and before the uppity liberal attorney could object, Donavan banged the gavel on the wooden disk fixed to the bench. "Court is adjourned."