Judge Bent: Trouble with a Capital T

It is July 5, 2000. The story takes place in a closed, dark courtroom.

California Superior Court Judge Terence O. Bent tells his current amour, his female bailiff, Ms. Reno, about his time in the Marine Corps in Viet Nam. The Judge was drafted after he graduated from the University of California and was scheduled to attend law school at Boalt Hall. He recounts the story of a massacre in a Vietnamese village and how his sergeant prevented even more unjustified deaths in the village by American soldiers.

He tells of the effect this had on him and his bailiff commiserates with him. She goes on a pizza run and when she comes back, they will . . .