Chapter 7: The Case Continues
After a brief recess, the trial continued.
"Prosecuting attorney, you may call your second witness to the stand." Papa said.
"Thank you, your honor. I call Etainia 'Lively' Supnos to the stand."
"Hi! I'm here! Oh! Hi, Smurfette! I didn't expect to smurf you here!" Lively waved.
Smurfette smiled and waved back as Lively pranced up to the stand. This Smurf was quite ridiculous- Smurfette was the one on trial, why wouldn't she be here?
"Etainia 'Lively' Supnos, do you swear to tell the smurf, the whole smurf, and nothing but the smurf?"
"Yep!" They grinned. "You can count on me, Papa Smurf!"
"Etainia-" Brainy started, but Lively interrupted him.
"Oh, and you can count on me too, Brainy-bo-bainy!"
"...Don't call me that. Etainia, did you interact with Smurfette yesterday?"
"Yes, I did! And I wish we'd gotten to smurf some more, but unfortunately, things just didn't smurf out that way. I had to work on the dam..."
"What did the two of you smurf about?" Brainy asked.
"Well, first I told her her hair looks like mine, and then Posie came over and was like, Lively, we have to go, and she was like can I come and I was gonna be like sure but Posie was like no you can't it's too dangerous..." Lively Smurf took a deep breath before continuing. "...and Smurfette asked why was it dangerous and I told her about the levery-thingy that makes all the water go bwoosh when you smurf it... oh." Lively glared at Smurfette, who felt guilty. "I trusted you, Smurfette!"
"I didn't," muttered a member of the jury.
Another member smacked him upside the head. "You didn't even meet her before this!"
"What time was this conversation at, Etainia?" Brainy asked.
"Uh, before I went to smurf at the dam. Right before. So like, midday, maybe?"
"Thank you."
"The defense may now cross-examine the witness."
"Gladly!" Jokey Smurf said. "Could I call up Composer to tell us her point of view?"
"You mean Dahaba 'Composer' Zeshishet, right?" Brainy asked condescendingly. "You need to say her full name, otherwise it doesn't count and I win."
Jokey rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'd like to call Dahaba 'Composer' Zeshishet to the stand."
Papa Smurf nodded. "Sustained. Dahaba 'Composer' Zeshishet, could you smurf up to the stand?"
The dark-haired Smurf from yesterday was standing near the front of the crowd, and easily made her way up to the stand. Lively waved at her with a big smile. She gave Lively a thumbs up.
"What are you doing?" Smurfette hissed at Jokey.
"If you're truly innocent, Composer will know," Jokey whispered back. "Lively's just a little... weird! Kinda like me and my little sister!" He cackled.
"What are you laughing about, Cubret Sangbila?" Brainy asked. "You didn't bribe her, did you?"
"Yo, what?!" Composer said from the stand. Lively had stepped away, but was still standing nearby in case she was needed. "I don't take no bribes!"
"Ah-hah!" Brainy pushed up his glasses and pointed at Composer. "A double negative! So you do take bribes!"
Composer rolled her eyes. "It's negative concord, shortstack. Everysmurf ain't against you."
"Of course." Composer nodded.
"Then, could you please smurf us if you interacted with the Smurfette yesterday, and if so, how?"
"Aight, I did. Some Smurfs and I were headin' to the dam, and the Smurfette said hello. So Lively went runnin' off to speak to her, and I followed Lively to try and smurf her back on task.
I told Lively we had to smurf back to work, and the Smurfette asked what we were workin' on. I told her we were makin' sure the dam didn't burst, 'cause of all the rain this summer.
She asked if she could come along, and I said no way, that's dangerous. I ain't gonna be responsible for no dimwit gettin' herself killed on the job. Then she asked why it was dangerous. I was thinkin', wow, did Nosey Smurf get separated from a twin sister at birth or somethin'? Cause she was askin' way too many questions!"
It seemed Composer was giving a fairly accurate testimony of events. Smurfette gave Jokey a panicked glance, but her defense attorney was too busy laughing over the Nosey Smurf joke.
"I was gonna tell her why it's dangerous, but Lively started talkin' first. Lively said... pretty much what she says she said. Tellin' Smurfette about the lever that smurfed the floodgates and how pullin' it would flood everythin'. And then we left." Composer Smurf crossed her arms. "So, yeah. She guilty."
Jokey Smurf stood still, looking over to Smurfette. "Hoping Lively Smurf wasn't properly communicating was my last shot." He shrugged. "I'm a prankster, not a lawyer, and there's nothing more for me to do. Smurfette seems pretty guilty to me."
The jury and spectators burst into loud yelling at this, confused, angry, and upset. Papa Smurf banged his gavel on his podium again.
"Order! Order! Quiet in the court!" Papa yelled. As everyone quieted down, Smurfette looked around at the faces of the Smurfs she had betrayed. Vanity was delicately dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. Hefty's fists were clenched, and if looks could kill, she'd be dead from how he glared at her. Greedy looked heartbroken. Smurfette felt heartbroken herself. She looked back at Papa Smurf as he started talking again. "So, Smurfette, in view of what has just been said, do you have any defense for trying to flood the village?"
"Well, I-I just want to say that... well, what I mean is..." All the Smurfs looked either heartbroken or furious, and Smurfette couldn't stand it. She felt horrible and weak, but she just couldn't. Her lower lip trembled as she started to tear up. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm taking orders from Gargamel!"
"Gargamel?" gasped the Smurfs.
"So, it was on purpose!" Hefty said. He punched at the air. "Oh, somesmurf hold me back, or I'm gonna start swingin'!"
Smurfette rubbed at her eyes, trying to stop the tears from coming. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't know what else to do. He created me, and he said he'd- he'd unmake me, if I didn't lead you all to him!"
Hefty stopped punching at the air. "Oh, well... don't cry, Smurfette. I mean, my bark is worse than my smurf. I mean..."
"I'm not crying," Smurfette said, as tears streamed down her face. "I- ugh. Whatever you do to me, I deserve it. You've all been so nice to me, and all I've done is try and hurt you..." She clutched the edge of the wheelbarrow like her life depended on it.
Brainy choked back a sob. "That's..."
"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard!" Another Smurf cried, sobbing into his soaking-wet handkerchief.
"I hate sad!" Another yelled.
Papa Smurf walked over and gently took one of Smurfette's hands in his. "There, there, Smurfette. Gargamel made you smurf us. Can I ask you a question?"
Smurfette looked at him, teary-eyed. "Y-yeah?"
"Would you have still tried to hurt us, even if Gargamel didn't tell you to?"
"No, I wouldn't have. I..." Smurfette sniffled. "I don't want to hurt anybody."
Papa Smurf nodded. "Then, it's not your fault."
"It's not?" Why were they all being so nice to her? Smurfette wondered. So nice and sweet... was it just part of being a Smurf? "Oh, I wish I could be a real Smurf, like all of you..."
"A real Smurf?" A curly-haired juror repeated, turning their head to look at Smurfette and nearly tripping on their way out of the jurors' stands as a result.
"But that's impossible," Handy said, crossing her arms.
"It couldn't happen, not in a million smurfs."
Brainy raised his hand into the air, pointing upwards. "Unthinkable! No one's ever become a Smurf before!"
Papa Smurf scratched at his beard thoughtfully. "You really want to be a Smurf?"
"Oh, more than anything!" It was true, she really did want to be a Smurf.
"It can't be done!" Brainy said with a shrug. "Smurfs are smurfed, not made!" Several older Smurfs started giggling, and Brainy looked over at them, confusion evident in his expression. "What? What's so funny?"
"Well, technically-" one said, but another quickly shushed them.
"Don't you dare tell him."
"Tell me what?" Brainy asked.
Smurfette shook her head, confused, and then focused her attention back on Papa Smurf. "Can you really make me a Smurf?" She asked him.
"Well," he said, "I'm not entirely sure if it will work, but it never hurts to try." He took her hand in his and led her off.
"Um... Well, that's right," Smurfette heard Brainy say as Papa led her away, "Papa Smurf can smurf anything he smurfs his mind to! You just watch! You take my word for it! You listen to me! You know I know what I'm talking about..."
And then Brainy's voice cut off as Papa closed the door to his laboratory.