Barn Burner 4/5

Jonathan is on the witness stand. The judge asks, “it was because you felt cheated by Mr. Larabee that you went to confront him at his home?” Objection – leading the witness. Jonathan agrees with the judge’s assessment. The judge points out that Garvey was the only person to confront Larabee, but Garvey says he was merely the first and that others would probably follow his lead once word got around. “You were abusive to him then?” the Judge asks. Larabee hops on this saying that Jonathan tried to shame him in front of his family. Garvey said they shouldn’t have been there. Okay, both of you lose this argument. “Shaming” is not a criminal offense and the Larabees have a right to congregate in their own house. The judge bangs his gavel to stop the shouting match before it gets too deep. “I’m establishing that the defendant had sufficient cause to seek revenge against Mr. Garvey.” What?! What sort of legal concept is that? “If he did in fact do so in the manner charged is what we are here to find out,” the Judge continues. MISTRIAL. The judge asks if Larabee wants to question Garvey, but Larabee has nothing to say to him. Garvey steps down.

Next up is Andrew Garvey. The judge leads, er, asks Andy if Mr. Larabee frightened him as he ransacked the Garvey house. The judge then asks if Andy thought that Larabee deliberately tried to hurt him. Andy asks to clarify if the judge meant if it was an accident, to which Andy replies that no, it wasn’t. Larabee tries to interrupt but the judge stops him. The judge asks if Andy saw Larabee after regaining consciousness or when trying to track down his parents, but Andy says no since it was so dark that night. The judge hands the questioning over to Larabee who stands up and attempts to look sympathetic. “Now boy,” he starts, losing any sympathy heading his way, “I’ll admit I was riled. I’ll admit that I pushed you around. But I didn’t mean you no harm. Can’t you see it was an accident?” Andy gives Larabee a blank stare for a moment before saying “no, I can’t.” Larabee then demands that the judge make Andy see that the assault was an accident. Hon, that’s not how forgiveness works. The judge and Andy exchange a glance before the judge asks if Larabee has any more questions. Larabee sits down, defeated. Andy steps down.

The judge is now questioning Larabee. He asks if Larabee thought that Jonathan had cause to be angry with him. Larabee says he reckons so. The judge asks if others might be angry also, and Larabee adopts the “it’s a free country, ain’t it?” defense. The judge asks about the wheat price debacle and gets annoyed when Larabee tries to dodge the question. Larabee explains that he broke his word because it was in his best interest. The judge points out that even factoring in the apples sold in the deal Larabee actually didn’t do as well as he would have if he stuck with the co-op. Larabee explains his reasoning that the customer might have gone elsewhere and then the whole co-op would have lost out. Therefore, Larabee would have come out ahead. The jury does not look impressed with this argument. Reverend Alden looks either confused or bored or both.

The judge asks if there was another reason why Larabee broke the deal. We then see Joe Kagan shift in his seat, uncomfortably. Larabee claims not to understand the question. The judge enlightens him with some of Jonathan’s testimony, particularly the part about Larabee voicing his concern about Joe Kagan making an equal profit as the rest of the co-op. Larabee agrees with this reasoning. The judge reaches the conclusion that because of Larabee’s spite towards one man he was willing to destroy the economy of the community. That’s the button that needs pushing. Larabee yells, “I don’t care what others want to think!”

The judge then stupidly offers the floor to Larabee to make a final statement. “I might have hurt that boy, but I didn’t mean it. But I never burned down no barn. I think Garvey done it himself. He even said he’d rather burn his crop than sell it at that price. I think that’s exactly what he done and I think he’s trying to blame it on me and that’s what I got to say.” Um, sic. The gallery starts to murmur at this. The judge gives the jury one hour to reach a verdict because he has places to go and things to do. Uh, mistrial. Court is adjourned.

As everyone files out of the School/Church/Courthouse, there is quite a bit of murmuring. We hear random people giving their opinions, mostly of the “hang the son-of-a-bitch” variety, only more polite. Andy watches as Larabee is escorted back to the ice house. He walks over to his parents and asks if they are going to hang Larabee. Jonathan says he hopes not. I hope not also, mainly because I don’t think arson is a capital offense. Alice just wants to leave and take her son away from the proceedings, so they send Andy home.

At the icehouse, Mrs. Larabee pays a visit to her husband. He asks if the jury is still out and she says it is. “Waste of time,” Larabee says. Since his buddy Matt is on the jury there’s no way a verdict will be reached. You’ll remember Matt as the guy before the trial who complained about Larabee cheating the co-op and that hanging was too good for him. Mrs. Larabee is less confident than her husband and asks “are you sure, after what you did?” Larabee is annoyed by the question. “None of this’d happen if they hadn’t taken that nigger in like one of our own.” You see, this is why LHOP (not the Little House of Pancakes, Little House on the Prairie) could never be done today. Mrs. Larabee looks down at her husband, figuratively and literally, and tells him “all you know is hate.” He looks at her and asks “Who are you talkin’ to?” She shrugs. “I don’t know anymore.” Mrs. Larabee tells her husband that after the trial she is taking the kids and leaving his sorry racist behind. Yay quaternary character revelations!

Alice and Andy return to their house. Alice dismounts and says she’ll make lunch while Andy puts the horses away. He still appears to be racked by guilt. Here’s an interesting development: Andy is now hearing voices. Oh, it’s just him remembering the crowd murmuring about hanging Larabee for his crimes. Andy decides to drive back into town.