Chapter Text
Miami, Florida. 3:20 pm. April 24, 1946
The men who waited outside the courtroom all looked exactly the same. Same beige suits, same stiff matching fedoras, same pristine white handkerchiefs folded neatly into their pockets. They discussed the Miami heatwave, the new baseball season, and their wives’ cooking.
One of the men surreptitiously pried open the door, which was ill-advised but, thankfully for him, unnoticed. He had excellent timing. The older gentleman with the gavel had just begun to speak.
“It is the judgment of the court that the defendant Troy Austin, having been found guilty of the crime of treason by the United States by the jury of this court for the Southern district of Florida at Miami be committed to the custody of the United States attorney general for imprisonment in an institution of the penitentiary type for a period of 20 years.”
His answer assured, the man quickly closed the door and waved to his colleagues. They got into position, cameras raised high and their bodies clustered around the door in a capitalist blockade. The doors opened, wide this time, and the participants exited in somber fashion.
Most were ignored in favor of one man, slightly diminutive in stature with his hands in his pockets, who focused resolutely ahead of him and ignored the reporters.
“Just a minute, sir, if you please. We’d like a statement.”
“Mr. Tomlinson, do you have anything you’d like to say about your father?”
“Do you think your father got what he deserved?”
“Are you pleased that your father is going to pay the penalty for being a German Nazi war criminal?”
Louis Tomlinson kept walking.