Reasonable Doubt

It wasn’t exactly the crime of the century.

      Robbing the local bank and credit union in the middle of the day on a dare was a stupid thing to do by anyone’s standards. 

But Matthew wasn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the pack; not the sharpest knife in the drawer. You know, all those idioms referring to someone who wasn’t very smart.

He robbed the credit union on a dare. A dare! Really, who does that?

Matthew Markham, that’s who.

***

Matthew - I don’t want to be called Matt - was always doing ill-advised things. Even as a child. He was always the one daring his friends to do crazy things. And he was always the first one to take a silly dare. 

Like the time when he was about 10 years old, his friends dared him to eat a pudding cup without using his hands. What a mess!

Another time on a rainy Saturday afternoon when he and his friends were about 12 years old, they were cooped up inside the house. 

His friends dared him to spin around the room 10 times and then try to walk a straight line. He fell into a small living room table breaking it into pieces. Matthew was big for his age and that small table was no match for his antics. His mom was furious!

You get the idea. He was just up for doing crazy things. Maybe it was just boredom. Or maybe it was because he was adopted.

All this “acting out” started right after his mom told him he was adopted.

His mom sat him down one day when he was about eight years old and said, “Now that you’re old enough to understand, I need to tell you something. When you were about one month old, your dad and I adopted you. You were the cutest little chubby baby in the agency’s nursery. It took us some time, but soon we were able to bring you home with us. We couldn’t love you more than if you had been our own. You are a Markham and you always will be.”

Matthew always wondered why he had blonde hair and his parents had dark hair. That question had been answered. But he still wondered about a lot of things over the years after this talk with mom.

Matthew got mediocre grades in school and his mom was always getting calls and notes from his teachers that he was being unruly or wouldn’t pay attention in class.

When he was a teenager and in high school, his dad sat him down for another talk.

“Why do you act the way you do?” dad asked. “We love you and we want you to do well in school. We’ve been saving up since you were a baby so that we can send you to a good college, too. But you need to have good academics in order to get accepted. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do, dad.” Matthew replied. “I don’t know, sometimes I just feel like I need to break out of the everyday stuff and do my own thing.”

      And he often felt like something in his life was missing.

***

Michael - I don’t want to be called Mike - was always doing ill-advised things. Even as a child. He was always the one daring his friends to do crazy things. And he was always the first one to take a silly dare.

 But Michael wasn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the pack; not the sharpest knife in the drawer. You know, all those idioms referring to someone who wasn’t very smart.

      And he was a troubled youth. He was always getting into scrapes. 

His parents had lost control over him years ago.  And at one point, they just gave up.

      As a child, he didn’t ever listen to his parents. He had brothers and sisters that he just couldn’t seem to get along with at all.

      He just seemed to be lost and he frequently wondered to himself if something was wrong.

      And he often felt like something in his life was missing.

***

      Today the Citizen’s Local Bank and Credit Union had been robbed – at gunpoint.

      At least that’s what the bank tellers told the police. 

      “I think he had a gun,” one teller reported, her voice shaking with fear.

      “Yes, yes, I’m sure he had a gun,” another teller said.

      “Can you describe what he looked like?” the detective asked.

      “He had a hood on with two holes cut for his eyes. But it fell off when he caught it on the corner of the teller cage over there,” one teller said pointing to the edge of the counter.

      “I think his hair was a blonde color,” the teller said. 

      “How tall was he?” the detective continued. 

      “Well, I’m 6’2” tall and this guy didn’t seem to be quite that tall, maybe 6’,” one teller offered.

      “How old would you say he was?” asked the detective.

      “Oh, he was very young, officer,” the shaky teller replied. 

      “He was maybe 18 or 19 years old. That’s my son’s age. Oh my, he was so young,” she sniffed.

      Just then, two police officers ran into the credit union and right up to the investigating detective.

      “We just caught him!” they exclaimed. He was down the street getting into his car with a bag of cash that was trailing red smoke!” they exclaimed triumphantly.

      And proving once again that Matthew wasn’t too smart.

***

      Getting into a gang isn’t easy. You have to prove yourself. So that is what Michael would do. Prove himself.

      He wandered the dark streets one night near a seedy part of town looking for a target.

      He spotted a faded out red 1996 Honda Accord parked on the sidewalk in front of a rundown house.

      These people will never miss this old car. It looks like it’s been sitting there for a while, Michael thought to himself.

      He quietly crossed the street and tried the driver’s side door. It was locked. No problem, he had a Slim Jim with him and the old lock gave way easily. He was in!

      He hotwired the car and with a puff of smoke that belched out the tailpipe, it started right up. He took off with the car’s thread-bare tires peeling out on the pavement.

      He was driving the car to show off to the gang members his new stolen prize when he heard a siren and saw lights behind him. 

      Dang! He was caught already!

      The homeowners spotted him outside their house and took a picture with their cell phone. Because we all know Michael wasn’t too smart.

      But Michael did get off with just six months in jail, since this was his first serious offense and the homeowners didn’t want to press more charges. They hadn’t used that old car for months and were glad that it still started!

      Soon Michael was out on the streets again.

***

      Now Matthew was on trial for the armed robbery of the credit union.

The courtroom was just beginning to buzz with activity and to fill with the key figures. The court reporter was setting up her stenotype machine, the clerk was busy shuffling papers, and the bailiff was keeping a watchful eye on the people and goings-on in the courtroom.

Soon, the heavy door at the side of the courtroom swung open. The 6’0”, blonde-haired 19 year-old young man strolled in with his attorneys. He had a sly smile on his face. They all made their way to the defendant’s table and each took a seat.

The plaintiff, the credit union president, and his attorneys, all entered from the opposite side of the courtroom and took their seats at the plaintiff’s table.

Once everyone was assembled, the bailiff called the court to order and the judge, Her Honor Olivia Blake, entered the courtroom. 

After being seated, she ordered the jurors to then enter the room. The 12 jurors silently entered the room and with a minor amount of shuffling, took their seats.

      As the judge was about to start the proceedings, the over-sized mahogany doors at the back of the courtroom swung open. 

A 6’0”, blonde-haired 19 year-old young man stepped into the courtroom. With an arrogant look on his face, he slowly made his way up the aisle. He glanced from side to side at the courtroom spectators and smiled. He looked straight ahead to the judge who was staring in disbelief at him. And then he slid quietly into a spectator’s seat directly behind the defendant’s table.

He had a sly smile on his face, too.   

      Everyone, including the jurors, stared at the young man and looked at each other in amazement.

      They looked at the defendant. Then they looked at the man seated behind him.  

      Identical twins. They not only look exactly alike, they have exactly the same DNA.

      The defendant’s attorney intended to call his client’s identical twin to the witness stand to argue: which twin actually committed the crime?    

      The defendant turned and looked at his twin brother and they both winked at each other.

      Maybe they weren’t as dumb as people thought they were.   

There was no longer a missing piece of the puzzle in each twin’s life. They would soon be whole again.

The jury was only out about two hours. Their verdict: innocent.

***

Michael and Matthew had screwed up their whole lives. Together and individually their lives were intertwined in the good times and the bad times.

They high-fived each other as Matthew climbed into the passenger seat of the car with Michael at the wheel. He had just been released from jail after being found innocent of the credit union heist.

The twins individually and separately, had beaten the system again! They laughed and joked and guzzled beer as they drove down the interstate. 

They immediately started planning their next crime.

But as Michael reached down for another beer, he took his eyes off the road and jerked the steering wheel of the car. He didn’t see the semi-tractor trailer barreling head-on down the interstate in their lane.

The Markham twins wouldn’t beat the system this time.