The usher smiled mechanically. She handed them each a program and hurried away up the aisle.
"Don't worry, honey," Stan said, "you'll get it back." He held his program up for her to admire. "Pretty snazzy, huh?"
Julie nodded half-heartedly and silently leafed through her own program. It was a four page souvenir booklet. On the first page, or front cover, was the seal of justice with a perfectly balanced scale and a few words of Latin. Above the seal, NIGHT COURT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK was embossed in black on the slick yellow paper, and below it, the legend "Judge not, that ye be not judged". Beneath the seal, in red italics, was the inscription: "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.—Matthew, 7:2."
The page was set up attractively but, Julie thought, the quotations seemed inappropriate. What was the purpose of the court, if not to judge?
"I still can't figure it out," Stan said, as if he had read her thoughts. He reached over and tapped Julie's program with his finger. "This is the third time I've been here, and you can believe me, honey, they both judge and mete out justice in this place!" He grinned at her. "This 'judge not' business doesn't make sense!"
Julie said nothing. There was nothing to say.
The room was rapidly filling up now, and she watched the people slowly filing in. She was fascinated by the looks of anticipatory pleasure in their faces, the whole place tingled with barely repressed excitement.
The spectators packed into the room until every seat was taken and they were standing, eight deep, in the rear of the court. Scanning their faces, Julie could feel—could almost taste—the many varied emotions that radiated from them: amusement, lust, hatred, curiosity, vengeance. It was a puzzling combination.
"Now, this quotation makes some sense," Stan was saying. Julie turned her attention back to him. He had opened his program booklet to the centerfold, and he pointed to an inscription printed across the top of the two inner pages. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," he recited. "That's what this place really stands for!" He said it with relish.
Julie began to feel sick. She did not like the hungry look on Stan's face or the merciless atmosphere in the courtroom. Why had she come?