Chapter 35, Court House

"Look at this," said Mom as she opened the mail. "You've got an invitation to appear in court. Help me read this. It says Mr. Nani Haim Tibi you are subpoenaed to appear at The Court of Peace on 9 am., Monday, January 5th. 

"What is it all about?" I asked.

"It's probably about the accident you witnessed."

"What accident?"

"Last year. The one with the boy and the bulldozer. The one you saved. The one you kept on talking about for six months."

"I did not," I responded defensively. “It wasn't my fault that everybody kept asking me about it.”

"Anyway, you have to go to court, and probably you'll have to tell the story again, and I'm sure you're going to like it."

"But Mom", I said, "what about school?"

"I'll have to give you a note so your teacher can excuse you from school on that day. You'll have to go to your girlfriend Dafna and ask her for your homework."

"She is not my girlfriend," I said defensively again.

"That's not important," said Mom. "What's important is that you get the homework."

When the day arrived, I was up before Mom and Dad. I didn't sleep very well anyway. All night I was thinking about my teacher and how she responded when I told her about my subpoena.

"I'm so proud of you," she said to me as she patted me on the shoulder. "You're going to do just fine, and we'll wait for you to come back and tell us all about it."

She was so pretty; she was even prettier than Mom. I used to love that teacher, before she killed my fish. I wished I were older, so she would love me back. Every time I thought of her, I couldn’t sleep at night. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t lean or do anything.

I washed up, I wore my new blue pants that Mom made from Dad's old pants, the new white shirt Meme Milli gave me for the holidays, and my new black shiny shoes. Everyone at the bus station looked at me with admiration.

"Are you getting married?" someone asked, or they'd say, "don't you look nice."

"No, I'm not getting married, silly, I'm just going to court."

Even the bus driver had something to say. Well, it is not every day you see a child dressed so nicely, especially when it's not a holiday.

The Court of Peace was downtown next to the Workers' Bank “Bank HaPo’alim”. We entered the court room and were seated in the first row in front of the judge's platform. A few moments later, the court room was full. I saw the bulldozer driver, the armless nasty foreman, and many other people I'd never seen before.

"Court House!" a bailiff yelled, and everybody stood up. The door behind the judge's desk opened, and His Honor, the judge, walked in. Not before he sat down, were we permitted to sit.

To my surprise. the judge did not start with our case. There were many other cases before he got to ours.

First, there were some traffic violation cases. (A case is a problem that the judge must solve and rule in favor of or against - I never knew that before.) Then there were cases of married people. For example, a woman sued her husband for beating her. The judge ruled in her favor and the husband had to pay a fine and go to jail for ten days. By this time the woman had a problem with this ruling. Her husband was the sole supporter of the family. If he had to pay the fine, she would not have the money to buy food for his family, and even more so if he goes to jail. Who is going to work and bring money for the family? Well, that's the law and we all have to obey the law. I never understood that.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Mom whispered, "It' our turn now." This stuff was boring. No wonder I fell asleep. 

"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?" I heard the bailiff asking the “tractorist”. (That's what they called the bulldozer driver.)

"Yes," said the tractorist while holding his right arm up with the left on a Bible. "I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth."

The driver answered all the questions he was asked by the “Categor” and the “Sanegor “(the lawyers, the first for the family that was suing, and one for the building company that was being sued). He told them how all the children were jumping up and down the pile and how the foreman asked them to get out. How he didn't see the little boy that jumped in right in front of the bulldozer, and how I came out and stopped him. He told everything. He left nothing for me to tell.

"Nani Haim Tibi, please come to the witness stand!" I heard the bailiff calling. My legs started to shake. I was never on a witness stand. What will happen if I forget something and not say all the truth? Will they send me to jail? I walked slowly to the stand and waited.

"Do you swear..." the usher started to say and handed me the Bible.

"Stop!" the judge ordered. "He is too young. He doesn't have to swear. Why don't you tell us what happened on the day of the accident?"

"But the driver already told you." I said, sounding disappointed.

"It's O.K. we want to hear it again from someone who saw it all. Someone that we can really trust," the judge continued politely. He was very nice, and I was only too happy to tell him the story right from the beginning. 

I told him how the bulldozer came and made the new pile for us to play in, and how three times the driver destroyed it, after every time he made it. I told him about our decision to play in the new sand pile while they were working so we could enjoy every minute of the pile being there. I also told the judge how nasty the one-armed foreman was and how much he yelled at us. I told him how hard he tried to get us out of our playground. I was hoping that the judge would punish him for being so cruel, but the opposite happened. The judge just thanked me and dismissed the foreman saying he did the best he could, and it was not his fault that the boy was covered with sand. Again, I still don't understand it. Of course, it wasn't his fault that the little boy was covered with sand, but he was still very nasty, and that's not the way to treat children!

 

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Bar B Q Sauce

I like tasty meat, well, who doesn’t (except for the vegetarians). I try to create all my recipes with as much natural ingredients as possible. In this recipe you can replace the tomato paste with catchup if you like, but in that case use less sweetener and a little less vinegar. The ingredients here are for about 8 pieces of chicken. 

Ingredients:
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
1 TBSP Tomato Paste
1 tsp Mustard 
1 TBSP Maple Syrup
2 TBSP Balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP Lemon Juice
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Paprika
½ tsp Ginger Powder
A Pinch Black Pepper
A Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Cumin
½ tsp Turmeric

Preparation:
Put all ingredients in a jar, cover, and shake well until all dissolves. Pour on top of the meat and grill.

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