Favourite literary legal scene

All of my novels contain some legal elements. The BackTracker series is chock-full of criminals and crime fighters and my latest release DISPASSIONATE LIES takes a look at the law in the near future.

However, my favourite legal scene is in my SciFI novella, SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT. While engaged in a heated custody battle over her dying daughter, Chorie tries desperately to find a lawyer who understands the fact she is caught in two vastly different universes.

“Do you have children?” Chorie asked.

“No. No, I don’t.”

“Is there someone else available who does have children?”

“I was trying to be gentle,” he said. “Put more bluntly, you don’t have a chance in hell of regaining custody.

“Why not?

“Because you’re crazy.”

My two SciFi novellas

"I’m not crazy!”

“You find a psychiatrist to back you on that and I’ll reconsider. In the meanwhile, take advantage of your visiting rights. Be with the child as often as you like. I give you that advice free of charge.”

“My rights?” Chorie leaned forward in her chair, put her fists on his desk, and slowly rose. “My husband is planning to move in with his secretary and I have the right to join them in their love nest, does that seem adequate ‘rights’ to you?”

She heard her voice rise, tremble, bounce off the walls. She knew it she was being inappropriate, but she couldn’t stop.

“I want to be with my daughter, day and night. Hear every whimper. Dry every tear. I want to cool her fevered forehead. Swab glycerine on her cracked tongue. I want to wipe the vomit from her lips. I want to sing her lullabies. I want to monitor her IV. I want to be holding her hand when she passes from this world. And, Mr. Strongberg…”

She leaned so far into him he was compelled to tip back his chair. “I sure as hell don’t want to be doing it in Deanna’s spare bedroom!” She inched closer and locked her eyes on his. She felt her breasts brush the folder of papers before him.

“Ma’am,” he said, finally shaking free of her gaze. “Please, sit. Please.” Chorie kept her eyes on his face as she slowly slumped into her chair. “Ma’am, like I said, if you can get someone to vouch for your sanity. In the meantime, I suggest you continue with your counselling--"

“Continue with my counselling?” Chorie interrupted. “My counsellor testified against me! I’d like to sue her for breach of confidentiality! She had no right to reveal the content of our sessions…”

“When a child is at risk, she not only has a right to, but has a legal and moral obligation to.”

“She said the child wasn’t at risk! She said I was no danger…”

“She was just being kind! If it were my child, I’d sure as hell be wondering who was looking after her while you were out meandering in alternate universes!”

“You don’t understand the true nature of time, do you? It’s not as if I divide my time between lives. Time is not linear; it’s multi-dimensional. Simultaneous, in a way. I’m not absent from one life while pursuing the other…”

“Listen!” Strongberg interrupted loudly. “Listen! This is irrelevant to the case! There is no way I’m arguing quantum physics or the nature of time before a judge in a court of law!”

He picked up his pen, pulled his chair forward, and lowered his voice. “Ma’am, even if I were to agree to do that for you, it sure as hell wouldn’t get you custody!

Eileen Schuh, Author
DISPASSIONATE LIES
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ