Tuesday night was just like any other night, I went to bed around 11:00 pm and I don’t remember falling asleep, but this night turned out to be far from normal. I found myself in a courtroom and quickly realized there was a trial in progress and what’s more was I was the one on trial. As I looked around, I noticed that the courtroom was empty except for the jury, the prosecuting attorney, the judge and sitting next to me was my defense attorney. I must have come in right about the time for the closing statement. It started with the prosecutor, a well-dressed man in a pitch-black suit with cold dark eyes. As he was addressing the jurors, I noticed that I knew them. They were people that at one point in my life I had done wrong to, mistreated, neglected and rejected. The prosecutor’s voice cut like a knife as he reviewed all the things I had done. I can’t describe the guilt and sadness I felt. He finished by saying that he thought I should serve a life sentence, the jurors head just nodded in agreement. As he went back to his seat, he looked at the judge and then stared at me, and I heard him say “you’re going down”. What was going on, where was I, was this real? I hope this is no more than a nightmare. My defense attorney arose; he was dressed in plain pants and a white linen shirt. I thought to myself this guy must have been state appointed, a rookie with a beard and shoulder length hair. Where did they get this guy? This wasn’t fair, no way did I have a chance. A great fear came over me. He started to walk towards the jury then stopped and glanced at them and smiled. When I looked towards the jury to see their reaction, I was shocked. There were different people sitting there. I quickly noticed my parents, aunts and uncles, relatives all who had passed away. There were also people I didn’t know. My defense attorney then looked at the judge and said, “your Honor may I approach the bench”? Before the judge could answer the prosecutor objected. The judge then asked that both attorneys approach the bench. You could have heard a pin drop. The prosecution started loudly demanding that I was no good and guilty. At this point I was wishing that my defense attorney would say something, please say something. It was then that He looked up at the judge and said, “Dad, I have paid in full for all the things that he has done”. The prosecutor started swearing and throwing his hands up in the air. The Judge picked up the gavel and slammed it down and said in a loud voice, “not guilty”. As the prosecutor turned around, he looked at me. If I didn’t know better, I thought I saw fire in his eyes. I can’t tell you the relief I felt. My defense attorney came back to his seat. I was so emotional I hugged him. After we hugged, he took a step back and placed a hand on each of my shoulders. I thanked him through my tears. I had so many questions. He looked into my eyes and just said “I didn’t want to be without you”. Before I could ask him what he meant I heard an annoying buzzer sound. I eventually realized it was my alarm clock. I laid there awake in bed thinking, what just happened, was it a dream, never had I ever experienced anything like that. I had so many questions. How did I pick my defense attorney, and why did he call the Judge Dad, where were the rest of the people in the courtroom, and who was the scary looking prosecutor, etc.…? I couldn’t stop thinking about my night for the rest of the week, I found it hard to concentrate at work. A few months later one of my coworkers was retiring. They were having a nice retirement party for them to include a dinner at a country club. I had a favorite olive colored sports coat that I wanted to wear with black pants, it was my go-to outfit. The retirement party was very nice, but wasn’t without an awkward moment. While I was filling my plate with shrimp, the person in front of me backed up suddenly and I dropped my plate on me and then the floor. They turned around and apologized and asked me if everything was okay. Feeling quite embarrassed I assured them I was okay. They apologized as they noticed cocktail sauce down the front of my sports coat. I assured them I was fine as I cleaned myself up. The following week I dropped the coat off at the dry cleaners and asked them to clean up all the stains. Three days later I returned to pick up the coat. The dry cleaners informed that they were able to get all the stains out with the exception of the ones on the shoulders. The ones on the shoulder’s I questioned? Thinking most of the cocktail sauce had hit the front. They showed me a single dime size stain on each shoulder. I asked them why they were able to get the cocktail sauce out of the rest of the coat, and not the shoulders. They commented that while they were red they were not cocktail sauce. I tried not to be rude but insisted that they had to be and asked what else it could be. The young lady behind the counter went on to say that it appeared to be blood stains and that this was not the first piece of clothing that she had seen with the same dime sized spots on the shoulders of coats, blouses, shirts. I took my coat and reluctantly paid. As I drove home, I tried to remember the last time I had worn the coat prior to the retirement party. As I sat at a stop light, I glanced up at a billboard advertising a cruise. Its slogan was “Book with us today we don’t want to depart without you”. It was then I had a flashback to my dream and what the defense attorney had said. I remembered that I had that sports coat on in my dream. I struggled the rest of my drive home, I found it hard to concentrate, just thinking that right before I awoke that morning my attorney had a hand on each shoulder, smiling saying “I don't want to be without you”.

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My trial