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Laws, Lauren

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 1
Spring 5-1-2016
Front Cover - "Time Stops When I'm With You"
Lauren Laws
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
This Artwork is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in
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Recommended Citation
Laws, Lauren (2016) "Front Cover - "Time Stops When I'm With You"," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 1.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/1
1Laws: Front Cover - "Time Stops When I'm With You"
Published by DigitalCommons@COD, 2015


English

Front Cover -  Time Stops When I\u27m With You

McNamara, John M.

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 16
Spring 5-1-2016
Testimony
John M. McNamara
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in
The Prairie Light Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
McNamara, John M. (2016) "Testimony," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 16.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/16
Mr. Brody, before the day you shot the deceased, how 
long had it been since you discharged a weapon?
I didn’t shoot Audie Johnson.
He shot himself then?
Inadvertently, yes.
But your hand was on the weapon.
I had one hand on his wrist and I gripped the hand 
in which he held the gun with my other hand. We 
struggled and the gun fi red. My fi ngers never went 
near the trigger.
You struggled with the deceased but your fi nger never 
touched the trigger.
Th at’s what I said.
How did you come to struggle with the deceased?
When he entered the house, I lunged at him, reaching 
for the pistol. I gripped his wrist with one hand and 
the gun hand with the other.
Th e other what?
My other hand.
Your wife and your mother were also in the house, is 
that correct?
Yes.
What were they doing while you struggled with the 
deceased?
Bleeding.
I beg your pardon.
Th ey were bleeding from wounds they suff ered when 
Johnson shot through the living room window. My 
wife was wounded in the upper chest and my mother 
sustained cuts to her face from fl ying glass.
Where were they at the time of your struggle with the 
deceased?
Testimony
John M. McNamara
John M. McNamara's "Testimony" is the winner in 
fi ction of the College of DuPage 2016 Writers Read: 
Emerging Voices contest, held to showcase emerging 
voices in our community.
In the hallway at the rear of the house.
How did they get there?
I carried my wife and led my mother.You didn’t 
want any witnesses to your confrontation with the 
deceased, did you?
I didn’t know there would be a confrontation. I was 
concerned for their safety.
How long had it been since you last visited your 
mother?
Objection, your honor. Relevance?
Sustained.
Weren’t you worried that your wife and mother would 
sustain additional injuries when you moved them 
from the living room to the hallway?
Th ere was a lull in the shooting and when I looked out 
the window, Johnson was reloading his pistol. I used 
that as an opportunity to move them.
What did you do aft er that?
I called 911, reported the shooting, requested police 
and an ambulance, and then crept back into the living 
room.
Why didn’t you stay with your wife and mother?
I was fearful for their safety.
How was abandoning them in the hallway going to 
guarantee their safety?
If Johnson attempted to enter the house, I was going 
to try and stop him.
Stop him.
Yes.
How?
I had no idea. I knew my mother kept no weapons in 
the house.
How did you know the deceased was at the patio 
door?
Prairie Light Review12 1
McNamara: Testimony
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015
At fi rst I didn’t, but it was the only way he could have 
gained entry.
How is that?
Th ere’s an iron fence with a locked gate at the front 
door. Th e garage can’t be opened from the outside 
without a door opener. Th at left  the side gate to the
yard. If he climbed that fence and entered the patio 
enclosure, then the side door would be the only place 
he could get in. 
You argued with the deceased earlier that evening, 
didn’t you?
Not exactly.
What do you mean, not exactly?
An argument requires at least two people. I didn’t 
argue with him.
Th ank you for the clarifi cation. Please describe what 
did happen earlier that evening.
Johnson is my mother’s neighbor. She’d invited him to 
the house to meet my wife and me.
What was the nature of his relationship with your 
mother?
Objection, your honor. Relevance again.
I’ll allow it.
I don’t know anything about their relationship.
But they did have relationship?
I don’t know.
How did the meeting with you and your wife go?
He went to the refrigerator and opened a beer for 
himself and then the conversation turned to politics. 
He used a derogatory term to refer to the president.
A derogatory term?
Th at’s what I said.
Yes, of course. What term did he use?
He called him a raghead n-word.
Raghead n-word. What exactly did he say?
Objection, your honor. Is this necessary?
Sustained. Counselor, we all know the word Mr. John-
son used. Move on.
Sorry, your honor. So he used the n-word, which 
made you angry. Is that accurate?
Not entirely.
What do you mean?
I felt angry, yes, and disappointed.
You were disappointed?
Th at people still use the word, and that Johnson spe-
cifi cally used it in referring to the president.
Did you vote for the president?
Objection, your honor.
Goes to motive, judge.
Drama
Photography
Charles 
Vazquez
Spring 2016 132
The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 38 [2015], No. 2, Art. 16
http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/16
Sustained. A diff erent line of questioning, counselor.
What happened aft er the deceased used the n-word?
I told him I didn’t care for the term.
What was his reaction?
He laughed and said it a few more times in succession.
And did that make you angrier?
No.
Th en what did you do?
I told my mother that my wife and I were going into 
our bedroom, and would she please let us know when 
Johnson had left .
You simply left  the room?
Yes.
You didn’t argue with the deceased?
I already said I didn’t.
I fi nd that hard to believe.
I imagine you fi nd many things hard to believe.
Your honor.
My Brody, please confi ne your testimony to answering 
counsel’s questions.
Sorry, your honor.
How much had you had to drink by then?
Part of one beer.
And the deceased?
I wasn’t counting.
Back to the initial gunfi re. You moved your wife and 
mother into the hallway, called 911, and then returned 
to the living room. Is that correct?
Yes.
What did you do aft er that?
I waited.
Waited for what?
For what Johnson would do next.
How did you know what he would do next?
I didn’t.
But you were preparing for something, weren’t you?
No.
Please describe your actions as they led up to the 
shooting of the deceased.
When I left  the hallway and returned to the living 
room, I crept to the window and looked outside, but 
didn’t see Johnson. Th at’s when I worried he’d try to 
climb the fence. I moved to the side door and stood 
beside it, fl at against the wall.
Was the door locked?
He had a key.
Th e deceased had a key to the door?
Yes. My mother had given it to him to use in emer-
gencies.
Was he a frequent guest at your mother’s?
I don’t know.
Why don’t you know?
Objection. Relevance. Counsel is fi shing again.
Sustained. I told you to move on from this line 
of inquiry.
So the deceased let himself in with a key your mother 
had given him.
Yes.
How did he manage the mechanics of using a key and 
holding a pistol at the same time?
I was on the other side of the door, so I don’t know.
It seems it would be awkward to juggle both the key 
and the handgun.
Okay.
When the deceased opened the door, what did you 
do?
At fi rst I remained still.
You just stood there?
Yes.
What were you waiting for?
For him to come in.
Prairie Light Review14 3
McNamara: Testimony
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015
He didn’t enter immediately?
No. I suppose he might have been 
putting the key back in his pocket.
So you waited. Then what?
He stepped from the patio into the 
living room, 
holding the gun in his right hand.
You saw the gun?
It was the first thing I saw as he 
stepped in. He was holding it out 
in front of him.
Then what did you do?
As I said earlier, I lunged at him, 
grabbing his wrist with one hand, 
and the hand holding the gun with 
my other.
And that’s when you, when the 
gun fired.
Yes. I pushed him against the door 
when I lunged. The barrel of the 
gun slammed into his abdomen 
and fired. What did you do then?
I retrieved the gun from where 
he’d dropped it and placed it on 
the dining room table.
Did you offer any assistance to the 
deceased?
I checked his pulse. He was dead.
What did you tell the police when 
they arrived?
Just what I’ve testified today.
Do you feel responsible for Audie 
Johnson’s death?
No.
No?
Objection, your honor. Asked and 
answered.
Sustained.
You feel no culpability about this 
man’s death?
Objection.
Sustained, counselor.
You have a very convenient con-
science, Mr. Brody. 
Your honor!
Withdrawn. You put the gun on 
the dining room table, correct?
Yes.
I assume that’s why your finger-
prints were found on the weapon.
I suppose.
And you never touched the trigger, 
but that’s where I’m confused 
again, Mr. Brody. I’m confused by 
how your fingerprints got onto the 
trigger guard and onto the trigger 
itself. How do you explain that?
Nothing to say, Mr. Brody? You 
testified you never touched the 
trigger, but your prints were 
found on it. Forgive me irritating 
confusion, but can you help me 
with this? Can you clarify for me 
how the evidence contradicts your 
testimony? What exactly is your 
explanation for this inconsisten-
cy, for this irregularity in your 
testimony?
Nucleotides 
ablaze
Gina M. Wadas
Spring 2016 154
The Prairie Light Review, Vol. 38 [2015], No. 2, Art. 16
http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/16


Testimony

Lavelle, Teri

The Prairie Light Review
Volume 38 | Number 2 Article 25
Spring 5-1-2016
The Cemetery: Savage Repose
Teri Lavelle
College of DuPage
Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr
This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in
The Prairie Light Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact koteles@cod.edu.
Recommended Citation
Lavelle, Teri (2016) "The Cemetery: Savage Repose," The Prairie Light Review: Vol. 38: No. 2, Article 25.
Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/plr/vol38/iss2/25
1.       Our dead, 
precious and still,    
are collected like butterflies 
and pinned to white satin for display. 
At ritual’s end,    
they are swallowed whole 
and sink like frogs, 
beneath Earth’s loamy pudding. 
Their bones become a mystery to daylight. 
  
2.       Time, 
that weighty changeling, 
bears down on them, 
as gravity unwinds geology. 
There they are settling,                                                           
mud-sucked and mold-resplendent, 
a fleshy repast 
for the small and beastly. 
  
3.       Beneath a stone-riddled field,  
all of them: 
farmers and dilettantes, 
anarchists and clergymen,  
all are lying  
parallel and supine, 
unblinking and inert, 
refuting a grace that never comes. 
“Why practice temperance?”  
They call to us. 
“Rocks melt, and mountains disembowel. 
Igneous begets sedimentary. 
Yet in the end, 
all is metamorphic and one.”
THE CEMETERY: SAVAGE REPOSE
Teri Lavelle
Prairie Light Review22 1
Lavelle: The Cemetery: Savage Repose
Published by Di italCommons@COD, 2015


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Lombard Center Dedication_05

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Front Cover - Time Stops When I\u27m With You

Testimony

The Cemetery: Savage Repose

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