To Sing Frogs Chapter 21c

The boulder cracked. Corners of the judge’s mouth turned upward as she read Russian words from the first page of the book. By page three a full-blown smile was undeniable. Before she finished, her Honor realized she had let down her guard. The poker face returned to the bench.

“She’s talking to you. Stand up!” Anya told me. I quickly rose and tried to look as much like a tin soldier as Anya did. “The judge wants to know if you realize the responsibility you will have to these children.”

Okay, let’s get all of the stupid questions answered for the record.“Yes.”

Anya looked at me without translating, waiting.

“Yes… your Honor?”

Anya delivered the eye roll subtly and from an angle that the judge couldn’t see. Then she delivered the longer of the two answers. Okay, so more was better. Significantly more.

            “You realize you are taking on responsibilities until they are eighteen.”

“Yes…” Okay, more. “Yes, your Honor…” Okay, more. “Yes your Honor. We have other children and even another who is adopted. We have made these commitments for life to those other children and we understand the level of responsibility we are accepting now. We don’t believe that our obligations to them end when the children turn eighteen.”

            “Good,” Anya said quietly to me before translating. The judge stoically nodded her approval.

“Amy, stand up, please, the judge is talking to you.” Amy rose humbly and without the tin soldier effect. “The judge says she read in your home study that you were abused as a child. Is this why you want to adopt more children?”

What kind of a question is that? Being abused makes somebody want to adopt? What a bonehead!

            “Yes,” my wife responded.

What!!!

            She continued. “I didn’t have the family I wanted when I was a child. I always wished for something better. Today I know there are children who share my dream. Adopting is a way for me to make their dream come true. Additionally, though I am not the child, I now have the family I always wanted—the family I hoped for. This adoption, in a way, will continue to fulfill my own childhood dream.”

The judge smiled as Anya delivered the translation and I stood, shocked. At least in this respect the Russian judge understood my wife better than I did. Where I thought it was a bogus question, the judge had pitched one underhand and Amy knocked it out of the park. Must be a woman thing.

            The black robe asked the royal blue uniform if there were any further questions. The prosecutor smiled while straightening her papers and saying she had nothing more. The soft books and Amy’s perfect motherly demeanor sold her.

            The judge wasn’t going to let me off that easily, though. Amy, yes. Me, no.

“She says you don’t speak Russian and the children don’t speak English. She wants to know how you are going to deal with such a difficult obstacle.”

Holy crap! The kids don’t speak English? How did I miss that? This woman was taxing my brain to mouth filter. “We bought some picture dictionaries showing everyday things in everyday places. Names of the items in the pictures are written in Russian, in English, and in Russian with English letters. We hope this will get us started. Also, Amy has made a lot of flash cards. Those should help too.” Besides, hunger is a fairly good motivator to learn food vocabulary…

“The judge says she doesn’t think you understand how difficult this will be,” Anya translated.

More is better, right? “With all due respect, your Honor, I spent a year and a half in Brazil. When I first got there I hardly understood anything said to me. Expressing myself was even more difficult. While I don’t think overcoming the language barrier will be easy I will be able to understand frustrations the children have and will be able to respond with true empathy.”

The judge spoke sternly while banging her stack of papers on the desk to straighten them. I guess nobody likes a know-it-all. “The judge says you will soon see that difficulties for a child learning a new language are worse than with an adult.” Anya pulled a face indicating I should say no more. So now less is better? Okay, I could keep my big mouth shut, but my sarcastic mind ran loose.

Yeah. Right. ‘Cause every kid on earth ain’t learnin’ a new language. Must be tough doing something so novel for them.

The judge continued to look down at her desk, minding her own temper as she talked. “We can sit down, now,” Anya said as the judge spoke to the prosecutor.

The woman with the brass buttons lightly tapped her own stack of papers on her desk and smiled while responding. “The prosecution recommends the court grant the request for adoption.”

“The judge says she takes the recommendation under advisement and asks everyone to leave while she makes her decision. We’ll wait in the hall.”

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