“Would you like some water?” he asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Ok. Please state your name for the record,” he told me. “And please speak into the microphone so everyone in the back can hear you.”

  “Milton Edward Teller the third,” I said.

  “Do you go by Milton or something else?”

  “Eddy.”

  “Alright, Eddy. I’m going to start with some background information. You were brought here today to answer some questions about possible violations of the law. You have the right to refuse to answer a question if it would incriminate you. As you are a minor, you are allowed counsel in here with you—which is not something an adult would be allowed. She id not allowed to answer questions for you, but you can consult with her if you need to—either in here or outside in the hallway.

  “Do you understand what I said?”

  I nodded.

  “You have to say yes or no, otherwise the court reporter can’t write it down.”

  “Uh, yes. I understand,” I said nervously.

  “Ok. So Eddy, where are you from?”

  The man asked several questions about my life until then, which Melissa said I should answer. They were the boring things like what school I went to—I was home-schooled—what I did—farm—that sort of thing. All the while, the people sitting in the rows looking at me were taking notes—or taking a nap. There was definitely one guy in the back who was snoozing.

  “With the background out of the way, how much pesticide do you normally use?”

  Now that he had moved onto the main line of questioning, it was my turn to stone wall him. That was the plan Melissa had come up with and the one we had practiced in the car.

  “I respectfully decline to answer that,” I said. “I will be asserting my right to remain silent.”

  “How much pesticide does a farmer usually use on a farm of your size?” he asked.

  “I respectfully decline to answer that,” I repeated. “I will be asserting my right to remain silent.”

  No matter the question, I gave the same answer. The state’s attorney was visibly getting frustrated after several attempts at getting me to answer.

  “Is that all you’re going to say today?” he asked in a harsh voice.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “Alright then. You are dismissed.”

  I stood up, as did Melissa. The state’s attorney opened the door to let us by before shutting it more forcefully than necessary. I turned towards my attorney to say something, but she shook her head.

  “We can talk when we get outside,” she said.

  We went down in the elevator and turned in the visitor badges before walking back to the car. When we were buckled into the car and leaving the parking garage, she finally began to talk.

  “You did a good job there,” she told me. “I mean, did you see his face?”

  “I think I made him mad,” I laughed.

  “You did exactly what I asked of you. I’m sure they’ll be in touch about any charges they might file or fines they might issue. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

  I ripped the tie off now that I was done with the whole thing. The least I could do was return home in a modicum of comfort.

  A year passed before I heard back about the testimony I had given—or not given, as the case had been. It started the same way as the testimony had: by being served with papers early in the morning. It was even by the same officer!

  I read through what was inside the folder. Only to have a heart attack. I was being charged with a crime! That I hadn’t been arrested for it was a miracle. I picked up my phone and called Melissa right away.

  “It’s very early,” she said with a yawn. “How can I help you, Eddy?”

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  “I’m being charged over the stuff that happened a few years ago.”

  “Oh? They finally got around to it?”

  “Looks like it. Should I be worried?”

  “Send me the docket number and I’ll read it over,” she told me. “Given what we talked about in the past—no, I don’t think you need to worry too much. I’ll talk with the prosecutor and work something out. After coffee.”

  I heard her grumble about why it had to happen so early in the morning. She likely thought I couldn’t hear her, but my enhanced hearing caught everything.

  “Thanks,” I said. “And sorry for waking you.”

  “I was going to get up early anyway,” she sighed. “My alarm was just about—”

  I heard a loud series of beeps in the background.

  “—go off. Aaaaand there it is.”

  “Well, I’ll let you wake up and read it. Please let me know as soon as you can.”

  I hung up the phone and began to nervously pace in my room. An hour—and a few miles—later, Melissa called back. That prompted Dad to poke his head into my room.

  “Everything ok?” he asked after I answered the phone.

  “I think so,” I said.

  His face had a look that was asking me to clarify.

  “Got charged over the stuff we went to a year ago,” I explained. “On the phone with Melissa, the lawyer.”

  He nodded and closed the door behind him on the way out.

  “Sorry, Dad was checking up on me,” I told her. “What did you find out?”

  “It’s alright. So, the charges aren’t too bad. As a first time offender, you’d be very unlikely to actually get time in prison. Even if it went to trial. I’m going to talk with the prosecutor and work out a deal. You should be able to get off with probation and a fine, most likely. I’ll call you back when I know more.”

  “How long would this take?” I wondered.

  “A few weeks to hammer out the details, then it’ll be off to court to get it all approved by the judge.”

  “Alright. Thanks.”

  “That’s what you pay me for,” she chuckled.

  I hung the phone up again. My heart was pounding. As much as she said it would all be alright, that did nothing to calm me down. It only served to make me more nervous than I had been. On top of that, she wouldn’t get back to me for several weeks? Simply torture!

  While I had work to do out in the fields, I didn’t want to. The whole being charged with a crime thing was weighing on me. Especially because there was radio silence from Melissa day after day. Week after week. Every hour crawled by as the pace pitch drips. Finally, after a month, I jumped when my phone rang.

  “Hello?” I said into the microphone.

  “Hello, Eddy,” Melissa said. “I have good news.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes,” she laughed. “I have secured a deal where you will be free on probation. You’ll have to pay a rather hefty fine—or, rather, your company will.”

  “What’s the fine?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Several million, I believe. It’s the main reason you’re staying free.”

  “So money really does thumb the scales of justice,” I mused.

  “That it does. Have you been reading stuff like that? That’s rather cynical for someone your age.”

  “No. But I’ve seen enough to know that’s true. Thanks for letting me know. When do I need to go to court?”

  “Undetermined yet, but likely in the next two months. We’re waiting on the judge to approve the deal so we can go through with the formalities.”

  “Understood. Again, thanks.”

  I hung up the phone after saying goodbye to Melissa. I wrote an email to Gloria so she could be ready with the funds when I would need to pay the fine. A few million shouldn’t be a problem. I still had almost all of the money I’d made early on. The farming venture was shedding money, but not much in the grand scheme of things. A few grand a month, that sort of thing. With its purpose being to literally farm experience, losing some money was totally fine by me.

  Five weeks passed before I needed to get dressed in my suit. Due to my distinct lack of puberty, it still mostly fit. It was a little tight, but tolerable for a day. Melissa picked me up like she had the first time. Dad offered to go, but it was going to be a few minutes with the judge before returning home.

  “So here’s what’s going to happen,” Melissa told me while we were driving on the way to the courthouse—the same one the grand jury had been in. “The prosecutor will read the charges and the judge will ask how you plead. Because of the deal, you will plead guilty and the prosecutor will have the judge sign off on the deal. He’s already cleared it with the judge ahead of time, so we’re good to go on that front.”

  “Alright,” I said.

  “And just follow my directions when we’re there. It should only be a few minutes and we’ll be back in the car and on the way home before you know it.”

  “I hope so.” I smiled.

  True to her word, we made it through security and up to the courtroom on the third floor. The bailiff ushered us inside. I sat next to Melissa on the defendant’s side. The prosecutor was sitting there, waiting for us. The judge, however, was not there. The rest of the courtroom was devoid of people where normally there would be observers or people waiting for other cases.

  “All rise!” announced the bailiff as the judge walked in from behind his seat.

  I stood up at Melissa’s urging.

  “Be seated,” came the next order.

  We sat down.

  The judge read out the indictment against me and my company. I zoned out as he did so, namely because it didn’t really matter at the end of the day. This was simply performative.

  “How do you plead?” the judge asked after getting through all of the pages.

  I stood up.

  “Guilty,” I said in a calm and loud voice.

  “The defendant has plead guilty. Does the prosecution have anything to say?”

  “Yes, your honor,” said the prosecutor. “This guilty please was part of a deal that I believe you have seen. The only part remaining is to determine the fine.”

  “Thank you,” said the judge. “Based on the facts of the case, you will pay five million as a fine and a further twenty million into a fund that will seek to restore the streams and rivers in your area. That is twenty-five million in total. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Very well.”

  “All rise!” came the call from the bailiff as the judge made his exit.

  Then we took our leave as well.

  “Twenty million’s a lot,” I complained in the car on the way home.

  “But you can pay it, right?” Melissa asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Then there’s no problem! The most important thing is that you’re free.”

  “True,” I admitted.

  When I got home, I let Gloria know how much she needed to send the government—and the details of where to send it exactly. When she was done with that, I asked for a statement of how much I still had remaining. What I received a week later—after the funds had cleared on their way to pay the fines—shocked me. Instead of the fifty million or so that I had expected, I saw that I was down to a little more than ten million!

  Where had all that money gone?

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