Angie was very familiar with Luce’s little blue '65 Mustang, having taken plenty of shopping trips in the mint condition convertible that Rick had helped her find. Smiling, she grinned at Rollie as he nodded, pulling on his prescription sunglasses. He took the passenger seat, and stared out at the magnificent view of the Bay from Luce’s bungalow. In the daylight, the house was attractively painted in a Bermuda pink with grass green shutters. Every house in the neighborhood was similarly painted.
 
 

"Looks like Easter around here," Angie muttered as Rollie grinned. With map in hand, they headed out to the district courts and got their first real taste of morning traffic.
 
 

"Did I tell you that you look so very fine and respectable in your suit, my dear," Rollie told Angie, his tongue-in-cheek as Angie chuckled.
 
 

"Yeah, well- you look pretty dapper yourself, Mr. Tyler…think it will do any good?"
 
 

"Can’t hurt…and well, I thought maybe, well…you think we should have gotten a lawyer for this?"
 
 

Angie bit her lip; "It’s a little late now and they didn’t give us exactly a lot of time, you know."
 
 

"Yeah, bloody system! You know, we really hadn’t basically started, you know the real…"
 
 

"I know…think about it from the cop’s angle that night…"
 
 

"Yeah, so he saw you sitting on my lap and …"
 
 

"And we were making out…"
 
 

"Harmless…"
 
 

"Er, well, topless…"
 
 

"It was dark…"
 
 

"He was flashing a giant flood light at us…"
 
 

"Yeah, well true…but we both had our lower halves covered…"
 
 

"Uh, from his point of view, yeah, from ours…well…"
 
 

"This isn’t sounding good…"
 
 

"Nope…"
 
 

"Maybe we’d better stick with: ‘caught up in the moment’…"
 
 

"I like stupid tourists, myself…"
 
 

"Maybe we’ll get the same judge that Hugh Grant went before…"
 
 

"Oh great!"
 
 

By the time they reached the court, it was almost 9 A.M. and they were passed over with a wand and x-rayed and sifted through the crowds to courtroom A.
 
 

"Can you see? Is Judge Judy in there?" Angie asked, with a smirk on her face to Rollie who was peering through the door.
 
 

"Come on, let’s get this over with…I want to call Sarah and Francis and see how Aidan is doing…" Rollie told her, as he took her hand.
 
 

Waiting on a reserved section of benches in the front, they heard countless stories of outlandish behavior and the cold hard reality that this judge wasn’t listening to a word. Jail time, fines and the like were handed out with a smack of his gavel. The judge was definitely the hanging type.
 
 

The last victim of dispensed justice, a prostitute who had been caught for solicitation with an undercover policeman had just received a month in jail and a five hundred-dollar fine. As the gavel slammed down, Angie jumped, her heart pounding in her throat.
 
 

"Case number 3799, Roland Ignatius Tyler and Angela Ramirez Tyler…" called out the bailiff.
 
 

Rollie cringed as his middle name resounded in the courtroom. They stood and he followed Angie as they stood at the defendant’s table.
 
 

The hanging judge was reading the arrest report and hadn’t even looked up. Behind them, they heard the door to the courtroom open with a bang and the quick stride of someone approaching the bench. The voice addressed the judge, disrupting his reading and he glared down at the man who stood before him. Rollie’s breathing stopped as Angie’s mouth opened in shock.
 
 

"Judge Hiccock, Reginald Harcourt, lawyer for the accused…" the unmistakable voice of Dingo Tyler spoke out in a rapid-fire address.
 
 

"You’re late, Mr. Harcourt…" Hiccock admonished him and looked back down at the report.
 
 

"Sorry, your honor…"
 
 

"Yes well, I can’t see that you would have much to say here, Mr. Harcourt. The arrest report is explicit in detail."
 
 

"Ah, your honor, my clients are both upstanding professionals from New York City on holiday for a week…"
 
 

"Cut the crap, Harcourt, says here they are both in the movie business!"
 
 

Oh God, Rollie thought, his mind racing…his father breaking in and conning was all they needed right now and worse, the judge didn’t like show business people…
 
 

"Judge Hiccock…" Rollie began, trying to save some grace.
 
 

"Be quiet! Your lawyer is talking right now!" Hiccock bellowed out as Rollie mouthed a silent ‘but’ and then sat back down as Angie was silently praying and grabbed the armrests of her chair.
 
 

"May I approach the bench, Judge Hiccock?" Dingo asked, formally, adjusting his suit jacket. Actually, Rollie thought to himself, Dingo had cleaned up nicely and well, did act the part quite well.
 
 

"Get up here, I don’t have all day!"
 
 

"Yes, your honor…" and at that, Dingo flashed his first smile at his son who returned that smile with a stony stare.
 
 

What then began, was a hushed conversation over a closed mike at the judge’s bench. Angie looked at her watch and realized that Dingo and the judge had been talking for over five minutes. People in the courtroom were squirming as finally, the judge nodded and Dingo stepped back.
 
 

The gavel hit with a sharp crack; "Case number 3799 is hereby dismissed. Roland Tyler, Angela Tyler; you are hereby free to leave this courtroom and a word of caution…"
 
 

Angie and Rollie were so mystified, they stood looking at the judge with widened eyes and pale faces as they both nodded.
 
 

"We have things here called hotels, look one up…"
 
 

Rollie could have sworn he was looking at Broderick Crawford, wheezing and staring at him with a swinging gavel.
 
 

"Yes sir," Rollie answered as Angie echoed him. As they turned to leave, following Dingo out the door of the courtroom, the smack of the gavel went down again and the next case was called.
 
 

"What the bloody hell possessed you?" Rollie asked, immediately after getting through the doorway into the hallway. He had grabbed his father by the shoulder.
 
 

"Is that anyway to thank your old man?" Dingo asked, grinning as Angie smiled. Dingo was infectious and she hugged him as he winked at Rollie who was not in a mind to grant him thanks just yet.
 
 

"Do you know what they will do when they find out you weren’t even a lawyer? Or for that fact, using your real name?" Rollie asked, his mind racing to a multitude of bad images involving jail time and not seeing the light of day.

"But I am a lawyer in California, boy…here you go- see?" Dingo whipped out a California license and Rollie could see it was in the name of Reginald Harcourt.
 
 

"That’s my name…"
 
 

"Not all of it," Rollie retorted.
 
 

"What did you say to the judge, Dingo? How’d you get us off?" Angie implored, as she took his elbow and they walked toward the entrance to the court building.
 
 

"Why don’t we get out of this building and go to a café, just down the street, eh?" Dingo told her, smiling as Rollie rolled his eyes; "besides, these buildings make me itch…"
 
 

Angie laughed as Dingo took her arm and Rollie followed like a scowling, wounded little boy. He told himself that Dingo always made him feel that way and it was time to get everything off his chest…the whole affair in New York with Michael Lopez and now, following them to LA…he was going to take on the old man, once and for all.
 
 

As they approached the Tofutti Café, they were escorted to an outside table amidst a live growing grapevine that encircled the entire eatery. Rollie was biting at the bit as Angie took a seat that Dingo had pulled out for her.
 
 

"Before this goes a moment further…I have something to say and you’re going to shut up and listen…" Rollie suddenly blurted out to his father.
 
 

"Best hold that thought, son…our guest has just arrived…" and he turned away from Rollie and waved his hand in the direction of the approaching woman who had suddenly appeared.
 
 

Angie gasped as Rollie stood, his anger at his father suddenly stymied as he saw the diminutive figure approach. Her lovely oval face and long, blue-black hair shimmered in the morning sun. She hadn’t changed a bit and he closed his eyes for a second thinking it was a dream. Her dark, mystic eyes connected to his then and a multitude of memories flooded into his mind and his heart.
 
 

"Taia…"