Those Skittles Were Precious to Me

“Alright,” the judge announced, “we will begin the final arguments.”

Presiding over the courtroom, he banged his gavel and looked up eyeing the crowd. Every pew was full of people sitting shoulder to shoulder.

Jane and Jerry fidgeted in their seats, as their eyes met from across the divide of the courtroom. The earth felt like it was splitting underneath them.

On one side of the room, Jerry stood alone wrapped in a pink blazer and white pants. Facing off against her, Jane was sitting between her two lawyers. All three of them wore matching black tuxedos and goatees, Jane’s being a thin one that was penciled on.

“Well,” the lead lawyer stepped up to the front of the room. “thank you judge.”

“This is the story of a victim of discrimination. My client Jane is a lesbian. That’s true, but there is nothing wrong with that. She is still a human, and like any of us, she was crushed to discover that Jerry was not her friend. This whole time Jerry has been lying to her!”

He cleared his throat before continuing, “Jane had been welcomed into the neighborhood, she had even invited everyone to her house for a Barbeque? Even Jerry had showed up to the Barbeque, and as Jane testified, she thought Jerry was the most beautiful woman in the room. They stayed up till midnight talking about the world, but the next morning it was like it didn’t matter.”

Jane and Jerry glanced subtly across the room at each other.

“Jerry had a vendetta against Jane, since the moment she moved in, and it’s because my client is clearly a lesbian. The incident that happened that afternoon at the playground, was unfortunate, but crushing the skittles was an accident, and my client apologized. To be honest, Jerry attacked my client so how we’re even having this proceeding is beyond me.”

The judge grumbled behind the bench.

“It’s important that we set a different precedent, one that shows that we are not a society that supports discrimination.

Meanwhile in the background Jerry and Jane were making sustained eye contact, as Jerry twirled her blonde hair.

“Prosecution!” the judge announced. The loud interruption in a silent courtroom ejected Jerry from her enamored state and into the front the front of the bench.

The Lawyer sat in his seat, getting comfortable, while Jerry straightened her blazer and looked out on the mother’s in the courtroom. The army of women wearing similar pink and white dresses who had come to support her made her feel empty.

“This isn’t about lesbians, it’s about being a good neighbor,” she asserted, “ I had a lot of fun with Jane that night,” looking over, she smiled at Jane, then twisted her head noticing the other mother’s in the audience and continued.

“Indeed, they could contaminate us with thoughts of sexual lewdness, but that doesn’t make them bad people, it just makes us weak. That’s why I would never blame Jane for the way that she is.” Everyone in the audience tilted their heads as she half smiled glancing quickly away from Jane.

“Yes, we appreciated all the cool barbeques you invited us to, but fun parties doesn’t make you a good neighbor. In fact, sometimes your parties would run till two in the morning. Not to mention all the construction that started happening after you moved in, parking turned into a nightmare.”

“Amen” the women behind her cried out. “And as far as the skittles go, I’m not sure I will ever be able to forgive that. They were the last package of tropical. Those skittles were precious to me and you stepped on them.” She admitted, before going to sit behind her desk.

As the women behind her stood up and exploded in applause, the judge pounded his gavel.

When they had settled down, he continued. “Alright, well I have come to my decision in regard to the case of Willow Vs. Tambra. The restraining order will be upheld and Jane Willow is mandated to stay at least fifty feet away –”

“WAIT” Jerry cried out. “This trial is about getting her to stop the construction.”

The judge looked down on Jerry, “well Jane will be required to move within the next thirty days. So, you will have your quiet neighborhood after that I suppose.”

“That means we won’t be able to have any more Barbeques?”

The judge shook his head.

“I take it back.” She cried out as she stormed into the center of the court. “Let me turn off the order, I just need to talk this out with Jane in private.”

“I’m afraid it is a little too late for that Mrs. Tambra.”

She approached the bench, and Jane’s lawyer followed behind her. They were both whispering to the judge.

Jerry pleaded, “I want to file a lawsuit against my restraining order.”

“Listen Mrs. Tambra I gave you the benefit of the doubt because I know your mom. This is beginning to get a little bit out of hand. Please sit down and remain quiet until the trial is over with.”

Jerry went to go sit down in her seat behind the desk.

“Alright so back to the restraining order I was granting.”

“Given your history, you are required to remain at least one hundred feet away from Jerry Tambra. Please move out of the neighborhood within the month.”

“I don’t care if I’m breaking the law.” Jane bursts out of her chair towards Jerry.

The court officer stepped in between them. “You don’t have to do this Jane.”

It is too late, though. Jane had made up her mind. She knocked the officer out with a single punch and shoved him aside as she reached for Jerry.

“I’ve wanted to do this since I first say you at the barbeque.”

Jane pulled Jerry into her arms and pushed their lips together. Jerry had never felt so happy before.

“Let’s run away together.”

“Okay,” she immediately accepted.

The judge banged the gavel as the half the crowd erupted in outrage and the other half shuffled out of the room.

Jane pulled Jerry up in her arms and carried her out of the building where there was a U-Haul parked conveniently in the front of the building.

They jumped in the car together, and sped out of the parking lot, leaving behind the crowd of confused ex-neighbors.