FOREMAN (to SEVEN). All right. How about you?
SEVEN. I don’t know, most of it’s been said already. We can talk all day about this thing but I think we’re wasting our time. Look at the kid’s record. At fifteen he was in reform school. He stole a car. He’s been arrested for mugging. He was picked up for knife-fighting. I think they said he stabbed somebody in the arm. This is a very fine boy.
EIGHT. Ever since he was five years old his father beat him up regularly. He used his fists.
SEVEN. So would I! A kid like that.
THREE. You’re right. It’s the kids. The way they are—you know? They don’t listen. (Bitter) I’ve got a kid. When he was eight years old he ran away from a fight. I saw him. I was so ashamed. I told him right out, “I’m gonna make a man out of you or I’m gonna bust you up into little pieces trying.” When he was fifteen he hit me in the face. He’s big, you know. I haven’t seen him in three years. Rotten kid! You work your heart out . . . (Pause) All right. Let’s get on with it. (Looks away, embarrassed.)
FOUR. We’re missing the point here. This boy—let’s say he’s a product of a filthy neighborhood and a broken home. We can’t help that. We’re not here to go into the reasons why slums are breeding grounds for criminals. They are. I know it. So do you. The children who come out of slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society.
TEN. You said it there. I don’t want any part of them, believe me.
(There is a dead silence for a moment, and then FIVE speaks haltingly.)
FIVE. I’ve lived in a slum all my life—
TEN. Oh, now wait a second!
FIVE. I used to play in a back yard that was filled with garbage. Maybe it still smells on me.
FOREMAN. Now let’s be reasonable. There’s nothing personal—(FIVE stands up.)
FIVE. There is something personal!
(Then he catches himself and, seeing everyone looking at him, sits down, fists clenched.)
THREE (persuasively). Come on, now. He didn’t mean you, feller. Let’s not be so sensitive….
(There is a long pause.)
ELEVEN. I can understand his sensitivity.
FOREMAN. Now let’s stop the bickering. We’re wasting time. (To EIGHT) It’s your turn.
EIGHT. All right. I had a peculiar feeling about this trial. Somehow I felt that the defense counsel never really conducted a thorough cross-examination. I mean, he was appointed by the court to defend the boy. He hardly seemed interested. Too many questions were left unasked.
THREE (annoyed). What about the ones that were asked? For instance, let’s talk about that cute little switch-knife. You know, the one that fine up-right kid admitted buying.
EIGHT. All right. Let’s talk about it. Let’s get it in here and look at it. I’d like to see it again, Mr. Foreman.
(The FOREMAN looks at him questioningly and then gets up and goes to the door. During the following dialogue the FOREMAN knocks, the GUARD comes in, the FOREMAN whispers to him, the GUARD nods and leaves, locking the door.)
THREE. We all know what it looks like. I don’t see why we have to look at it again. (To FOUR) What do you think?
FOUR. The gentleman has a right to see exhibits in evidence.
THREE (shrugging). Okay with me.
FOUR (to EIGHT). This knife is a pretty strong piece of evidence, don’t you agree?
EIGHT. I do.
FOUR. The boy admits going out of his house at eight o’clock after being slapped by his father.
EIGHT. Or punched.
FOUR. Or punched. He went to a neighborhood store and bought a switch-knife. The storekeeper was arrested the following day when he admitted selling it to the boy. It’s a very unusual knife. The storekeeper identified it and said it was the only one of its kind he had in stock. Why did the boy get it? (Sarcastically) As a present for a friend of his, he says. Am I right so far?
EIGHT. Right.
THREE. You bet he’s right. (To all) Now listen to this man. He knows what he’s talking about.
FOUR. Next, the boy claims that on the way home the knife must have fallen through a hole in his coat pocket, that he never saw it again. Now there’s a story, gentlemen. You know what actually happened. The boy took the knife home and a few hours later stabbed his father with it and even remembered to wipe off the fingerprints.
(The door opens and the GUARD walks in with an oddly designed knife with a tag on it. FOUR gets up and takes it from him. The GUARD exits.)
FOUR. Everyone connected with the case identified this knife. Now are you trying to tell me that someone picked it up off the street and went to the boy’s house and stabbed his father with it just to be amusing?
EIGHT. No. I’m saying that it’s possible that the boy lost the knife and that someone else stabbed his father with a similar knife. It’s possible.
(FOUR flips open the knife and jams it into the table.)
FOUR. Take a look at the knife. It’s a very strange knife. I’ve never seen one like it before in my life. Neither had the storekeeper who sold it to him.