Chapter 02

Lyn’s Day in Court

In the morning Lyn is fed and taken to court for his initial hearing. A lady from the Child Welfare Office accompanies him to the court. Due to him being a minor the hearing is held in a closed court with only the relevant people present. Because of that Doctor Grey, Dave Richards, and Chad Hall are denied access as they don’t have with them all of the legal papers to prove they’re Lyn’s guardians.

In the court the bailiff reads out the charges. The judge looks at Lyn and asks, “How do you plead?”

Lyn glances at Harris and the Assistant District Attorney before he grins as he says, “I’m a miserable pleader, Your Honour. However, I’m not guilty of any crimes and I’ve been denied all of my civil rights in this matter. Since I was arrested I’ve been denied access to my guardian, my lawyer, and my psychiatrist. I was deliberately injured by the police and I’ve been denied a medical check of my injuries. Nor have I been legally interviewed about this matter at any time. I wish to see my guardian, Colonel David Richards, USMC, retired; my counsellor Doctor Doreen Grey; the solicitor they’ve organised for me; and to have my injuries from last night examined by a doctor before anything else happens.”

Judge Maklin glances between Lyn and Harris a few times before saying, “Bailiff, remove the prisoner’s handcuffs as I want him to show me these injuries he’s claiming.” In a moment Lyn’s hands are free and the welfare lady helps him remove his sweatshirt to show the beginning of bruises on his arm and stomach. The judge isn’t happy.

The judge looks at his clerk, “Write an order. I want to see the video of every minute this boy was in the police station. I also want his guardian and counsellor found and brought here, now.” Looking at Lyn he says, “The papers before me state you admitted killing some men in an interview yesterday morning.”

“Your Honour, my understanding of the rules requires an interview of a minor to have his guardian or an acceptable responsible adult on hand, he be read his rights, and to be informed it’s an interview to be legal. Also, it’s usual for it to be recorded and a lawyer on hand if wanted.”

“Yes, that’s all true.”

“None of that has happened yet. I was only read my rights when I was arrested late yesterday. My guardian has not been with me when talking to any police, nor has a lawyer. Defective Harris did bulldoze his way in to speak with me yesterday morning while I was in hospital. I was in the police ward awaiting a psychiatric evaluation. He angered me. So I fed him a load of bullshit because it was just the two of us and he refused to wait. The day before yesterday I voluntarily gave a basic statement to a police sergeant, and yesterday I gave a much more detailed statement to another police officer while my counsellor was present. They weren’t interviews and Defective Harris wasn’t there for either one.” The judge and the bailiff both half grin at his use of the word ‘defective.’ Lyn takes a sip of water and adds, “For the record, as per my statements, I shot and killed thirteen men the day before yesterday after they murdered my mother and several others and they also shot many others in the mall. I’ve no idea why Defective Harris is supporting terrorists by charging me for killing such murdering scum.”

The judge is very busy flicking through the paperwork before him because there’s no mention of the terrorist attack in them, none at all, just the wilful shooting of thirteen men in the chest. He’s about to speak when the main door to the courtroom opens and another bailiff brings in four people, one of them is Doctor Tom Wilson, a police psychiatrist known to the judge. They’re all introduced and they take seats in the court.

Wilson stands and hands over several papers that include the two voluntary statements Lyn gave the police, the psychiatric evaluation report, and a copy of the official police summary of the mall attack. Judge Maklin takes ten minutes to go through it all then he reviews the original paperwork. He scowls several times while he reads it all.

Looking up the judge glances around the court and says, “From the documents here and the testimony given it’s clear the prosecution has no legal evidence to offer in this case at all.” Both the Assistant DA and Harris go a bit pale because this will adversely affect their careers. He looks at Lyn, “Young man, I can rule the charges unproven or follow the recommendation in this psychiatric evaluation, what is your wish?”

“Your Honour, it’s best you go with the evaluation recommendation. That way you put this matter permanently to rest since it’s not as if it’ll adversely affect my future because it’ll only stop me from working in fields I shouldn’t be working in. If you rule unproven some idiot may decide to resurrect the case at a later date.”

“OK, if that’s your wish. Although the prosecution hasn’t provided any evidence the defence has offered evidence supporting the charges and evidence of exonerating circumstances. In answer to the charges against Lyn Davies I rule he is innocent of all charges in that his first set of shots were in self-defence as per the law and his execution of the killers were due to temporary insanity brought on by the situation he was in at the time and the emotional turmoil of his mother’s murder in front of him. He’s not a danger to the community as a whole and he is free to go.” He looks at the Assistant DA and adds, “I also recommend the District Attorney see to it his staff are given more training on the proper gathering of evidence along with its preparation of cases to go before the court.” Both the Assistant DA and Harris are upset by this ruling due to it totally destroying their case and adversely affecting their careers.

Lyn’s understanding of the psych report and court ruling is they deny him any future employment where a firearm is involved or the right to carry a firearm in most states, but that’s all.

He’s allowed to join his family and they all leave the court while the bailiff calls the next case. In the hall outside the court Harris and the Assistant DA are served papers for civil lawsuits on their actions in this matter.

Several minutes later Lyn is at the police station collecting his watch.

Within the hour Lyn is showered and changed then the three are on their way out of the city of Tampa while they head for Atlanta, Georgia.

Arrangements have been made for Helen’s body to be shipped to Atlanta for burial after the coroner releases it some time in the next few months, depending on the needs of the investigation and the courts.

Legal Outcomes

On Dave’s instructions Chad Hall sues Harris and Assistant DA Bell as individuals as well as the Police Department and the DA’s Office for the actions of Harris and Bell in their mistreatment of Lyn and the poor procedures that allowed it. Later, after the details of the investigation into AIM shows some good results and are seen by him Hall lodges a claim on Lyn’s behalf against AIM for the wrongful death of Helen.

The civil lawsuits against Harris, Bell, the Police Department and the DA’s Office are settled out of court with Harris paying ten thousand dollars in compensation, Bell paying five thousand, the DA’s office pays one hundred thousand, and the Police Department pays two hundred thousand dollars to Lyn. Surprisingly, it takes only a few weeks for it to be settled. It all goes straight to Lyn because since the day in court he’s turned eighteen and he’s now a legal adult able to accept the payments directly. However, he has it all sent to his accountant in Atlanta who is also his investment manager.

The case against AIM has to go to court because the others who were hurt or lost family in the attack bring additional lawsuits and the AIM bank accounts are frozen by court order; thus it takes a court order to release any of the funds. One aspect of the investigation the police were not able to sort out was why the Tampa AIM office had so much money in their bank account, enough to pay the families of each person killed one and a half million dollars plus a half a million dollars to each wounded person as well as all of the immediate medical and funeral costs while leaving many millions of dollars for the government to confiscate from the terrorist organisation’s account. Several other AIM offices are closed down around the country with lots more weapons and explosives being confiscated, but none with such big bank accounts as the Tampa branch. The AIM office bearers are all given long prison sentences and the ones not yet US citizens are listed for deportation when their sentences are finished.

Due to the long time taken in the investigation into AIM the court hearing on the deaths is delayed many weeks, and so is the release of Helen’s body delayed for many weeks.

Time for College?

On arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Lyn sets up house with Dave in his home in Stockbridge on the south-east edge of the Atlanta metropolis. The original plan was for Lyn to live in the three bedroom flat on the side of the house while Dave lived in the main house, then it was Lyn and Helen in the flat. Now Lyn and Dave are living in the main house since Doreen doesn’t want Lyn to live alone to be able to brood unseen.

Lyn’s schooling now needs a bit more thought, since he and Helen hadn’t decided if Lyn will start college in the new year or August when the new scholastic year starts. They agreed he’ll be going to the college Helen went to in Atlanta and he’s already been accepted there.

Helen was born and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and Allyn came from a small mining town in the mountains of Wales. Both of them got jobs in Sydney, Australia, soon after obtaining their degrees; and that’s where they met and got married. Now, twenty years later, Lyn is in Helen’s home-town to live. The Australian educational year is February to December, but Lyn’s year finished with the final exams in October. So there’s no need to take immediate action since the US school year starts in August with plenty of time to get organised. Lyn is already accepted due to an application lodged months ago. In September the US Embassy staff supervised Lyn doing the SAT Reasoning Test and the American College Testing: doing both on the same day, and surprising the supervising staff. When Lyn completed a section the staff sealed it and set it aside to be marked in the US. Following Allyn’s death the address for the results to be sent to was changed to go to Lyn’s grandfather’s house in Atlanta.

Now is the time for action if Lyn is to start college in January. As they need to get papers and arrangements sorted before Christmas due to a break until after the new year. This is a very difficult time for Lyn as so much has happened. From mid September to late October he was tied up with studies and exams which was followed with his father’s death and his funeral. They pack up and go to the US early then his mother is killed within two weeks of arriving in the US. It’s now late November with only a few weeks to his birthday in mid December, and Lyn is now an orphan. Plus he has to make decisions about his future while still depressed about his parents’ deaths while he’s not yet finished grieving for them.

Money isn’t an issue for him because Helen sent it from Sydney a month ago after making arrangements with an Atlanta based accounting and investment firm to handle their money in the USA. Both Allyn and Helen had been on high salaries and invested a lot of their money, also, they both had large insurance policies. The court case on the building collapse is still to be heard and the family solicitor in Sydney has a civil suit for wrongful death against the construction company for not having better on-site supervision to see the building was properly constructed.

A week after arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, a meeting of Lyn, Doreen, and Dave is held to discuss what Lyn should do now. Doreen says, “Lyn, I know you’d like to take time to relax and settle down from the recent events, but if you don’t start college in January you won’t be able to start until August because the Summer Semester has no starting Freshman classes. Nearly nine months is too long to wait. I suggest you enrol with a light load. I also want you to live in a college dorm.”

Dave asks, “Why live in a dormitory? I know it’s a longish drive, but it’s an acceptable commute to the college from here.”

“Two reasons: I don’t want Lyn to have the aggravation of that much Atlanta traffic each day, and I want him to have the extra socialising the dormitory living will give him as the social interactions will help a lot.”

Lyn asks, “Will the college take me at this late a date? They normally want students enrolled well before now, not just before the semester!”

Doreen says, “Lyn, they already have you approved to start in August as a full fee paying student. Plus your tests are back and they can’t wait to get you enrolled. They don’t get many people who score an almost perfect SAT or ACT. When you start at the college you’ll be the student with the highest scores on the campus, of any year. They want you on-board a.s.a.p.”

With a sigh Lyn says, “OK! Let’s look at the course work I can do and to organise the housing.” He really wants a holiday, but he understands his aunt’s concerns about his mental health. Also, it’s not as if he has much else he can do or wants to do for that long a period.

After a quick study of the available courses they work out he can do the majority of the compulsory Freshman general courses this semester and then see about the subject courses in the summer and next year. The courses they’re looking at are normally spread out over the first year a student is at the college while intermixed with the chosen subject courses, but they will fit in to make up two thirds of a single semester course load. Lyn and Doreen agree he can do that, and he’ll also do some audit checks of the subject courses he’s interested in doing later.

They complete the on-line paperwork and enter the number already assigned to Lyn’s application, this is so they can match the paperwork to give it priority treatment. Now it’s a matter of seeing if the college will accept him and assign him dormitory housing at this late date.

At the moment Lyn is finding things rushed, due to the pressure and lack of time to recover from the shocks he’s had of late. Add this to his current issues with anger management and emotional stability, and it’s easy to understand why they’re worried about his mental health.

Because Lyn doesn’t want a birthday party they settle for going out for a fancy dinner to celebrate his turning eighteen and being a legal adult. He also passes his Georgia driver’s licence test that morning as well as getting a local cell phone plus some cards printed with his name and cell phone number on them.

Housing Hiccup

A week after his birthday, on the Monday a week before Christmas, Lyn gets a phone call to visit the college Housing Administration Office to finalise and pay for his dormitory housing. Mid-morning he walks in and he gives his name to a woman. She hands him some papers while she tells him to sign them then pay the invoice via one of the options on it. He has two days to pay or the room will be re-assigned.

Lyn looks at the lady and asks, “Why the rush to pay?”

Lucy Smith replies, “This is the very last bed in the college and we have other applicants wanting housing. Since those are Seniors wanting back onto campus after a time off and you’re a Freshman, you’re getting a priority chance at it. If you don’t take it quick we’ll give it to another.”

“Thank you for the explanation.” Lyn moves away from the counter to a table and chair to spread the papers out to read them. One paper is about the use of the laundry and bathrooms; it states ‘All washing is to be dried in the clothes driers or hung on the clotheslines at the rear of the building,’ a surprising note is: ‘Under no circumstances are bras or panties to be left hanging to dry in the laundry or bathroom areas.’ Not understanding this Lyn carefully goes back over the papers, then he calls Dr Grey.

Lyn is waiting for a return call from Dr Grey when a young woman walks in and spots him. She walks up and asks, “Are you Lyn Davies?” He nods yes, and she adds, “I’m Nancy Danes, your new bunkie!”

Lyn half frowns as he queries her with, “Bunkie?”

“Yes, bunkie. Oh, are you a Freshman?” Lyn nods yes. “Well, the bulk of the dormitory housing is apartments or rooms for two or four people to stay in. When two people share the same bedroom, be it a two or four person unit, the two in the same room are ‘bunkies’ since they bunk together. If the students have different bedrooms they’re ‘roomies.’ Got it?” Lyn nods yes. “Good. The Leslie Building units are two bedrooms with two beds each, plus a common study and lounge area per unit. So we have a bunkie and two roomies, got it? Each end of the floor has a toilet shower area and a common lounge near the stairs and elevator.”

“So, you and I share a bedroom and we have a common study area with two others sharing another bedroom off it, that it?” He gets a nod yes in reply. He starts to giggle as he can’t help himself. It’s now obvious he’s been booked into a female dorm and he can see how it’s happened. A name usually used for females in the US, he’s a little short for a male his age, his fine hair is collar length, and he has an androgynous face. Some would say he’s very feminine looking for a male, and he also wears baggy sweats most of the time. So he can easily be mistaken for a girl.

Dr Grey arrives to find Lyn sitting at the table while giggling, she asks, “OK, Lyn, what’s the problem now?” Emphasising the last word.

He looks up, “Ah, Doctor Grey. This is Nancy, my bunkie. I’ve got the last dorm bed available on campus and it’s in the Leslie Building.”

“What!“ She grabs the paperwork and goes through it. It does list Lyn as a male, but the attached photo has him looking very feminine. She slowly shakes her head, “If your bunkie has no issues with it they can’t have any. So take it and be glad of the room and bed.”

“But, Doc, I can’t live in the Leslie Building!”

Nancy interrupts, “But you have to! You seem a nice person and the others at the top of the waiting list are all super bitches. I don’t want a bitch as a bunkie. Please, you must take the assignment.”

Lyn sighs and gets out the college ID he got a few days ago. It has a name, photo, description, gender, and ID number. He hands it to Nancy while pointing at the gender box where it has ‘M’ and says, “Read this.”

Nancy looks at it and goes, “Oh! I see what you mean.” She gives a very big smile and adds, “Take the room, please. I’ll do anything you want, if you do.” Both Doreen and Lyn are shocked at this.

With a slow head shake Lyn asks, “Anything?”

“Yes. I’ll be your slave and sex toy. I’d have to be that for the others; but I doubt you’ll beat me up the way most of the others will.”

Both Doreen and Lyn are shocked by this last comment. Lyn thinks to up the ante so she’ll back off, and he says, “If I agree I’ll need some long term security. You’ll have to be my slave on a permanent basis.” Nancy goes to speak, and he adds, “I don’t mean just this year, I mean forever - a permanent arrangement.” Nancy’s eyes go wide while Doreen takes a small step backwards in shock at Lyn’s statement.

After a little thought Nancy says, “Yes, Master. I’m yours for life.”

Doreen looks from one to the other in stunned silence. Lyn is also surprised by the reply. He thinks, then he suddenly smiles, looks at Doreen, and says, “Doctor Grey, it seems I can do the Pets as Therapy program after all. It’s just my pet will be a bit different to most of them.” Doreen raises an eyebrow, looks at the smile on Nancy, and slowly nods. Lyn turns to Nancy, “I accept you as my slave for life. I’ll call you Dorei and you’ll call me Sensei. Both are Japanese words, the first means slave or servant while the second means master or teacher. Understand?” Nancy nods yes. “What year are you in and what are your study plans?”

“This is the end of my first Freshman Semester, Sensei, and I only plan to do undergraduate studies because I can’t get a bigger student loan.”

“Right. You’re now my Dorei and I’m responsible for all of your care, which includes housing, feeding, clothing, and education. Since I’ll be doing summer classes and graduate studies you will too. I’ll pay for it. I need the stability and I can afford it. Now let’s get the room sorted.”

The three of them go to the counter and Lyn asks the woman, “I’ve an issue which requires I have some long term stability in my housing. Is it possible for me to lock down my housing in this same room by paying for it all in advance for some years?”

Lucy smiles as she replies, “Yes, you can. But you have to accept who we put in the other bed in the room.” She’s happy about being able to get some extra income up front and have less to worry about booking in the next few years. Also, the college can do with the money right now.

“If I pay for the other beds as well can I say who gets them?”

“Ah, we’ve not had a request like that before. I’ll have to ask the Housing Manager about it. Wait here.” Lucy goes to an office at the back of this work area and spends a few minutes talking to the woman in the office before returning to show the three of them into the office and placing Lyn’s file on the desk along with the building’s thick file.

Lyn opens the conversation with, “Look, I know this is unusual, but I have some major emotional stability issues and to help with that I need to get as much as I can of my college life locked into place for the next five years. It’ll help a great deal if I can sign a contract ensuring I’ve the same room for the whole of my studies and I can vet whoever shares them with me. Nancy has agreed to do extra studies to stay my bunkie. Now I need to also secure control of the other bedroom. I realise the college has to see the room is used, but I’d like to have a say over who is assigned to it. To get this special treatment I’m prepared to pay for the use of the four places, in advance, for all three semesters of the next five and a bit years.”

The woman sits up at that because he’s talking about paying many thousands of dollars for the four housing placements for both the regular semesters and the shorter Summer Semester as the housing and meals are twelve thousand five hundred dollars a year per person for the three semesters. They talk for several minutes to confirm Lyn is talking about all four beds for the three semesters for five years starting in the coming summer and two beds for this semester about to start. It’s a total of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars in one payment now. The talk moves to payment discounts and terms to select students for the other two beds because the other two current students are graduating Seniors.

The manager, Mary Heinman, finally says, “OK! Two hundred and twenty thousand dollars paid today and you’re locked in for the next sixty-five months with approval of the other two students being given by Doctor Grey. You can change the furniture at your expense and ours goes into storage in the building storeroom. The housing fees collected from your roomies will be credited to your college account for you to spend on other college activities and costs. Also, you’ll consider writing off some of the costs for the roomies as sponsorship of poor students if Doctor Grey approves of them. Is that all agreed to?”

Lyn nods, “Yes. Please write the contract to make it ironclad and prepare an invoice that shows the full cost plus the discount.”

Mary starts typing while saying, “Now all I have to do is get the President to sign off on this.”

Doreen smiles as she picks up the phone on the desk. In a moment she has the College President on the line to explain the deal to her, and why. A few more minutes while the relevant documents are printed in the main office, signed by the President, and delivered to Mary for signature. Once they’re all signed Lyn gets on the phone and calls his accountant to arrange the payment direct into the college’s bank account. After another few minutes Mary confirms the arrival of the money with a note of the invoice number, then she issues a formal receipt for the payment.

When they stand Mary adds, “It’s a good thing your roomies for this semester are Seniors who are moving on instead of doing graduate work. I’ll start vetting the applications for the coming Summer and Fall semesters so we can get them sorted out as soon as possible for you.”

Lyn shakes her hand, “Thank you, Missus Heinman.”

“No, thank you, Lyn. We have some work that needs doing, and now we have more of the money to do it instead of having to borrow it all. That’s why I was able to offer the larger than usual discount rate.”

Nancy leads Lyn and Doreen over to the nearby Leslie Building. One good aspect is this dormitory is very well placed for Lyn’s studies and he’ll be able to walk to most buildings he needs to go to for a few years.

Their room, number 325, is on the western end of the top floor. Up the elevator or stairs and left in the hall. It’s opposite the doorway to the toilet and shower unit at this end of the building. Being on the end they have a window on the front of the building facing the main campus from each bedroom and the common study room plus one in the end of the bedroom Nancy and Lyn share. The centre room has a computer desk in each corner with a lounge and mini-kitchen between them and opposite the door, plus a lounge chair on each side of the hall door.

The bedrooms have a single bed, a wardrobe, a set of drawers, and a bookcase on each side of the door as you walk in. On seeing the layout Lyn takes measurements and pictures, and when he says he’ll remove the two single beds to put in a king-size one Nancy smiles at the idea.

The Leslie Building is the oldest block with only a few minor internal changes which is still used in the same way as when it was built back in the 1960s. The only upgrades are the air-conditioning, communications network, power lines, bedroom doors changed to sliding pocket doors, the false ceilings were raised, and all of the cabling changes are in the false ceiling. The environmental gear is in the mechanical area on the roof due to the installation of new and more powerful units a few years back.

Counsellor Grey stays with them until the other two students living in the room return. She takes them into their room to explain, “Right, there’s a tricky situation here and I hope you won’t cause any trouble. Lyn has to have dormitory housing due to mental health issues related to the recent deaths of both parents in two incidents, the last being the murder of his mother right in front of him.” Their eyes open wide at the use of the pronouns. “Lyn is named after his Welsh grandfather and is an eighteen year old male. The housing staff think he’s a girl and they insisted he takes this room. Nancy is aware of the situation and she’s happy with it. Lyn won’t invade your privacy, but if his gender worries you just make sure you wear a robe when outside of this bedroom. OK?” They both grin as they nod yes. “Good. I don’t want you to broadcast his gender about the building, please. The longer before it’s made common knowledge the more people will get to know him first, and we’ll get less complaints from people.” Two more nods then they all join the others in the main room. Doreen leaves them to talk and to get to know each other.

After an hour long talk Nancy has to go to a class and Lyn goes to do some shopping before getting some clothes to move in because Mary told him to move in right away. It’s still a couple of weeks before the start of the semester he’s paid for but Mary wants him in the room, for some unstated reason. He will have to pay for his on-campus meals since his meal card isn’t valid for food until the start of the semester on Thursday the third of January.

Shopping and Moving

While Lyn goes down the stairs with Nancy he rings his grandfather to let him know he has to move into the dorm right now. Dave has a huge laugh when he’s told it’s a dorm for women. He promises to start packing some of Lyn’s gear into boxes and to put the boxes in the pick-up for Lyn to take to the dorm, so Lyn is free to start his shopping now.

Outside the dorm Nancy goes in one direction for her class while Lyn heads in the other to go to a recommended furniture store.

Walking into Barry’s Furniture Emporium Lyn asks for someone to help him furnish two rooms, and he’s introduced to one of the decorators on staff there. She takes him to her work desk and they download the images of the existing rooms Lyn took with his pocket digital camera, they also put the room dimensions into the program on her computer.

The decorator, Alice, asks Lyn about the type of furniture he wants, but Lyn doesn’t know enough about that to reply properly. So he simply says, “Better than this. I suspect I need to see what you have and to then see what will fit. But I need to start with a king-size bed.”