Slipping into Madness

I1:The Jury

Create twelve unique characters to fill a jury box. These characters will be witnessing your trial of being accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. So, choose wisely. (<1000 words).

Naomi Wilder: A medical student with dreams of being an anesthesiologist, leading to constant overwork and lack of sleep. Naomi is the youngest with three older brothers. Her mother died when she was born and her father recently also passed of cancer, leaving her questioning her place in life and in her family. Because she was the youngest, she was coddled but felt alone amid the togetherness that the rest of her family felt because of their shared experiences. She appreciates sweets, but doesn't covet them. As the foreman of the jury, she is very conscious of the responsibility involved.

Jaxon Brown: A cartoonist living on a river that floods in the spring, he is fond of soccer and story telling. He has one older sister. His father was a sailor on the Great Lakes who died in a storm when Jaxon was very young. He loves sweets and can see the attraction of stealing tarts. He also has a marvelous sense of the ridiculous which leads to him laughing. He is married to his childhood best friend and wants the trial over so he can be with her.

Matilda Jamison: A gardener who grew up on a rock in the middle of no where with no one around but her family. She was ten years old when she helped her mother with the birth of her younger brother. She likes sweets, but feels guilty about eating them because that means she can't share with her brother, who she helped raise after her mother took ill after his birth. Overly responsible and law abiding.

Rhys Davis: A ranger in Alaska who lives alone for most of the year. He's a bachelor, but that just means he is competent—he doesn't need help with living because that would shame his good mother. He doesn't often get sweets but appreciates them when he gets them. And he would never be so selfish as to take them from someone else. He's more likely to give his tarts to some child he sees as having more of a need for them than him.

Justine Mitchell: An accountant and single mother who recently ended a relationship of long standing because her partner was not ready to have the kind of commitment that their child meant. She's scared but trying her best to be a good mother, even though she grew up lonely and doesn't feel that she knows what good parents look like. She loves sweets and understands the impulse to take them because she's felt deprived in the past.

Alexi Randall: A potter who just graduated from college. He has big hands but makes the most delicate clay creations imaginable. An only child, he is very observant and caring for others, willing to make an extra sandwich just so that a friend doesn't go hungry. He doesn't care for sweets one way or another. However, he is always willing to believe a sob story and will go to bat for anyone he believes in.

Rae Smythe: A ceramic artist who specializes in sculpture. She has several older brothers who protected her so that she's very shy and quiet. Recently, she had an experience with a roommate who was living dangerously, and that has made her even more nervous. She sees things in connection with art. She doesn't really care about food or sweets one way or another, but she despises anyone who endangers other people through their actions or inactions. This could affect how she sees the case.

Nathan Owen: An astrophysicist and a professor. He was an only child with four children of his own, three boys and a girl. His wife died when the youngest was born and he was traumatized by that event. Although he loves his children and wishes them the best, he refuses to maintain any kind of close relationship with them. He enjoys sweets but not enough to understand the impulse to take tarts.

Anya Litten: A painter recently diagnosed with cancer of the eye. She fells alone for the most part, although she recently met a young friend who has convinced her to open up a bit more. She is a bit of an anarchist. Although she has no real interest in sweets herself, she would be the first in line to steal them for someone she thought needed them.

Daniel Jones: A young veterinarian with a practice in a small town. He's the oldest of four, and has an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, but recently his life was disturbed by his father's death from cancer. He has decided that he needs to take a break from responsibility. He loves sweets, especially spiced cakes, and would certainly be willing to snatch them from his siblings at least.

Olivia King: An older lady who made most of her living in real estate. When she was very young she ran away to be an artist and came back pregnant. This made her father toss her out and their relationship was strained afterwards. She gave up the baby for adoption to her sister, and then ran away. She likes sweets, and would certainly understand the impulse to do something that hurt another person if it meant helping a loved one.

Michael Allen: A Peace Corps volunteer recently returned from the South Pacific and uncertain what he wants to do next. He's a middle child, with an older brother and a younger brother and sister. His father recently died, and that has inspired him to go back to school and study the arts, which was something he wasn't sure he wanted to do before leaving to go abroad. He's out of the habit of sweets. He has seen a lot of poverty and corruption through his service, and would be willing to bend the law if it helped another.

Word count: 967