indoors,
Hunter says.
Yes, that’s what Dad did.
In all these containers
by the window.
I’ll come over
and help you get them started.
It’ll be fun,
Hunter says.
Thanks, Hunter,
and if they grow,
I’ll invite you over this summer for
tomato and cucumber sandwiches,
you and all your
brothers and sisters.
Once the tornado passes,
one neighbor
picks up the pieces,
looks for what’s left
of their possessions
under the rubble,
finding room
in their heart
to accept their neighbor’s help.
Verdict
I don’t know why it is,
that you can wait and wait
your hardest for something,
and it always comes
when you’ve finally
given up hope.
What do we all think
the verdict will do?
Turn back time?
Make right what went wrong
in the attic?
Punish Clay’s father?
All of those things?
The verdict is mailed
to Birchell,
who comes to the house
with it.
He reads the judge’s words out loud:
“A revolver is a lethal weapon
whose sole function is to kill human beings
and animals of comparative size.
A person owning a weapon of this kind
has a duty to exercise reasonable care
under the circumstances,
to see no harm would be visited upon
others as a consequence of his conduct.
A majority of other jurisdictions have
considered it actionable negligent entrustment
for a person to leave a firearm in a place
where he should foresee it might fall
into the hands of a minor.
Under the circumstances, reasonable care
requires the owner of a firearm either
to keep ammunition in a separate location
or, if the firearm is loaded, to keep it secured
in a place where minors cannot access
the firearm.
In this case the evidence demonstrates
that the defendant’s conduct in leaving
a loaded weapon on a windowsill
created a reasonably foreseeable
catastrophic injury.”
Basically,
Birchell says,
the judge is saying that the owner of the gun
has a responsibility to keep it out of the hands
of minors.
I get that,
Mom says.
He continues reading:
“Comparative negligence allows the plaintiff
to recover from the defendant even if partially
at fault, but only for the percentage
the defendant was at fault.
Maine is a modified comparative fault
jurisdiction, meaning that the plaintiff
can recover damages only if he is less than
fifty percent responsible for his own injuries.
I will consider the actions of Jonah Carrier
in picking up the firearm and pulling the trigger
negligent and a substantial factor
in causing his own injuries at twenty-five percent,
and the actions of the defendant Arthur LeBlanc,
in negligent entrustment of a firearm,
in not safely storing the firearm,
and leaving a loaded gun accessible to a minor,
negligent at seventy-five percent.”
What does that mean?
Mom asks.
I answer before Birchell has a chance.
She’s saying Jonah was twenty-five percent responsible,
and Mr. LeBlanc was seventy-five percent responsible
for what happened.
Mom gets up from her chair
and paces around the kitchen.
The judge is saying my son
is responsible for what happened
to him?
Mrs. Carrier,
Birchell says,
what matters here is that the judge thinks
Mr. LeBlanc is more than fifty percent
responsible. She is agreeing with us.
You won the claim.
Jonah is twenty-five percent responsible?
Mom asks Birchell again.
Mom,
I say,
it’s just a number.
The judge is saying you won
the lawsuit.
Right?
I ask Birchell.
Yes. Birchell turns the page.
And she is awarding you $600,000
for our claim of negligent entrustment of a firearm.
I can do the math in my head.
And you get $200,000 of that,
I say to Birchell.
There is also an award for
wrongful death, for loss of the child’s
comfort, society, and companionship,
Birchell starts reading from the page
when Mom interrupts.
Wrong death?
WrongFUL death,
Birchell repeats.
Remember after Jonah passed,
I said that I would amend the complaint
from action for loss of services
to wrongful death.
Mom sits back down.
The judge has awarded you $300,000
for wrongful death,
$200,000 for conscious pain and suffering,
and $1,500 for funeral expenses.
Whose pain and suffering?
Mom asks.
Birchell looks embarrassed by the question.
That would be Jonah’s.
How did the judge figure out a number
for what Jonah felt
in the belly of the whale?
I do the math again.
$300,000 total for wrongful death.
Birchell gets one-third, or $100,000, of that.
He gets one-third of the money
for Jonah’s conscious pain
and suffering.
And probably one-third
of the award for funeral expenses.
Still, that gives Mom
over $700,000.
Do Clay’s parents
have that much money?
I ask Birchell.
I think
of Gwen’s worn bathrobe
and scuffed slippers.
The award will be paid by their homeowner’s
policy. It was their insurance company that hired the
lawyer for them.
Birchell hands Mom the papers
from the judge
to read for herself.
I thought the lawsuit
was all about the money,
but now I’m not sure.
This is what I learn, too.
Even when you wait and hope
for the thing you think
will solve everything,
it doesn’t always happen
the way
you imagine.
Driver’s Ed
After the verdict,
the check comes.
Mom doesn’t buy a new car
or take us on a trip,
but she does have the roof leak fixed.
I like the simulator machine
at the driver’s ed class,
but the first time I sit
in the driver’s seat
of the real car,
I look down at my hands
on the steering wheel
and freeze.
I don’t think this is a good idea,
I tell the driving instructor.
I have a better idea.
Why don’t YOU sit in the driver’s seat,
and if I see YOU doing something wrong,
I’ll use that special brake
on the passenger side—
to stop you,
so you’ll know I know
what to do.
The driving instructor
is speechless for a minute,
then shouts at me.
I thought I’d heard everything