House that Carl built
Iam sure that you have heard — or even said yourself — “They are incompetent.” In some cases it is true. As we age, we get to the point to where we need someone around to keep an eye on us.
Take someone who has lost a longtime mate who may seem to be in need of help. Instead, sometimes their family will get tougher and put them in a nursing home. In some cases, it is the only answer. But not in all cases.
One day when I was on the police department, I received a subpoena to be in court at a competency hearing. I arrived early, trying to get some information on who and what it was all about, but I could not find out anything. I took a seat up front so I could hear as to what was going on.
The hearing got underway and I saw a little old lady sitting with a lawyer. I had answered several calls to her house. People would pull up to the intersection and throw their garbage into her yard. She sat quietly, looking straight ahead.
They began with a lawyer for the prosecutor. He went into a bunch of stuff that I thought was unnecessary. He told her age and how she wasn’t responsible for her actions — and that she needed to be in a nursing home where she could be looked after. He kept on and on about her mental state. She sat still, not saying anything.
When the lawyer for the little old lady began to talk, I could see that he was doing her more harm than good. He rambled on about nothing that pertained to her capability of taking care of herself.
Then the prosecutor lawyer called the old lady’s daughter-in-law and she laid it on hard and heavy. I sat and wondered how anyone could persecute an old lady that way. Then her son did a job on his mother that I couldn’t believe. He raved about her living in this big house all by herself.
They called me to the stand and I had no idea what they wanted from me. I sat down and the old lady gave me one of the biggest smiles that I had ever seen. It seemed to say, “It’s OK, I know you have to do this.” The prosecutor wanted to know under what circumstances did I know the old lady. I explained that I had answered several calls to her house. Then I saw what he was going to prove by my testimony. I remember thinking, “not if I can help it.”
I said people were throwing paper cups and hamburgers wrappers in her yard. Then he left himself wide open. “Officer Adcock, how do you know that she didn’t put that garbage in her yard trying to get attention?” That was what I wanted. “She didn’t put the garbage in her yard because I caught the ones who were.” His mouth fell open and he said that’s all. I smiled at the old lady and took a seat.
The door of the courtroom came open with a bang and a young girl came running in. “You!” she shouted. “All of you leave my grandmother alone.” The judge banged his gavel but she paid no attention. With tears in her eyes, she ran over and hugged her grandmother. A quiet went over the courtroom. You could have heard a pin drop.
She walked over in front of the judge. As best as I can remember she said, “Your Honor, they want to put my grandmother in a nursing home to get her house and her money that Grandpa left her. She is capable of staying at home. I am working and taking classes but I will move in with Grandmother and look after her.”
Then she went over and squatted down beside her grandmother.
The judge looked around and, taking off his glasses, wiped his eyes. She had got to him. He said to the little old lady, “Why don’t you come over to this chair and talk to me.” He asked her questions and she answered him. For a lady her age, she was as sharp as they come. He asked the granddaughter to come forward.
The one thing he wanted to know was, would she move in with her grandmother where there would be someone around at night. She said yes and he said, “Take your grandmother and go home. You will not be bothered anymore.”
Court dismissed. I was out in the hallway talking to someone when I felt a hand on my arm. I looked down into the face of the old lady. With a big smile, she squeezed my arm and said, “Thank you, Officer Adcock. You are so nice.”
When I look back, the smile of the little old lady and what she said was the reason I enjoyed being a police officer. Her people had tried to take the house that her beloved husband had built for her. Carl, as she had called him, was a carpenter and had built the house for her when they were married. She called it Carl’s house. Lonie Adcock of Rome is a retired Rome Police Department lieutenant. His latest book is “Fact or Fiction.”