The Workers Enter the Courtroom
Chapter 10 - The Workers Enter the Courtroom
Retired Mercer Rail employees began arriving at the courthouse.
Conductors.
Track laborers.
Clerks.
Widows carrying old pay statements.
For years, their pension claims were denied as accounting errors.
Now they filled the benches once occupied by society reporters.
One worker, Samuel Price, testified that he lost his home after thirty-eight years with Mercer Rail.
Charles watched without expression.
Thomas watched differently.
He asked Rose whether his house belonged to them.
“Not exactly.”
“Did Grandpa take their money?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do I get the house?”
Rose had no answer that made inheritance look innocent.
Thomas asked to speak with the judge.
He proposed that his trust shares be placed into a worker restitution fund until every claim was examined.
Charles objected through counsel.
The judge appointed an independent guardian to determine whether the proposal served Thomas’s interests.
The guardian asked him why he wanted it.
“Because my father said a name is not worth keeping if it makes other people disappear.”
Daniel’s recording had contained that sentence after the main confession.
The court approved a partial transfer.
Employees applauded.
Thomas covered his ears.
Rose asked everyone to stop.
He was a child, not a symbol.
May you like
The room became quiet again.
That moment mattered more to him than applause.
