Chapter 4
“The name’s Galen Woollard.” The man announced as they climbed the stairs to the floor above. “I assume you have some kind of sporty name. Something like Champ. Am I close?”
“Not even. My name’s Thaddeus.”
“Ooh, a two hundred year old sporty name.”
“It’s classic.”
“It’s ancient.”
The second floor had a lot of doors and a lot of people wandering about. Galen led Thaddeus up to a desk on the far wall near a window. A woman sat behind the desk, next to her was another door. This door had gold plating and looked very important. Galen rested his elbows on the desk and held his head with his hands.
“Nice day, Sandy. You seen the judge today? He look mad?”
The woman, Sandy, rolled her eyes. “Mr. Woollard are you really here again. I mean I saw you on the list but seriously. What is this like the twentieth time this year you’ve been caught doing something stupid?”
“Twentieth? Why I thought the desk lady would have to do better math than that. It’s only my fourteenth this year, tenth this month. Some people say ninth, but I came in with a friend one time. I count that.”
“You better straighten up your act. The judge gets angrier the more he sees people like you.” Sandy said.
“Oh, yeah right. Who is it today, Baldy or Fatty?”
“It’s Judge Morgan.”
“Morgan? Ha, I thought I was getting someone worth something. I’ll be back tomorrow; you tell judgie that I’ll be back when someone else has the job.”
“Very funny.” Sandy said. “By tomorrow you’ll probably get caught doing something else. What is it this time?”
“I may or may not have punched out the mayor’s cousin.”
Sandy’s mouth dropped. “What? Why?”
“I didn’t know who it was. The idiot was calling me all kinds of names for not addressing him properly.”
“What did you say?”
“I said ‘hey man, get out of the doorway, people are trying to get in’. And then he says ‘I can stand wherever I want; I’m the mayor’s cousin’. And then I jabbed once or twice or maybe sixteen times and next thing I know I’m getting a court date.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know who he was.”
Galen shrugged. “I thought he was lying. Why would anyone say that? The loser thought he was better than us because he knows the mayor. I taught a lesson, but I don’t think he learned. People like that don’t learn a thing.”
Sandy noticed Thaddeus, who was listening intently while staring out the window at all the gray buildings.
“The kid with you?” She asked.
“Yeah, a good friend of mine. Hey, Thad, come on over.”
“It’s Thaddeus.”
“What do I care? I gotta say it, not you.”
Thaddeus went over and greeted Sandy the desk lady. “Hello.”
“Did he bring you along for the angle?” Sandy asked.
Galen shushed her. “What do you think I’m that kind of person?”
“I don’t know anything about you except for these chats and they never go past what you did to get here. Now you should probably go in before you’re late.”
She opened a little door in the desk and Galen pulled Thaddeus through. And then she opened the gold plated door and they went in there too. This room was very long and had benches leading up to a large desk with a large balding man sitting at it. Galen went up to the desk. The first few rows of benches were full of people who looked scared or defiant.
“Agree with everything I say alright?” Galen whispered.
“I really need to find my parents; I think we should get going.”
“We’ll get to that, but first we need to take care of something. Now what did I say?”
“Agree with everything you say.”
“That’s a good little kid.”
Thaddeus didn’t like the look of this place but for some reason he really believed that Galen might be able to help him. Everything and everyone was so strange and yet Thaddeus could tell that Galen wasn’t, despite the fact that he was in court.
“I am here to face justice.” Galen said somberly when he got to the desk.
Judge Morgan looked at the paper in front of him. “Mr. Galen Woollard, sent here because he mauled Mayor Gartread’s cousin.”
Galen laughed. “Mauled? Did you say Mauled?! It was merely an accident. I was attempting to show Mr. Gartead’s cousin new boxing moves and he got his face too close. And I should just say that when I get into a boxing move I make sure I finish it regardless of who puts their mug in my way.”
The judge stared at Galen and looked very bored. “I’m sure.” He said emotionlessly. “Now I think I speak for all of the judges when I say that the punishments we’ve been giving you have done little to—”
“If I may only stop you there.” Galen interrupted. “I have a great reason why I cannot be put into one of your cells. You see this little sad boy here?” he pushed Thaddeus in front of him. “Do you see him? You see his sad little face? He has been waiting for me to take him out to The Lake for a very long time and it would just crush his little heart if I didn’t do it right now. Isn’t that right, little one?”
Thaddeus nodded. He was beginning to feel like he got himself in something he couldn’t get out of.
“I think I speak for all the judges—” The judge continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted “—if I say that the punishments we have enforced have not curbed your vicious behavior. To make sure this does not happen again we have decided on a harsher punishment. You will spend the night in jail and tomorrow morning you will be banned forever from The Town.”
Galen looked taken aback. “Banned?” He asked as if he could not have possibly heard right. “You can’t ban me. I’ve lived here for fifteen years.”
“And recently you have become a menace to society.” The judge leaned forward. “Take this sentence graciously or we will keep you in the jail for much longer.”
Two guards came up to take Galen away.
“Wait; give me one minute with the boy.”
The judge nodded with a displeased sigh. “One minute.”
Galen got on his knees and grabbed Thaddeus by the arms. “Things didn’t quite work out but I promise I will help you. For now I want you to go to my friend’s house outside of town. He’s a scientist and he can help you for now until I get out. He’s studied cases like yours. Go out the north side of town and keep going until you reach a lake. On the other side of the lake will be his laboratory. He’s a marine scientist but he studies what happened to you as a hobby. Go there now and you should be there by night. Oh and here.” Galen pulled out a few pink coins from his pocket and handed them to Thaddeus. “There are restaurants here. This will buy you lunch.”
“What do you mean a case like mine?” Thaddeus asked.
“Tell him what you said to me, about the high school and stuff, and he’ll explain.”
The guards took Galen away. The judge asked if Thaddeus had anywhere to go and he said he did. Thaddeus left the courtroom and went down the stairs to the door. Things were getting very strange, and he had a sinking feeling that this was only the beginning.
Thaddeus couldn’t tell which way was north. The sun was directly overhead and even if it wasn’t he probably still wouldn’t be able to tell. He went up to someone that looked like they could help and they pointed him in the right direction.
None of the buildings had signs out front. Thaddeus couldn’t tell which ones housed restaurants and which housed people. Instead he decided to bypass getting food, though he was very hungry, and try to find Galen’s friend’s house.
The road leading from the north side of town was broad and had been beaten down by hundreds of carts going through every day. Thaddeus had to walk in the grass on the side so he wouldn’t be hit by people running with their carts. No one see
med to own a horse or donkey or anything that could do it for them. Thaddeus still didn’t know where he was, but he was certain he had ended up somewhere very far from home. He must have been walking for a long time the night before.
The road cut right through more woods. Thaddeus kept a look out for houses of any sort that might be a sign of the county he lived in. The trees seemed to go on forever on either side of the road.
A man with a cart stopped on the side of the road for a break and was selling vegetables from his cart to the people going by. Thaddeus gave him two pink coins for a tomato and ate it on his way to find the lake.
It didn’t take him long to find it. Not too far after the cart a large glimmering lake appeared off the right side of the road. A brick house stood on the far bank. A dock was next to it with a small boat.
“This must be the place.” Thaddeus said to himself.