The Neophyte
Page 6
STONE laughs.
STONE
Of all the curses God has inflicted on mankind, I sometimes think hope is the worse.
FATHER STONE walks away and GRAINE stands, looking after him.
Scene Three
ALDINE’s office. ALDINE sits at her desk; DR. HUDSON sits in front of the desk. JEFF sits off to one side. The tape recorder from the earlier scene sits on the desk. OSCAR and HUDSON’s voices can be heard emanating from the recorder.
OSCAR’s VOICE
…all I meant was that your question belies you as someone who has a tremendously ingenuous view of the way the universe works.
HUDSON’s VOICE
What do you mean, son?
OSCAR’s VOICE
What does a color-blind person know of the concept of red?
HUDSON’s VOICE
But there are—whatchacallits—wavelengths.
OSCAR’s VOICE
But how do you know that all eyes see those wavelengths in the same way? What color is an apple in the dark?
HUDSON’s VOICE
You’re mixing my words all up.
OSCAR’s VOICE
Exactly! The possible interpretations of a particular signifier are infinite, so there can never be an absolute truth.
HUDSON’s VOICE
How’s that?
OSCAR’s VOICE
See, it’s more than just not being black or white. It’s all open to debate: gray, red, the entire spectrum. The entire human experience of reality. You people can’t even agree on a clear definition of insanity. How could you possibly judge someone else’s experience of God?
HUDSON’s VOICE
Look here. Do you understand that you have been charged with a crime?
OSCAR’s VOICE
If Abraham had succeeded in killing his son Isaac, would that have been a crime? Would his lawyer have pled insanity?
HUDSON’s VOICE
Were you aware that killing Daniel Leyland was wrong in the eyes of the law?
OSCAR’s VOICE
Alright, Doc. I’ll put you out of your misery, since I can see I’m wasting my breath. I knew it was against the law. I knew it was against the hypocritical morality of this country. I know it says ‘thou shalt not kill’ in the Bible. Okay?
HUDSON turns the tape recorder off. He begins eating a candy bar.
HUDSON
He can stand trial.
ALDINE
You’ll testify at the hearing?
HUDSON
Sure thing. Be honored.
JEFF
What the hell was he talking about? Blind people and apples? What was that shit?
ALDINE
Jeff, please. Scott, are you sure? I have to know that you’re confident enough to swear to it.
HUDSON
Aldine, I wouldn’t trust that kid to wash my dog, but he can understand the difference between right and wrong. I’ll swear before the judge. Do I need a special suit, or will this one do?
ALDINE
I don’t want to suddenly hear during trial that he’d just started taking meds or he was suffering from heat stroke that made him go insane.
HUDSON
I talked to the kid for two hours. Administered every psychological test in the book. He’s highly intelligent, well-educated, and it seems to me that he’s suffering from some form of boarderline personality disorder, which—
JEFF
Crazy! Then he’s crazy, right?
HUDSON shoots a nasty look at Jeff.
HUDSON
Which the DSM explains is common in people in their twenties who have lived in a dysfunctional family situation.
ALDINE
You didn’t get any more information about his personal or family life?
JEFF
I called a friend at the FBI and had her run Telford’s picture and stats through the computer. Nothing. Christ, he doesn’t even have a social security number. So, how the hell do you know anything about his so-called family situation?
HUDSON
I’m not a Freudian. I didn’t ask him if he wanted to pork his mother. I just talked to him.
ALDINE
Is this borderline disorder classified as a psychosis?
HUDSON
Personality disorder.
ALDINE
You’re sure?
HUDSON
Symptoms are consistent with that category of diagnosis. Unstable self-image, feelings of emptiness, disassociation, isolation, that kind of thing.
JEFF
Hold it. Isn’t this logic a little on the circular side? Because, I mean, I’m not a shrink, but—
HUDSON
I’ll be damned.
JEFF
But I’m also not an idiot. He’s got this borderline thing because you think he had a bad childhood, which you have surmised from the fact that he’s borderline.
HUDSON
It’s a bit more complicated than that.
JEFF
God forbid!
ALDINE
That’s enough, Jeff. Scott is a licensed psychiatrist, and that’s good enough for me. A personality disorder isn’t grounds for an insanity defense.
JEFF
This is nuts. Did you even ask him why he did it?
HUDSON
You heard that tape. I couldn’t even get a straight answer when I asked him how old he is.
ALDINE
Jeff, we don’t need to prove motive. We’ve got intent. That’s enough for a conviction.
HUDSON
Still…it makes you wonder.
ALDINE
What does?
HUDSON
Most borderline patients present with self-destructive behavior—threats of suicide, self-mutilation. Some are angry to the point of violence, but it’s usually directed at the person who abandoned them. I mean, why Daniel Leyland? He’d never seen Telford before that day. Made me sick just looking at him. Thinking about that little kid.
JEFF
It didn’t seem to affect your appetite.
HUDSON
You’re a slick little prick, there, city boy. Bet you think it’s about time we countrified folk got a taste of what the rest of the world gets, huh?
JEFF
Of course not. I just want to make sure that we all realize that something like this…it’s not like a regular trial. It’s going to be a mess. I mean, they’ll have an expert—a real one—who’ll refute everything you’re saying.
ALDINE
Jeff’s right, Scott. No offense, but sometimes you can come across a little bit…colloquial.
HUDSON
Hell, I don’t have to take this crap. Ya’ll want to hunt all over the county for another psychiatrist, waste a lot of time, go right ahead. But before you kick me to the curb, think about who you’re gonna have on that jury. People who live in this town, that’s who. People who come to me for marital counseling, come to me to prescribe Ritalin for their kids. The people who’ve been coming to me over the last two weeks talking about how they’ve been so scared lately, they can’t hear a car backfire without jumping ten feet in the air. That’s who you’re gonna have on this jury. The people of this town need some closure, Aldine. And they’re gonna trust me to give it to them.
JEFF
Aldine, we’re getting dangerously close to a conflict of interest situation here.
HUDSON
Well, then, go right ahead and call in some sharp-dressed shrink with a convertible car. He’ll throw a bunch of fancy-pancy words at ‘em like non-specific, unintrusive organic malfunction, and their eyes’ll glaze over, and that kid’ll be walking free faster than you can say ‘the moon landing was a hoax.’
JEFF
Aldine, we can’t put this Kentucky-fried-fat-head on the stand! This is just a joke to him. A chance for him to be the start of the circus.
HUDSON
Now wait a sec. The Leyland boy played in the same little league as my son. The father came to all the gam
es. He seemed to think the kid had a chance to go all the way. Get onto a high school team, maybe get a college scholarship. Play in the majors someday even. Parents always have high hopes for their kids. Every father sees his kid as the next Sammy Sosa. Hell, maybe Leyland was right. Daniel was pretty good. Not like my son. Kevin’s terrible. Couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. But he sure looks great out there to me. In my professional opinion, Telford is sane. He certainly fits the legal definition of sanity.
ALDINE
I’m glad to hear that, Scott. We trust you.
HUDSON gets up to leave.
HUSDON
Got tickets to Garth Brooks next Tuesday. Anytime other than that is good for me.
ALDINE
I don’t get to make up the docket myself, Scott. The judge will set whatever date is open.
HUDSON
Oh. Sure. Right.
HUDSON exits.
JEFF
Big mistake.
ALDINE
Scott will be okay. He just needs a little practice before he takes the stand.
JEFF
It doesn’t matter. This is a big mistake.
ALDINE
It’ll work.
JEFF
I always thought of you as the poster girl for fair play, Aldine.
ALDINE
What do you mean by that?
JEFF
Something about this doesn’t seem fair. Sure, we know he did it. But do you really think he belongs on death row?
ALDINE
Hudson says he’s sane. You heard the tape. Telford says very clearly that he knows his actions were wrong according to God. The jury will convict him without a second thought.
Scene Four
CRAWFORD’s office. GRAINE sits at his desk, reading through the files THRINH placed there. ADAM paces the room. GRAINE speaks without looking up from her reading.
GRAINE
You’re making me nervous, Adam.
ADAM
Sorry.
ADAM sits down in a nearby chair, but can only stay still a few seconds before he rises and begins pacing again. There is a knock at the door, and THRINH comes in carrying a message.
THRINH
This just came from the DA’s office. Dr. Scott Hudson has examined Oscar and found him sane.
ADAM takes the message from her.
ADAM
What did I tell you about reading faxes? Just bring them to me from now on.
THRINH
I’m just trying to save you time.
ADAM reads the message.
ADAM
Cage says Dr. Hudson evaluated Oscar and found him fit to stand trial.
GRAINE
Thank you, Adam.
ADAM
They want to set a date for the trial.
GRAINE
Call the clerk’s office. Then call Jeff Maulin in Cage’s office. Tell him you want a competency hearing first. He’ll go along with it; it’s the path of least resistance.
THRINH
How do you know?
GRAINE
He was a clerk in my office down in the Capital. He won’t want to do any more work than is absolutely necessary.
ADAM
Don’t you want to talk to Oscar first?
GRAINE
The sooner you get him declared insane, the sooner you can get this whole thing dismissed. Cart him off to the hospital upstate and let him work out his issues there. If he’s hanging around in the town jailhouse, people will get more nervous than they already are. They’ll be less likely to let the DA’s office cut a deal.
ADAM
He won’t plead out.
GRAINE
He won’t have to. You can hold a competency hearing without him having to enter a plea.
ADAM
Get him declared insane and made a ward of the state?
THRINH
Oh, I see. Then we can enter a plea on his behalf.
GRAINE
Right. If he’s declared insane, you can enter a plea of ‘not-responsible’ and ‘no contest’ to the charges. Which means no trial. He won’t even have a criminal record.
ADAM
That’s a good strategy.
GRAINE
You would have been able to come up with that, Adam. It just would have taken you a little while longer.
ADAM
It’s so nice to be working with you again, Graine. You always make me feel so good about myself. (To Thrinh) Don’t you have things to type or file or something?
THRINH
No.
ADAM
Well…then go sit out front and file your nails.
THRINH
I go to a manicurist every week.
GRAINE
Thrinh, I think that Adam—in his own polite way—is trying to ask you to leave so we can talk about the case.
THRINH
I want to learn.
GRAINE
Let her stay, Adam. This is routine stuff.
ADAM
Fine. But keep quiet. Okay…so, I need to set a date for the hearing as soon as—
THRINH
Excuse me.
ADAM
Thrinh, you can stay, but you need to keep your mouth shut.
THRINH
I will, I promise. But first I thought I should tell you that the sheriff is waiting outside with your client.
ADAM
Godammit, why didn’t you say that when you came in?
GRAINE
She wanted to get you to say that she could stay first. Bring him in, Thrinh.
THRINH exits and returns a moment later, followed by OSCAR. He is a small man and looks even younger than early twenties. He walks into the room and stands in the middle of it, waiting to be invited to sit.
ADAM
Hello, Oscar. Remember me? Have a seat. This is Thrinh, my assistant. And this is—
OSCAR remains standing.
OSCAR
I know who she is.
ADAM
What does that mean?
OSCAR
Never mind. I’m just so happy to see you.
GRAINE
Good, I’m happy to finally meet you, too, Oscar.
OSCAR
May I sit down?
THRINH gets him a chair and places it in front of the desk. OSCAR stands next to the chair, waiting to be asked by GRAINE.
ADAM
Sit down, Oscar.
GRAINE
Please have a seat, Mr. Telford. We’re not here to judge you. We’re your lawyers. We just want to make sure that you get to tell your side of the story and that you get a fair trial.
OSCAR sits.
ADAM
So, Dr. Hudson came to see you, Oscar?
OSCAR is silent.
GRAINE
Oscar? Did Dr. Hudson talk to you?
OSCAR
Yes, he did.
ADAM
We’ll be getting a transcript of that interview, but I’d like for you to tell us what you talked about now, Oscar.
OSCAR is silent
ADAM
We need to know what you said to Dr. Hudson, Oscar.
OSCAR is silent.
ADAM
Oscar, we can’t help you if you don’t talk to us!
GRAINE
Adam. Calm down. Oscar, what did Dr. Hudson ask you?
OSCAR
Where were you born? Did you have any siblings? How old are you? Were you ever abused? Did you have a good relationship with your parents? Where do you live? Do you take drugs? Are you a virgin? Are you a homosexual? What is your favorite color? How many sides does a cube have? What is your best memory from childhood? What day is it? What planet are you on? What does this ink blot look like to you? Do you take special care to avoid stepping on the cracks when you walk on the sidewalk? Do you—
GRAINE
Okay, Oscar, okay.
OSCAR
There were many more questions.
; GRAINE
We get the idea. Did you answer him?
OSCAR
Yes, I did. But he didn’t understand my answers.
ADAM
How so?
GRAINE
What do you mean, Oscar?
OSCAR
I gave him all the answers, but he couldn’t hear me. It was very frustrating.
ADAM
I know how you feel.
GRAINE waves ADAM off and prompts OSCAR to continue.
OSCAR
But then I understood that he didn’t want to know the answers to those questions. He was trying to get me to say something, so I said it.