"But… but… your honor." The man attempted to plead out in his frustration.
Picking up his gavel and giving it three quick whacks against its wooden block the judge declared, "Contempt two-hundred dollar fine." Giving the man a stern warning, he dared him to say another word. The man shook his head defiantly but shushed. Marla watched as the man wiped at his face and she could hear a few sniffling sounds escaping from him. Even though she could only see his right side from the angle where she was sitting, she surmised that he was crying and could almost picture tears running down his masculine face. The judge closed their case and the couple walked towards the court clerk to sign off on the documents. It was then that Marla briefly glimpsed his face and confirmed the tears that she had suspected.
"Townsend verses Ellis…" the Bailiff finally called out in the overflowing courtroom. Marla had sat patiently listening and watching the decadence of fatherhood and parental accountability. After an hour and a half wait, she was getting her day in court. She gave the courtroom another once over as she was making her way up to the podium before the judge. At first she didn't see him and then just as she slightly turned to her right, she saw him emerging from the back of the room as he crossed over the few people whom he shared the last row of chairs with.
He was dressed debonair as ever; looking like he had stepped off the cover of Ebony Magazine. He was wearing his crispy clean ironed designer jeans with one of his signature brand name shirts he was known to wear; and of course his ensemble would not be complete without his hand-woven leather Stacy Adam shoes. Marla resisted the urge to frown at him even though she observed per his usual curt and cocky grin as he made his way also up to the front of the courtroom. It was as if he were laughing and mocking her. She silently fumed as they both walked up to their respective podium.
Being raised with a strong Christian background where family values were emphasized and responsibility and accountability were held in high regard, she always felt that her upbringing was the 'norm'. However after dating Jacob and now being a witness to this new breed of thinking in child support court, she was learning the hard way that her way of believing wasn't the norm but rather the exception to the rule. Listening to the non-custodial parents poor excuses of not paying support or being there for their children showed her how naïve she had been and how lacking her upbringing was.