Our Mother's Day visit with Mom was nice. She looked good for a 96-year-old and can still carry her trash down a flight of stairs to the dumpster, usually waiting until no one is around that will insist on doing it for her. Bother Don and I caught her making a run without wearing her LifeLine. That's a no-no and she knew she would be getting a lecture so she walked back upstairs and stealthily put it on, hoping no one noticed.
Our side trip to Chicago to visit the kids was laugh a minute. Chris lives in controlled chaos. The condo was for sale, as is, with paint peeling from the siding, chips and crayon marks on the walls, stains and rips in the carpet. The pets and kids take their toll. Grandpa brought a deer antler to add to Ben's Wyoming paraphernalia.
Our side trip to Chicago to visit the kids was laugh a minute. Chris lives in controlled chaos. The condo was for sale, as is, with paint peeling from the siding, chips and crayon marks on the walls, stains and rips in the carpet. The pets and kids take their toll. Grandpa brought a deer antler to add to Ben's Wyoming paraphernalia.
Nothing stands in the way of our son's relationship with his six-year old son Benjamin. Daddy appears to be faced with the challenges he gave his parents. Mom took Ben to visit a 100-year old fire station. Ben told Dad how much he liked the fire engine, but when Dad facetiously asked him if he went to a fire, Ben said "why the hell would I do that?" Dad said he didn't know, that's a good question.
Chris has been transferred to a new courtroom and his partner is now a 50-year-old black guy, six foot four, overweight and blind. He described their latest defense of a woman who preys on old Chinese women in a nursing home. They had rejected the prosecution's offer for a 20-year sentence, this being about the twentieth time she had been caught, and with several eye witnesses. They make a rather notable entrance into the courtroom with the blind guy holding on to Chris' shoulder, food stains on his white shirt, bumping into the prosecution's table and strafing their knees with his cane. During the cross examination of the eighty year old witness, Chris pressed and she admitted she was not sure if the perp might have been a nursing home employee simply rearranging the victim's coat. The prosecution was still confident, but the defense team of dumb and dumber was just getting started. The four-foot ninety year old victim was next on the stand and the prosecution asked her if this was perpetrator. She said something to the effect of "Ngna thu ding chow" which the interpreter translated as a yes. When asked whether she stole her coat, she said something like "Tchou thu ping dow". When the interpreter translated "yes" again, Chris' partner jumped to his feet waiving his cane: "OBJECTION! First she said "dihg chow" and now she said "ping dow" and the interpreter is translating it to be the same!" Chris is incredulous that his partner suddenly portends to know Mandarin and can barely compose himself. The judge sustains and chastises the prosecution for paraphrasing instead of translating literally. Then Chris begins to make an argument that his own partner objects to. The judge says but this is your partner, when Chris appeals to answer his own partner's objection and the judge overrules the objection, Chris says thank you. Meanwhile the prosecution, having been reduced to irrelevance, begin to see their case slipping away. When the judge finally decides "NOT GUILTY!", they storm out of the courtroom crying "This is an OUTRAGE!" Chris proceeds to lead his towering partner, hand on shoulder, bumping the cane out of the courtroom. They have not lost a case together.
Chris has been transferred to a new courtroom and his partner is now a 50-year-old black guy, six foot four, overweight and blind. He described their latest defense of a woman who preys on old Chinese women in a nursing home. They had rejected the prosecution's offer for a 20-year sentence, this being about the twentieth time she had been caught, and with several eye witnesses. They make a rather notable entrance into the courtroom with the blind guy holding on to Chris' shoulder, food stains on his white shirt, bumping into the prosecution's table and strafing their knees with his cane. During the cross examination of the eighty year old witness, Chris pressed and she admitted she was not sure if the perp might have been a nursing home employee simply rearranging the victim's coat. The prosecution was still confident, but the defense team of dumb and dumber was just getting started. The four-foot ninety year old victim was next on the stand and the prosecution asked her if this was perpetrator. She said something to the effect of "Ngna thu ding chow" which the interpreter translated as a yes. When asked whether she stole her coat, she said something like "Tchou thu ping dow". When the interpreter translated "yes" again, Chris' partner jumped to his feet waiving his cane: "OBJECTION! First she said "dihg chow" and now she said "ping dow" and the interpreter is translating it to be the same!" Chris is incredulous that his partner suddenly portends to know Mandarin and can barely compose himself. The judge sustains and chastises the prosecution for paraphrasing instead of translating literally. Then Chris begins to make an argument that his own partner objects to. The judge says but this is your partner, when Chris appeals to answer his own partner's objection and the judge overrules the objection, Chris says thank you. Meanwhile the prosecution, having been reduced to irrelevance, begin to see their case slipping away. When the judge finally decides "NOT GUILTY!", they storm out of the courtroom crying "This is an OUTRAGE!" Chris proceeds to lead his towering partner, hand on shoulder, bumping the cane out of the courtroom. They have not lost a case together.
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