Shaken - Not Stirring.

I'm opening one of the stories from my book for a little while.

 

The crowd had the look of a congregation, sitting on the pew style courtroom benches and fanning themselves against the raging afternoon heat. Janet Thatch leaned in close to Angie to mutter indignantly.

          “I can’t believe she’s doing this. She said that she’d never take a plea bargain.”

          “Well she’s got to think about Katie. Katie’s only five and she needs her mother.” Angie reminded Janet. “I still believe in her. She could never have done such a thing.”

          “I guess you’re right Angie. I just wanted her to go through the trial and prove that she was innocent. But that’s easy for me to say, I’m not facing twenty five years in prison.” Janet said as she straightened back up to watch the proceedings.

          The focus of their conversation was Connie Towmann. Up until the previous February, Connie had just been one of the many midwestern housewives going about their domestic missions in the suburban developments and strip malls of southwest Kansas. She shopped, kept house and took care of her family. Today, after a gut wrenching trial that had spanned endless weeks, she walked out of the county courthouse as a free woman. Well, she wasn't entirely free. She wasn’t going to jail, but her agreement to a plea bargain left her with a relationship with a probation officer and her own personal cloud of suspicion. Even before she stepped into the light of the unseasonably warm August sun, the crowd buzzed with the whispers of gossip and doubt.

There were a legion of friends and supporters of the Towmann’s who staged car washes, bake sales and various other events to raise contributions for Connie’s defense fund. The long nightmare began two days after the most recent Valentines Day when 13-month-old Garrett stopped breathing. Connie and Wayne sat stunned on opposite sides of the room after Dr. Jacobs told them that little Garrett was gone. Their lives changed irrevocably in that moment when the two young parents sat numbly. Even as they sat in disbelief, Jacobs was dialing the sheriffs department. Since Connie had been the only adult in the house with the baby at the time, she was arrested and charged in his death. For the next six months expert witnesses battled tooth and nail. One assertively insisted that Garrett Towmann had died because he had been violently shaken, causing his brain to suffer tremendous trauma while slamming back and forth within his skull. The defense offered the testimony of an equally credentialed expert who insisted just as vehemently that in all his years in medicine he had never seen a verified case of shaken baby syndrome. Defense attorneys advanced the theory that a fall that the little boy had taken two days prior to his death had caused a slow swelling in his brain that eventually killed him.

          “There is no such thing as shaken baby syndrome!” Dr. Urlacher had confidently insisted on behalf of the defense.

          CNN had attached itself to the story like a pit bull on a pork chop and never let go. They covered the trail, they covered Connie’s loyal friends. They even covered the coverage. Connie’s friends helped raise bond, raise funds for her defense and had watched and supported her in the countless TV interviews when she declared that she did not hurt her son and would never take any kind of a plea deal. That’s why many of her supporters were perplexed when, with the jury finally deliberating and the trial racing towards a conclusion, Connie agreed to plead no contest to a single charge of injuring a child. It seemed that neither the defense nor the prosecution were confident of their chances of prevailing, and when the prosecution approached Connie’s attorney with the chance to plead guilty to the lesser charge and go home to her family, he advised that she give it serious consideration. The prosecution would save face, avoiding the embarrassment of an acquittal.

          The following morning, for the first time in months, Connie Towmann woke up without the specter of prison dangling over her head. She sat at the dining room table staring at the newspaper that declared ‘Towmann Cops Plea.’

          “Everyone understands honey.” Her mother reassured as she poured two cups of coffee.

          “No they don’t Momma. I could see it in their eyes when I walked out of the courthouse. They think I killed Garrett.”

          “Honey, if they don’t believe in you then they were never your friends to begin with. You have to think about that little girl playing down the hall. You did the right thing.”

          Connie thought for a moment and then nodded in silent agreement. Katie needed her mommy. Connie picked up her coffee mug with a sigh as her mother stood behind her and rubbed her back in as soothing a manner as she could. Down the hall Katie hugged her baby doll, Janie, and sat it on the bed, holding it in a sitting position. Suddenly, Katie’s eyes narrowed, her grip tightened around the doll's neck, her voice lowered to a guttural, animalistic growl and she began to violently shake the doll.

          “When I talk to you, you listen to me or you'll get the same thing I gave Garrett!”

 

 

 

If you liked this story, I think that you will also enjoy this one too:

 

What did you do with the body? A Story by Paul D. Aronson

Reviews

[Bobo]

Eep. There's always something so immensly creepy about writing horror into what should be innocence. This piece works very well and I enjoyed the almost factual account of the story. The twist at the end? Very fitting and worked well :) A really good piece

[M_S_Lay]

Oh my God, I loved this story. The twist at the end is priceless, but it also leaves an unanswered thought: Did Katie do it? Or was she simply imitating her mother as children often do with their dolls?
This was fantastic!

[HoWiE]

Heheh bollocks, I'm gutted I didn't see that coming!! I knew this had a twist due to the nature of the contest but I was wracking my brains looking for it and still didn't see it - nice job. I liked this and a worthy winner I thought. There has been so much in the newspapers about shaken baby syndrome, it almost makes you think, did it really happen? If so who did it? Why? How? etc. You even gave us a little clue when you mentioned: 'Since Connie had been the only adult in the house with the baby at the time, she was arrested and charged in his death'. Arrgh! Of course!! Lol - good work mate I did enjoy this.
I think if I could change anything it might just be the last line, rather than say '...you'll get the same thing I gave Garrett!' Perhaps you could just have her say 'Listen to me!! Listen to me!!' - That way it doesn't point the conclusion out so easily for the reader and would perhaps leave a small seed of doubt in there whether it was Connie or Katie that had caused his death. Just a thought. Great story tho mate, I enjoyed it immensely. Cheers!!!

[Jamie Fantasy]

Omg! Creepy!

Wow. I'm so surprised. I was not expecting that at all. It was very well written and had my attention. The only suggestion I have would be to watch your POV change. In the beginning it starts with watching two of the attendees at the trial and by the end, the POV is Katie and her mother. In a short story like this, you should stick to one point of view.

Great story!

[SPINNING ON that dizzy ..]

Oh geez....evil comes in all sizes huh! Didn't expect that....like the twist - wonder if Mom knows and is covering or did she think it was from his fall days prior or was the fall also darling Katie's fault. Yikes and wow and man.... Who else might know the secret of Katie.... such intrigue here. This is full of goosebumps and just plain wicked.

Kath

[T. F. Rice]

A good story. Starting in the middle of an important scene makes it a great piece. This grips the reader and allows you to fill in the other details, as you go about the story, which you also do very well. I never saw the ending coming, either, so you did a great job with a difficult topic. :-)

[Mel Stevens]

This is why I can't watch horror movies that involve children...it gives me the creeps! Great story, always expected it to be the mom anyways, and had to read the last paragraph twice to make sure I read it correctly.

[Nyida Strong]

Holy zombie Christ!!! What the hell was that?! I was so close to just not finishing the story because it was doing nothing for me. I was getting bored, then you blew me away with that ending! That completely threw me for a loop. Congrats!

N. Strong

[Emily B]

I'm with Tam. Kind of leaves a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. You did a stunning job of getting us to that point. We're right up on the edge of that cliff feeling sorry for her that people could think such things. And then, you pushed us right over the edge.

[TL Boehm]

oh but this one leaves a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach....VERY realistic. Chilling. I almost forgt its a story as I read it, it seems very real. I never saw that ending coming. Nicely done.