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“You are lyin’. My granddaughter ain’t never been on that bus.”
Everyone turned to see Miss Jessup standing and pointing at Drucker.
“Sit down, woman!” barked Ambrose. “And keep quiet.”
Pearl looked at her grandmother standing there like a wall of granite.
“She ain’t never seen my Pearl on that bus,” declared Miss Jessup.
“How dare you call me a liar!” called out Drucker.
“’Cause you sure are one,” said Miss Jessup calmly.
Ambrose roared, “Sit down, woman. I will not tell you again.”
Miss Jessup did not sit down. “You can’t let people come in here and lie. You a judge, act like it. Tell her to stop lyin’.”
Ambrose snapped, “You will not speak to me that way you... fat...” He looked at the bailiff. “Remove her. Now! Drag her out if you have to. But remove her from my courtroom.”
The bailiff looked at the elderly Miss Jessup standing there defiantly, and then he saw Daniel and three other Black men sitting directly behind her. They were staring right at him, and their intent was clear. The bailiff glanced nervously at Ambrose.
“Uh, Judge...?”
“Get that person out of here!” barked Ambrose.
Now Hilly rose to her feet. “You throw her out, you throw me out, too.” She locked arms with Miss Jessup. “Both or none,” added Hilly, staring down Ambrose.
The judge looked flummoxed facing a white woman in solidarity with a Black.
Pearl then got to her feet and pointed at Drucker. “My granny is tellin’ the truth. You are lyin’, lyin’, lyin’. You ain’t got no right to do that. Shame on you.”
Drucker screamed, “You’re a filthy liar who doesn’t know her place.”
Ambrose’s face flushed crimson as he stood behind the bench and shouted at Pearl, “Sit down or you will be removed. Bailiff, I told you to remove that old fool of a woman—”
Pearl glared at Ambrose. “My granny ain’t no old fool.” She looked at the bailiff. “And don’t you dare touch her! She got every right to be here, same as you.” She pointed at the judge. “And you, too!”
Hilly barked, “You go through me to get to her! That’s our right.”
Ambrose was seething with indignation now. “I am the judge! I tell you what rights you have and don’t have. Bailiff, do your duty and remove all three of them! Call in armed deputies. But do it now!”
Pearl screwed up her courage and said, “You ain’t nothin’ but an old white man who thinks he knows everythin’. But you don’t know nothin’ ’bout me or my granny. So you just sit down and you shut up.”
Eyes near to popping from their sockets, an apoplectic Ambrose screamed, “Why you filthy little n——!”
The courtroom instantly became still and silent. Ambrose stood there frozen for a moment before looking around in a daze, as though he only now realized he was in front of people other than Pearl.
The reporters were scribbling furiously.
Hilly and Miss Jessup shared a satisfied look before retaking their seats.
Pearl fell back in her chair, looking astonished. Under her breath she said, “I can’t believe I just done that.”
In the absolute silence of the courtroom, Ambrose plopped down in his chair and fiddled with his gavel, looking disoriented. He glanced up and saw all the reporters writing away. He finally said, in a desultory voice, “I, uh, I apologize for that little outburst. Don’t know what came over me. Now you go on ahead, Mr. Battle.”
A shaken Battle cleared his throat and asked the witness gingerly, “Now, do you recall about what time that was, Miss Drucker?”
Drucker, also obviously upset by all that had just transpired, said, “Um, I do. We were, um, yes, we stopped at the First Virginia Bank building on Strawberry Street around that time and the clock on the bank said six fifteen. She got on at that stop. Right in front of the bank.”
