Here’s my take on the “The Courtroom” edition of Sketchwar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FADE IN:\u00a0 <\/p>\n
INT. COURTROOM – DAY<\/p>\n
ONLOOKERS fill a set of audience seats in a courtroom.<\/p>\n
BOB (20s) finds a seat next to JIMMY (50s).<\/p>\n
From offscreen, JUDGE LAWSON’s voice rings out -- a snarly version of one of Charlie Brown’s teachers.<\/p>\n
DEFENSE LAWYER (O.S.)<\/p>\n
But, Judge Lawson --<\/p>\n
MORE SNARLING!<\/p>\n
Lawson’s snarling voice continues in the background throughout.<\/p>\n
Bob leans over to Jimmy.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
Does Lawson just find people in contempt of court at random?<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Three times per case, on average.<\/p>\n
ENRICO sidles in next to Jimmy.<\/p>\n
ENRICO<\/p>\n
Hear anything about the new guy defending the Pulaski case?<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
Oh, that’s me. Bob Carton.<\/p>\n
ENRICO<\/p>\n
Wow. Okay, twenty bucks says the new guy loses.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
What?<\/p>\n
Jimmy makes a note.<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Got it, Enrico.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
Wait, did he --? never mind.<\/p>\n
ANGELA pokes her head in.<\/p>\n
ANGELA<\/p>\n
Thirty on a continuance in Pulaski.<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
That’s five-to-one.<\/p>\n
ANGELA<\/p>\n
Sounds good.<\/p>\n
She heads off.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
But the case should be open-and-shut, since --<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Should be, but Lawson is insane.<\/p>\n
CLIFF sidles up next to Jimmy.<\/p>\n
CLIFF<\/p>\n
I’m taking an exacta on the summary judgment followed by punitive damages in the Pulaski case.<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
And your usual side bet?<\/p>\n
CLIFF<\/p>\n
Yeah, five bucks says Lawson tells a long, irrelevant story about his cat.<\/p>\n
Cliff exits.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
You’re a bookie?<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Betting is the only thing that makes Lawson bearable.<\/p>\n
OTIS enters.<\/p>\n
OTIS<\/p>\n
I’m bettin’ on a sensible court judgment in Pulaski, at 12:1.<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Otis, are you sure about that? Lawson’s usually drunk by 3pm.<\/p>\n
OTIS<\/p>\n
I got a system!<\/p>\n
Otis exits.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
This is ridiculous!<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Lawson is a capricious and evil man. If it weren’t for gambling, we’d all just focus on the injustice of it all.<\/p>\n
ROSE peeks in.<\/p>\n
ROSE<\/p>\n
My usual penny on the longshot, James.<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Absolutely. Lawson pulls out an AK, you take home a cool grand.<\/p>\n
ROSE<\/p>\n
It could happen, James! You never know!<\/p>\n
Rose exits.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
This is ridiculous!<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Shh!<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
This is so wrong I’m not even sure it’s illegal! How can you make this travesty of --<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Just stop!<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
This travesty of the justice system just so you can make a quick --<\/p>\n
An especially loud SNARL from Judge Lawson.<\/p>\n
Bob stops.<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Uh-oh.<\/p>\n
Bob turns around.<\/p>\n
Lengthy snarling dialog from Lawson.<\/p>\n
BOB<\/p>\n
Fine.<\/p>\n
A BAILIFF walks up to Bob and escorts him away.<\/p>\n
Enrico and Cliff re-enter.<\/p>\n
CLIFF<\/p>\n
Lawson threw out the defense attorney in Pulaski before the case even started!<\/p>\n
ENRICO<\/p>\n
Ha! Jimmy, that pays triple!<\/p>\n
JIMMY<\/p>\n
Fine.<\/p>\n
More snarling from Lawson.<\/p>\n
CLIFF<\/p>\n
Hey, now he’s talking about his cat!<\/p>\n
Jimmy buries his face in his hands.<\/p>\n
FADE OUT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter’s take on the “The Courtroom” edition of Sketchwar: “The Lawson Longshot”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[253],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-the-courtroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1690,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/1690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}