Seen in a Dream

by Tom Horonzy

"All rise" came as no surprise, and everyone did, save for one character by the door. A double-amputee in a wheelchair, with a patch over his left eye and an ear horn on his lap. He was excused and escorted from these proceedings immediately for contempt.

Entering in sauntered Abigail Brandywine-Claxton, Judge and chairperson of Nameless, Tennessee's district courts. There were three within Jackson County, Tn. She was a sight to see at four-foot-three, standing in five-inch stiletto heels, donning a white-velveteen robe trimmed in gold fringe. She wore a quirky smile highlighted by two gold incisors. They were received one Xmas when Abigail sang those five famous words from the song "All I Want for Christmas," which were two front teeth. She was eight years old at the time.

"Be seated," she scritched. So everyone did, save for Ellie-Mae Clampett, who wanted to be seen in her newly bought, low-cut dress bought at J.T. Watt's General Merchandise store. It was and forever would be famous for selling Moon Pies, peanuts, coke, and thick slabs of bologna. Ellie-Mae was immediately removed by a court officer and fined for contempt, just like the fellow in the wheelchair.

No one dared to outdress AB-C, queen of courtroom drama in the unincorporated community of Jackson County, whose town's conspicuous moniker came to be when residents applied for a post office, leaving the space on the application for a name blank. Hence, the U.S. Post Office Department stamped "Nameless" on the form.

Muskrat Crockett was seated in the defendant chair, wearing a nugatory coon-skin cap, only permitted by AB-C because it was part and parcel of the well-known bear-hunting family, whose great-great grandpappy kilt a bear at three, before dying a hero's death at the Alamo in Texas.

His lawyer was to be from the Evans Bulloch Parker PLLC of Murfreesboro, Tn., but all their mouthpieces were tied up in litigation. Therefore Sadie Hawkins-Capp was named his legal eagle practitioner. She was akin to Alfred Gerald Caplin, better known as Al Capp. He was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner fame.

The opposition was led by Hang-em Sloopy McCoy, whose grandmother, a Hatfield, ended a well-known feud by marrying a McCoy boy. That lad led a band known as Rick and the Raiders, and even though he was from Indiana, the ruse worked. It brought such a "Peace in the Valley" that Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys released a hit by that name in nineteen-fifty-one.

"Let the proceedings begin," AB-C rang in. Thus Sloopy and Sadie argued back and forth until retiring to a sidebar of vittles and such things, fresh off the spit-fired bar-b-que outside the olde oaken doors of the Nameless Courthouse.

Once there, everyone mended fences. Muskrat Crokett pled guilty to a lesser offense and, with time served, was released into the general populace. There, he joined Ernest T. Bass from Mayberry, N.C., who marryied Ramona Darling, his one true love. After lunch, the two hooligans began their glass-breaking adventures again. At the same time, Ab-C, with bar-b-que sauce on her velveteen robe, had to retire to her chambers for a change of clothes before returning to the celebration in progress.

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Create a Scene writing prompt entry

Writing Prompt
Imagination is a fascination sometimes. This one herein is mine.

I know not how I failed to release this piece seeing I created the contest and only found out this morning, so I may as well let it go now.
Grandpappy's outhouse seemed fitting for this mountain tale. The picture is real and taken and photoshopped edited by yours truly.
Some of the character's may be legitimate but most were simply figures I recall historically from my childhood sing-a-longs, and comic book or teevee shows.

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A Courtroom Scene

Seen in a Dream

by Tom Horonzy

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