The Law & The Truck Driver
by
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It is October 1959 and I am standing outside of the Juvenile Court in Milton, Ontario having a cigarette. I am making sure that I will not be caught by the cops or the lawyers that keep passing by as I am only 13 and the law was that you had to be 16 to legally smoke, “That's the law”. I was here at court because I had hit a school teacher a couple of weeks ago in a basket-ball practice after he had hit me in the head with the basketball, no, it was not an accident, the teacher had done it deliberately. This incident of me hitting the teacher is what was being discussed inside the court by 2 lawyers and a judge who I did not know and who did not know me. I had been told to leave as I was not to interfere with their discussion as to what charges I was up against.
My father was inside the court room with the lawyers and the judge. My father was furious with me about the matter and what I had got myself into. I was nervous and scared stiff, especially of my father and his violent temper. Oh yes, I had a temper too and this is what had got me into this mess in the first place.
I was only 13 years old and what did I know of the law and its rules. I didn't understand at that young age. What did I do wrong? I asked myself this question many times. In my mind it was self defense, you defended yourself when hit by someone else did you not, regardless of who that person was. These thoughts kept going through my head at that time, what was I being punished for? Yes, that day at the court house I was scared, thinking about what was going to happen to me. I was thinking that jail is what would happen to me. As I waited outside the courthouse I had tears mingled with rain on my face as I waited for someone to tell me what was happening with the 2 lawyers, the judge and my father. What were they going to do to me? Where would I have to go? Cold, wet and frightened I stood outside that court house that day not knowing and not understanding.
The next thing I remember was a cop standing next to me asking if I was Theo Wanders, when I said yes, he took my arm telling me to go with him and without another word he took me inside the courthouse into a large room. When I went through the door into this room, I saw my Dad and 3 other men who were strangers to me. Now I thought, what's going to happen to me? It was obvious that my Father was still mad at me and that he was fighting to keep his temper under control.
I was told to stand in front of this old man who I assumed was the judge. I was told to stand up straight and not to say a word. The judge started in on me about breaking the law, car theft, breaking and entering, shop lifting and common assault towards other people. The judge then said young boys can also go to jail for doing wrong. The judge and both lawyers kept asking me all kinds of questions, but I was puzzled and I did not understand the questions. I was scared stiff of these 2 lawyers.
It got very quiet in the courtroom and then I yelled out to the judge, “Would you like me to hit you in the head with a basketball?” At this a policeman who was in the courtroom with us come and grabbed be by the arm and forced me to sit down and told me to keep quiet. The judge also told me to keep quiet or I would be taken into another room and left alone until all matters had been settled. I then asked the judge “What is going on? Can I not get an answer?” My Father then stood up and yelled at me in “Dutch” our native language “Theo, shut up and do as you are told.” I stood up and yelled back at my Father “Fuck you, I don't care any more!” I was then taken out to a cell in the court house where I had to sit and wait for my fate to be decided.
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About the Book
It is the story of a troubled teenage boy growing up in a Dutch family with strong ties to their church and his being compelled to follow their rules but knowing that there was more out in the world than just going to church and fighting his father 7 days a week, of his always being told he was wrong and that the whole world was wrong in their everyday life because of their religious beliefs. It tells of his troubles with the family and relationships, of his being diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and feeling always pushed a side by his own family. It also tells of his fights with the law and of his adventures as a truck driver. It tells of losing his license in 1990 for medical reasons and his fight to earn a living and support his family, of starting and losing a business and then starting a new one, always following his dreams of being independent.
About the Author
Born in Emmen Holland in 1946, emigrated to Canada February 1951 and soon after the family settled in Oakville Ontario where he enjoyed bike riding to see the countryside. He enjoyed watching trucks big and small rolling along the highway's, dreaming that one day he would be one of those truck drivers. In 1970 he was diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy yet kept on being a truck driver, seeing Canada and the United States of America until 1990 when he lost the right to drive, but he is still an un-licensed owner operator of a shunt truck. He lives in Brampton Ontario, with his third wife and is the proud grandparent of 5 grandchildren.