The Trial of Brutus

"Be seated!" The judge’s voice echoed around the old courtroom.

Muffled voices and the poof of bums hitting seats answered the instruction. Fred's chair screeched across the floor as he pulled it, causing Brutus, the tiny chihuahua sat with Jack in the front row, to bark his small, yappy bark. It reverberated off the walls. The judge frowned at Fred, who received an elbow to the ribs from Claire sat next to him. He winced.

"Shhhh, Brutus. Don't bark at the bad man," Jack whispered. Fred turned to face him, open-mouthed at his brother. Jack shrugged at him and continued to shush Brutus.

"Okay, let's get on with this." The judge’s voice was unforgiving as he continued to stare in Fred's direction.

After a moment, the prosecutor, a tall black‑haired man, thin and lean, ruffled his papers and stood, with a soft scrape of his chair. His grey suit seemed to hug his figure as he made his way forward.

"Your honour. I call Mr Clemmy to the stand."

Mr Clemmy, sat a few rows back, got tentatively to his feet and slowly made his way to the stand, eyes darting around the faces as he went until he stood in the witness box. He was quickly sworn in before Mr Gourt, the prosecutor, stood before him.

"Mr Clemmy. You have read Michael's will. In fact, you gave a private reading to the family. Is this right?"

A gulp came from Mr Clemmy as Brutus stared at him and growled. Jack shushed him again.

"Err, yes, that is correct," Mr Clemmy eventually answered.

"Hmmm, and the will quite clearly leaves Michael's estate to Brutus?" Mr Gourt continued.

"Well yes. Half of it anyway. The other half was left to a dog charity."

Turning to Fred and Claire, Mr Gourt frowned. "That must have been disappointing for you. Especially you, Claire. Not getting your hands on the clock because of a typo, but the will leaves no room for interpretation." He turned back to the witness stand. "Mr Clemmy, would you mind reading that line for us?"

Fear began to show on Mr Clemmy's face. "Erm, I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"Oh right," said Mr Gourt with a slight smile, pulling a pink tutu from his pocket and handing it to Mr Clemmy.

Sniggers from those watching followed as Mr Clemmy pulled on the tutu with a grumpy expression. He then sat down again, hiding the tutu from view. He cleared his throat as he ran his finger across the page and found the sentence he was looking for. "It says, to my darling Claire, I remember you looking at this in admiration and delight. I leave you my grandfather's cock."

"Ah. So you were left your grandfather's cock and the grandfather clock. This is what is written and what you are entitled to. A dog paw print on a contract does not change that. Am I right Mr Clemmy?"

"Er, I'm not sure, I read the document and it seemed okay."

"But it does not excuse breaking and entering and dognapping." Mr Gourt's voice was stern as he stared down at Mr Clemmy.

"No." He conceded.

"No more questions, your honour," Mr Gourt said as he moved back to his seat and sat down.

The judge turned to Fred and Claire's defence lawyer. "Do you have any questions?"

Mr Clemmy looked on, nervous and sweating.

"Er, no, your honour." His high-pitched voice returned, causing Claire to round on him.

"No? What am I paying you for?" she snapped before calming herself.

"Oh come on. I'm not a miracle worker. You're so guilty." He tried to whisper, but his voice carried to all corners of the courtroom.

Claire stared at him in disbelief and Fred buried his face in his hands. Chatter began to ripple through the crowd as Mr Clemmy found his seat, until it was quickly quashed by the judge.

"Anything else, Mr Gourt?"

"Yes, your honour. I call Brutus to the stand," Mr Gourt said with a sympathetic look towards the small dog.

Jack confidently picked up Brutus and calmly took him to the stand and sat, resting Brutus on the lectern before him. A few "awww's from the room followed as people saw the tiny dog.

Moving to the witness stand, Mr Gourt fumbled in his pocket and withdrew a treat which he gave to Brutus, who took it willingly and devoured it.

"Now Brutus. You must have been terrified by this ordeal!" stated Mr Gourt.

Brutus shivered in response and let out a small whimper.

"Can you see the people that tried to dognap you here today?"

Growling, Brutus turned his attention to Fred and Claire and began to bark.

"No more questions."

"He's lying," Claire shouted in mock shock as Fred beside her went white and attempted to hide behind a piece of paper.

"I came home and found you in my house!" shouted Jack.

"You're not the witness..." she replied before going quiet, realising that all Mr Gourt had to do was call Jack to the stand.

"Your witness, Mr Getting." The judge cut in, silencing the courtroom.

"I. Err. No money is worth what you tried to do to this poor, defenceless, adorable little dog. Your honour. My client is guilty and I have no questions for this poor animal."

Fred and Claire stared open‑mouthed as Mr Getting gathered his papers and strode out of the courtroom, leaving them alone.

"Well I don't think this will take much time," said the judge as Jack moved back to his seat with Brutus. He turned to the jury. "Do any of you have a verdict of not guilty?"

The jury all glared at Fred and Claire and remained silent.

"Well that's good enough for me. Fred and Claire Millward, you have been found guilty of breaking and entering your brother’s house with intent to dognap Brutus."

"Objection!" Claire's voice quivered.

"This trial is over, Miss Millward, and you seem to show no remorse for your actions. Now all that is left for me to do is decide on the punishment for this horrible act."

"Your honour. May I speak?" Jack's voice cut through the tension with its calm tone, annoying Claire even further, though she kept quiet.

"Of course. I'm just glad that someone in this family has some love for Brutus."

Brutus snuggled into Jack's arms as he spoke to the judge. "It seems, your honour, that my brother and sister have wronged my dogs far worse than me. So maybe they can repay the canine community by doing community service at the local dog home."

Claire stared open‑mouthed at Jack while Fred's face lightened as he realised he might not be going to prison.

"Excellent idea!" the judge agreed. "You shall both serve six months at the local dog home. You will do whatever duties they ask of you, and you will absolutely not try and dognap any more dogs."

"But...." Claire tried to protest but was cut short by Jack.

"Your honour. I'm a busy man, so as part of the sentence could my siblings walk my dog when I am going to be working late?"

A smile came over Claire's face. Walking Brutus. This was perfect; she might yet get his paw print and then she would own all that Brutus did. "You'd do that for us? You'd let us walk Brutus?"

A sly smile came over Jack's face. "Oh no. I'm never letting this dog out of my sight again. It's Princess that will need walking."

"Princess!" Claire's face dropped. "That direhound is called Princess. No thank you."

"Well, you could go to jail instead," the judge stated, staring at Claire.

After a moment of thought and a nudge from Fred, Claire stood, voice bitter. "No, I'd love to walk Princess."