Magpie #51 ~~Romeo Is Summoned~~

Scene 1: Strewn cobblestone bricks piled six feet high in the middle of a street in downtown Victoriana. Commotion is created when four cars are trying to maneouvre around the blockade.

Scene 2: The door of Romeo and Amanda's love nest/apartment.

A loud knock by two police officers on the very same door. It is way past midnight, all is calm except for this incessant hammering on the door.

"Don't you think you better answer that?" Amanda stated matter of factly to her live-in lover.

Amanda could not rouse the deep sleeping Romeo. As she put on her carpet slippers and slowly shuffled to the door that was down a flight of steps. The apartment was above a toystore in downtown Victoriana.

"One minute, I'm coming, I'm coming..."

Amanda opened the door after peering through the eye-hole. "Oh no..." she said to herself and then slowly opened the door.

"Just a minute, Officers, I think you want to speak to Romeo" Amanda went back up the awkward stairs and yelled at Romeo "Get up, NOW!".

Romeo, bleary-eyed ruffled his bedhead hair and proceeded down the long hallway and then leaned on the bannister until he got to the bottom of the stairs. A deep-sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach made him wakeup that much faster.

He opened the door. "Are you Romeo Blanc?" The officers inquired. "Yes, I'm Romeo Blanc. What is the problem, officers?".

"Do you know anything about the cobblestones that just happened to end up in the middle of the road?" The senior officer asked point-blank.

"No..." Romeo stated, the "O" in "NO" trailing off into the range of infinity.

"Well someone stated they thought they recognized you removing bricks from outside the Golden Pheasant. Do you have anything to say about this?" The officer sounded sullen and angry.

"No". Romeo knew enough not to say anything that might in any way infringe upon his right to a fair trial. Romeo was studying to become a lawyer at the local University five blocks away, he was in his third year. The University might not look favourably upon any of their best and brightest being convicted before graduation day.

"You are to report to the Court House at 9:00 am sharp on Monday morning". The officer handed Romeo a pink piece of paper, it was a Summons.

"Oh great..." thought Romeo. "Ok, thanks very much, good-night!" Romeo closed the door and headed back up the stairs and down the long hallway to the bedroom door where Amanda was waiting with her hands on her hips.

"Now what did you do...Romeo!" Amanda sounded very angry, but was willing to hear Romeo's side of the story.

"Well, Amanda, you see, it's like this..." Romeo went on...Amanda interjected "The REAL story Romeo, ok?". "Yes, Amanda, the REAL story..." Romeo said emphatically.

"You see it was like this; I was really ticked at Old Man Slather because he knew I needed the money...but wouldn't part with a cent, that old miser! It serves him right, now I guess, it serves me right! Romeo held up the Summons. "What a drag!".

Amanda stated sarcastically; "Go on....".

"Well, you see, Amanda, it was really the fact I was not paid for all that hard labour I did putting in all the miles of cobblestone for Mr. Slather. I made his restaurant look good, like the old-fashioned place he wanted it to be, from the old country. He owes me a lot more than minimum wage for that job! It just isn't fair. The little guy never sees fair play, somethings just need to be made fair. You could say I was trying to balance the scales of justice."

"With a heap of bricks?" Amanda yelled. "I was wondering where you got to after Johnny Carson, I figured you went out to get some milk at the 24 hour variety. Do you know this can ruin your career?" Amanda flashed angry laser-like eyes at Romeo.

"Anyway, I know I shouldn't have, but I just couldn't help it, the way he'd ride me all the time, tell me how stupid I am, how I'll never amount to much. I think, in hindsight that I did the right thing, although abit dramatic I must admit".

Amanda started to smile. "I'm pretty tired right now, let's go back to bed, we'll work this thing out in the morning when we're fresh."

Romeo smiled coyly back at Amanda "When we're fresh...I like the sound of that!"

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