Judge Mike Schwille
had been accused of making a derogatory statement about someone and was going to be put on trial. To my surprise, I had been chosen to represent Schwille. I had precious little time to prepare; the alleged crime had only taken place yesterday – at the court house – and the trial was going to be held today. I was trying to think of what I would say when I would be standing in front of the jury. I should first memorize the names of each and every juror – jurors generally seemed impressed to see that the attorney knew their names.However, at the moment, my main concern was simply to learn the facts of the case. I knew four young men had been at the court house at the time of the incident and that the four men hadn't been allowed to leave the court house since then; in fact no one had been allowed to leave. To complicate matters, a fair or livestock-show of some sort had been taking place outside the courthouse, and all the cattle were being forced to remain in the tents set up around the courthouse.
I picked up a phone and called one of the four men. While I was talking to him, I could also see him on a television screen; he was probably in his late 20s and looked like
Woody Harrelson. An amiable fellow, he began cheerfully talking with me. My attention, however, was distracted by the chaos behind him. He was in one of the long tents where the black and white Holstein cattle were being held. Pandemonium had broken out in the tent. The cows were going wild, breaking out of their stalls and romping around the tent; but worst of all, some of the cattle were injured and bleeding, and other cattle were eating the injured cows. Right behind Harrelson lay a dying cow whose side had been gashed open. Another cow stood over the injured cow and dipped its tongue into the bloody injury. The gruesome sight shocked me; I needed to go to court and end this case as quickly as possible so the cows could be removed from these atrocious conditions.Copyright 2002 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
