by Zakes Mda
At this Nana Moira utters an expletive under her breath. The magistrate warns her that she will have to leave the court if she can’t control herself.
Urbaniak has some questions for Jason. She is brash and blatant. She asks them as she sits at her desk and does not pace the floor as Rachel saw the lawyers do at the rape trial.
“You are a rapist, aren’t you?” That is her first question.
“I ain’t no rapist,” says Jason with a wounded look.
“You were charged with rape and the jury was deadlocked, is that correct?”
Troy objects. His client was not convicted of rape and therefore it is an insult to call him a rapist. The jury was indeed deadlocked, but the prosecutor did not think it was worth pursuing a new trial because obviously the state did not have a case against his client.
The magistrate agrees that it is not fair to call him a rapist if he was not convicted of the crime. But he should answer Urbaniak’s last question.
“Yeah. The court found we was on a date. That’s why I walked. I thought she wanted to have sex at the time. I accept before God that I misunderstood her ‘no’ for ‘yes’. But I did my time and I want my son.”
“You did your time, and yet you were not convicted? What does that mean?”
“It was for assault. Time served while awaiting trial. They said I hurt her major and I’m sorry about it. I’m a changed man now. I spread the Word.”
Rachel has steeled herself for this hearing. She does not move. Not once does she look at the desk to her left. She is staring past the magistrate through the picture on the wall into the clouds that she recalls covered the sky when she walked into this building this morning.
“As a rapist, how are your parenting skills?” asks Urbaniak with a sneer on her face.
“Please don’t call me that, ma’am,” says Jason.
“Ms Urbaniak!” says the magistrate sharply.
“The plaintiff just told us now that he mistook her ‘no’ for a ‘yes’. That’s a rape confession if ever there was.”
Troy stands up to make a point, even though he is not required to. He is angry at both his client and the defendant’s lawyer. “Once more, Mr De Klerk was not convicted of rape,” he says. “Ms Urbaniak is taking advantage of his guilelessness and integrity, a result of his religion, to extract from him some false confession.”
“And by the way, counsellor,” says the magistrate directing herself to both lawyers, “we are not trying rape here. I get very grumpy when my time is wasted.”
“We are talking about the safety of a child here, Mr De Klerk,” says Urbaniak unabated. “How safe will this child be with you? Remember you were convicted of assaulting his mother.”
“He’s my child, for God’s sake,” screams Jason.
“You’ve already victimised the mother. How do we know you won’t victimise her child as well? You’re a rapist, after all.”
Jason appeals directly to the magistrate. “Please don’t let her call me that.”
“There is no jury to impress, Ms Urbaniak. You’ve made your point.”
“Would you agree that any custody arrangement or visitation will force Rachel to see you on a regular basis?” asks Urbaniak.
“I don’t need to see nobody but my son,” says Jason.
She asks him what he thinks the impact on Rachel’s mental health will be if she continues to have contact with her rapist.
“I love Rachel and I love my baby,” says Jason. “I ain’t gonna do no harm to them.”
After all these questions Troy requests an adjournment. He says he needs time for depositions, and to work on discovery. Jason is still amenable to a settlement and Troy needs time to draft and negotiate the offer. Magistrate Sussman says she welcomes this because in such cases it is in the interests of the child if the parents reach a settlement.
“You saw him squirm,” says Rachel as she drives Nana Moira back home. “When Jessica called him a rapist he squirmed in his seat. I bet he pooped himself.”
Nana Moira doesn’t think there is anything to be bubbly about.
“We gonna win this case, Nana Moira. We gonna win it hands down.”
Her confidence is boosted even more by a phone call that Nana Moira receives from Genesis the next day. He wants to talk. Even though it is Saturday Nana Moira drives to the Centre to meet him. She does not want him to come to the house because Rachel is likely to hate the idea. Nana Moira does not bother to unlock the building. They sit on the car seats on the porch. Genesis gets right to the point.
“We want you to give evidence on our behalf,” he says.
“You want me to give evidence against my granddaughter? You think I am crazy?”
“You ain’t crazy, Nana Moira. You’ll be doing it for your great-grandson.”
Genesis reminds her that she once told him that Rachel drank like a fish when she was pregnant with Blue, who he continues to call Revelation Junior, and also smoked pot. Who knows, maybe she took hard drugs as well. Maybe she is a crack-head even.
“You idiot man, you using my words against me?” says Nana Moira.
“Actually, I just came to warn you, Moira Boucher, not to ask you,” says Genesis with the glee of someone who has the trump card.
Whether she is willing to take the stand as a witness or not, it really doesn’t matter. She has no choice because Mr Troy is in the process of serving her with a subpoena. Mr Troy, Genesis adds, is livid that the woman lawyer treated Revelation with so much disrespect in court that now he and the De Klerk family are going to take no prisoners.
10
The West Virginia State Liars Contest is a famous annual event in Charleston. It attracts liars from every corner of the state, and audiences from the tri-state area and beyond. Rain has entered the contest and has invited Rachel and Nana Moira to attend the event and listen to some of the best liars of all time.
Rachel is looking forward to the experience. She has not given up her ambition of joining the likes of her father and Thos Burnett as an itinerant teller of tall tales. The Liars Contest is a premier event for great masters of the art. Some of its champions have gained international notoriety in the noble field of lying. There was, for instance, the late Paul Lepp who won six Biggest Liar titles. Today the most revered champion is Bil Lepp, Paul Lepp’s younger brother, who has won at least four championships. He is the man Rachel wants to see. She has heard so much about him from Rain.
Rachel remembers a performance where Rain told a story that she attributed to Bil Lepp. It was about Mr Lepp’s idiot savant dog, a cross between a German shepherd and a basset hound. Its sense of smell was so sharp that it could sniff out a four-year-old skeleton in the closet. The dog could smell eggs that Mr Lepp had eaten for breakfast, then run to the henhouse and bring him the hen that laid them. It could smell spicy chicken wings and a few minutes later would be back with Tabasco sauce and a buffalo. Rachel does not remember the rest of the story, she was laughing so loudly that she only caught snatches of it. That is why she is looking forward to seeing in person the devilish mind that is capable of creating such brilliant lies. Rain has told her that though Bil Lepp will not be competing, he will attend as a guest and will tell a story or two. She may even get the opportunity to introduce Rachel because Rain knows Bil Lepp from the church where he is pastor. Rachel recalls the twinkle in Rain’s eye when she said: “It is significant that the biggest liar in West Virginia is a Methodist minister.”
Rain tried to register Rachel for the competition too, but was told it was open only to residents of West Virginia. Rachel was relieved; she wouldn’t have had the confidence to stand in front of all those connoisseurs of lies and compete against the biggest liars in the industry. She still has a lot to learn.
Nana Moira never goes anywhere. She is not the type that delegates; she does not trust that anyone will do a good job at the Centre. But she will go to the Liars Competition. Not only will it bring back memories of the men in her life – especially Robbie Boucher who could
spin the most ridiculous yarn ever with a deadpan expression – it will make it possible for her to spend quality time with Rachel and Blue, something that the counsellor said was lacking in their lives. She needs a holiday, even if it’s just one weekend. She will also attend an event she last saw when she was a young woman, the Vandalia Gathering, and enjoy the bluegrass music, Appalachian home cooking and quilt exhibits. Rain has booked them a room at a hotel in Charleston, walking distance from the contest venue and from the state capitol grounds where the Vandalia Gathering is held. She will be staying at the same hotel.
There is joy in the Boucher household, but there is anxiety too. Jason’s lawyer has requested the court to order a home study to evaluate the living conditions of the contesting families. It is their assertion that the De Klerk family will provide a healthier environment for the child; he will run all over the farm, eat fresh vegetables and live a wholesome life. Genesis has even bought him a palomino colt.
“His grandma will learn Revelation Junior how to ride and barrel race,” said Genesis at the previous hearing. He meant his wife, who is fast establishing herself as a skilled barrel racer.
That was the hearing that almost broke Rachel down. Troy’s investigators had scoured the dives of Athens and found two men who testified that they shared blunts and had sex with Rachel. She did not remember them or the incidents. Urbaniak was frustrated that Rachel could not outrightly deny their stories. The best the lawyer could do was cross-examine them intensely to cast doubt on their veracity by exposing inconsistencies in their story. She also aimed to establish that if this happened at all it was many years ago when Rachel was trying to cope with the symptoms of PTSD as a result of the rape. A mental health counsellor and rehabilitation therapist would testify to that effect, Urbaniak added.
That was also the hearing where Troy subpoenaed the police officer who had arrested Rachel at the anti-fracking demonstration. Here Urbaniak’s cross-examination aimed to establish that Rachel is a concerned citizen, and therefore a good mother; she had committed no crime, that’s why she was not charged.
Before adjourning the hearing that day Magistrate Sussman appealed to the parties to once more negotiate and try to reach a settlement.
Rachel slept for that whole day after the hearing; she was totally pilled out.
One source of anxiety for Nana Moira is that for the first time after many years she will not prepare dinner for the seniors on Memorial Day because that’s when she will be attending the Vandalia Gathering and the Liars Contest. She is quite worked up about it. Rachel is trying to calm her down as they relax in the living room eating cookies while Blue plays outside.
“Just one Memorial Day, Nana Moira,” says Rachel. “Your folks will survive without your dinners for once.”
Rachel goes for the last cookie on the plate.
“You can’t have that,” says Nana Moira slapping her hand. “You don’t wanna be an old maid, do you?”
That’s what you become if you eat the last cookie, Nana Moira always warns Rachel. She takes the cookie herself.
“Don’t come crying to me when you’re an old maid yourself,” says Rachel, giggling.
“Duh! Am already an old maid,” says Nana Moira munching away.
Blue comes running into the house. He wants another cookie too, but there is nothing left on the plate. He throws a tantrum brandishing Blue, the Amish doll. The two women don’t pay any attention to him. They’re used to his tantrums; he’ll soon get over it. They pay attention to the Amish doll instead.
“Where did he find that?” asks Nana Moira.
“Oh, it was just lying around my room,” says Rachel.
“He’s a boy; he shouldn’t be playing with dolls.”
“It’s a good thing. It prepares him to be the kind of a man who’ll look after his kids. If Genesis had allowed Jason to play with dolls he wouldn’t be the rapist asshole he is today.”
Blue is so pissed that they are ignoring him he flings the Amish doll across the room. Then he runs to his mama’s bedroom and throws himself on her bed. Soon he is fast asleep.
Nana Moira is pleased that Rachel can mention rape or rapists without falling to pieces. This is a new Rachel. The old Rachel could never utter a cussword in her grandma’s presence.
“Doll Blue is a keeper,” says Rachel. “She’ll look after Boy Blue like she looked after me.”
Talking of keepers, Rachel chuckles at the memory of the last discussion she had with Rain. She was on again about her brother and how he is pining away. Rachel laughed and said he was not pining for her but for what she carried between her legs.
“Your brother didn’t want to get it together, but he wanted to get some,” said Rachel.
Rain insisted that her brother has changed.
“Skye is a keeper,” said Rain. It brought laughter to both of them.
Nana Moira stands to get more coffee from the stove.
“A doll is a keeper,” she says. “You just wanna mess up Blue’s head like yours was messed up,” says Nana Moira.
Rachel is pleased that now Nana Moira can actually utter Blue’s name without flinching.
“Back in the day boys his age made their own geehaw whimmy diddles instead of playing with dolls,” says Nana Moira.
“Geehaw what? I’m glad it’s not back in the day any more.”
The mailman delivers a letter, unusual for the Bouchers. The only mail they ever get are utility bills.
Rachel opens it immediately. It is from Schuyler in Danbury, Connecticut. She is doing well at the Federal Correctional Institute and has learned a new trade. She does the hair of fellow inmates. When she gets back home she will open her own hairdressing salon. Rachel should start getting ready because they will run the business together. Schuyler is going to give Rachel a few hairdressing lessons and she will be as nifty as Schuyler has become.
Rachel has a searing longing for her friend. She has always yearned to visit Schuyler in prison, but Connecticut is far and finances are rather tight. And, of course, the custody hearings have drained her.
She does not say anything to Nana Moira about Schuyler’s wonderful plans, though Nana Moira is looking at her expectantly. She continues to read with a big smile.
But the smile soon turns to a sneer. Schuyler is revealing that Genesis paid her a visit in prison. She was happy to see someone from home; throughout her incarceration she had not received a single visitor. She discovered that this was not just a friendly gesture. He wanted her to give evidence against Rachel. Of course she said no way. A few days later she received a subpoena issued by her former boss, Mr Troy. A fellow inmate, known at her block as a “lawyer”, advised her that the out of state subpoena could not be enforced. She ignored it.
“They will stop at nothing,” says Rachel, and tells Nana Moira what Schuyler says.
“I know. They done it to me too,” says Nana Moira.
“They’ve done what to you?”
“The subpoena thing.”
Nana Moira reveals that when she was at the Centre yesterday a deputy came and served her with a subpoena. She wanted to tear it to pieces right there, but the deputy warned her that would be illegal. It was a document of the court and she could be charged with contempt.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” asks Rachel.
“You got too many things to worry about, my baby.”
“So, are you gonna testify against me? What are you gonna tell them?”
“I don’t know, Rachel. They say if I refuse I go to the pokey.”
“We’ve got to find out from Jessica what to do,” says Rachel and immediately dials her lawyer. The paralegal tells her she is out of town this whole week. She will only be back next Monday. Rachel makes an appointment.
There is the roar of a motorcycle outside. Rachel walks to the door, and there is Skye Riley grinning at her.
“I wanna talk to you,” he says.
Nana Moira hobbles to the door and takes a long disapproving look at Skye.
“What does he want?” she asks.
“He says he wanna talk,” says Rachel.
“What about?” Nana Moira addresses the question to Rachel.
“Yeah, what about?” Rachel addresses the question to Skye.
“About us. I love you, Rachel. I need you.”
Rachel shuts the door and returns to the sofa. Nana Moira follows her. They await the roar of the bike, but all is silent. After an hour or so Rachel takes a peek through the window. Skye is still parked there, sitting on his bike.
The women go about the business of preparing and eating dinner, and then of watching prime time sitcoms and reality TV. There is no sound of the bike. At bedtime Rachel takes another peek. Skye is still there. Around midnight she is awoken by the roar. At last! But around dawn the roar returns.
When Nana Moira opens the door on Saturday morning Skye is still sitting there. She shoos him away, but he won’t budge.
“I ain’t going nowhere till Rachel talks to me,” he says.
Rachel is scared though she is trying to hide it. Nana Moira assures her she won’t leave her alone while Skye is around.
It is Monday morning and Jessica Urbaniak is briefing Rachel and Nana Moira. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday week. From what Urbaniak understands the plaintiff has two final witnesses, namely Nana Moira, who will testify about Rachel’s drug and alcohol abuse when she was pregnant, and a church elder from Michigan, who will testify about the tenets of the church, Jason’s religious upbringing and his role as a lay preacher of the Reformed Church in America.
“And then we’ll present our case. I’ll call the mental health counsellor as your witness. Are there any other witnesses you can think of?” asks the lawyer.
Neither Nana Moira nor Rachel can think of any witnesses.
“Genesis is just being heartless getting Nana Moira to testify to what those ugly men already testified,” says Rachel.
“You catch on fast, Rachel,” says Urbaniak smiling. “You’ll end up taking my job one day. Troy is very smart. He saw how I destroyed those ugly men, as you call them. He fears that the magistrate may doubt their evidence. That’s why he wants to reinforce it with testimony by someone who has no reason to lie about you. Your grandma.”