TEN. And how they mean it!
EIGHT. Well, let me ask you this. Do you really think the boy would shout out a thing like that so the whole neighborhood would hear it? I don’t think so. He’s much too bright for that.
TEN (exploding). Bright! He’s a common, ignorant slob. He don’t even speak good English.
ELEVEN (slowly). He doesn’t even speak good English.
(TEN stares angrily at ELEVEN, and there is silence for a moment. Then FIVE looks around the table nervously.)
FIVE. I’d like to change my vote to not guilty.
(THREE gets up and walks to the window, furious, but trying to control himself.)
FOREMAN. Are you sure?
FIVE. Yes. I’m sure.
FOREMAN. The vote is nine to three in favor of guilty.
SEVEN. Well, if that isn’t the end. (To FIVE) What are you basing it on? Stories this guy—(indicating EIGHT)—made up! He oughta write for Amazing Detective Monthly. He’d make a fortune. Listen, the kid had a lawyer, didn’t he? Why didn’t his lawyer bring up all these points?
FIVE. Lawyers can’t think of everything.
SEVEN. Oh brother! (To EIGHT) You sit in here and pull stories out of thin air. Now we’re supposed to believe that the old man didn’t get up out of bed, run to the door, and see the kid beat it downstairs fifteen seconds after the killing. He’s only saying he did to be important.
FIVE. Did the old man say he ran to the door?
SEVEN. Ran. Walked. What’s the difference? He got there.
FIVE. I don’t remember what he said. But I don’t see how he could run.
FOUR. He said he went from his bedroom to the front door. That’s enough, isn’t it?
EIGHT. Where was his bedroom again?
TEN. Down the hall somewhere. I thought you remembered everything. Don’t you remember that?
EIGHT. No. Mr. Foreman, I’d like to take a look at the diagram of the apartment.
SEVEN. Why don’t we have them run the trial over just so you can get everything straight?
EIGHT. Mr. Foreman—
FOREMAN (rising). I heard you.
(The FOREMAN gets up, goes to the door during following dialogue. He knocks on door, GUARD opens it, he whispers to GUARD, GUARD nods and closes door.)
THREE (to EIGHT). All right. What’s this for? How come you’re the only one in the room who wants to see exhibits all the time?
FIVE. I want to see this one, too.
THREE. And I want to stop wasting time.
FOUR. If we’re going to start wading through all that nonsense about where the body was found . . .
EIGHT. We’re not. We’re going to find out how a man who’s had two strokes in the past three years, and who walks with a pair of canes, could get to his front door in fifteen seconds.
THREE. He said twenty seconds.
TWO. He said fifteen.
THREE. How does he know how long fifteen seconds is? You can’t judge that kind of thing.
NINE. He said fifteen. He was positive about it.
THREE (angry). He’s an old man. You saw him. Half the time he was confused. How could he be positive about … anything?
(THREE looks around sheepishly, unable to cover up his blunder. The door opens and the GUARD walks in, carrying a large pen-and-ink diagram of the apartment. It is a railroad flat. A bedroom faces the el tracks. Behind it is a series of rooms off a long hall. In the front bedroom is a diagram of the spot where the body was found. At the back of the apartment we see the entrance into the apartment hall from the building hall. We see a flight of stairs in the building hall. The diagram is clearly labeled and included in the information on it are the dimensions of the various rooms. The GUARD gives the diagram to the FOREMAN.)