My Dad Saved a Girl, Got Slandered, I Fought Back

My dad rescued a troubled girl by the river, and got smeared for itaccused of being a dirty old man.

The girl's mother brought a mob to block the entrance of my dad's workplace, demanding $600,000 in compensation.

My mother broke down and begged me to admit fault and settle privately.

Your dad can't afford this kind of disgrace.

My dad's students cut all ties with him.

The leaders at the design institute urged my dad to resign on his own.

Everyone told us to just let it go.

I didn't argue. I accepted the summons.

At the hearing, I played the footage from the dashcam.

It was the whole thingmy dad pulling that girl out of the river.

Every single one of them got slapped in the face, hard.

"Your daughter jumped into the river herself."

"It was my dad who saved her."

"Now it's our turn to sue for damages."

My mom sent me a message:

"Someone's making a scene at your dad's workplace! They're even calling him a dirty old man!"

I froze.

My dad? A dirty old man?

A local news alert popped up on my phone:

"Aiden Head, senior engineer at Broadbridge Design Institute, harassed by a troubled young girl, lost his temper and shoved her into the river!"

A photo was attached below.

My dad had his arms around the waist of a girl in a school uniform.

The girl had heavy makeup and bleached hairthe troubled-girl look.

The comments section had already exploded.

"Old wage slave loses it and gropes a young girl in his old age. Absolutely disgusting."

"Aiden Head? The guy who's always on TV reviewing bids? What a hypocrite."

"Old bull grazing on tender grass. That's a real crime."

"Just execute him and save the old man his coffin money."

I grabbed a cab straight to the design institute where my dad works.

A red banner with white lettering had been strung up over the main gate:

"Aiden Head, a beast in human clothing, an old bull grazing on tender grass, who shoved a girl into the riverjustice for my daughter!"

A dozen or so men and women stood nearby, all strangers.

A middle-aged woman in a red coat stood at the front, wailing:

"$600,000! Not a penny less!"

"If he doesn't pay, I'll put him in jail! I'll ruin his good name in his final years!"

"He'll carry this crime with him into his coffin!"

Onlookers held up their phones filming, packed several layers deep.

I pushed through the crowd and found my dad.

He was standing right in front of the revolving door, his whole face gone gray.

I squeezed in beside him and grabbed his arm.

"Dad!"

He looked up at me.

"Sonia..."

"I was saving her!"

"I was fishing, and I saw a girl about to jump into the river, so I ran over and pulled her back."

"I said a few words to her, and I thought that was the end of it."

"I don't know how anyone got that photo, or how it turned into all this..."

An old guy nearby holding up his phone shouted:

"Saving her? Then why were you grabbing her around the waist?"

I was furious. Is there a proper way you're supposed to hold someone when you save their life?

Nobody believed a single word my dad said.

I knew what he was thinking.

My dad had lived his whole life with dignity.

For years the wall of his study had held an "Exemplary Teacher" plaque, and the students he'd taught still texted him every holiday.

He was retiring next year, with a pension of 0-02,000 a month.

He'd been planning to take my mom down south for a month-long trip.

But now this had happened, and it shattered everything.

From the local forums to the short-video apps, the headlines got more vicious by the one.

The hashtag "Troubled girl harassed by old man" had climbed to number four on the local trending list.

The woman in the red coat was named Clara Norris, the mother of that "troubled girl," Jemima Norris.

She let out another howl:

"Your whole family is shameless! If you don't pay up, I'll sue you into bankruptcy!"

There were no surveillance cameras along that river.

The exact spot where my dad had been fishing was a blind spot.

No one could prove his innocence.

And in this day and age, a single word from a fifty-nine-year-old man counts for less than a photo with the beginning and end cropped off.

Then it hit melast month I'd installed a dashcam on the little electric cart my dad drives out to go fishing.

He hadn't been home at the time, and I'd forgotten to tell him about it.

I hurried to check the dashcam footage, and only then did I feel relieved.

Clara Norris, the girl's mother, took a couple of steps after me and shouted at my back:

"Not paying?"

"The summons will be at your house tomorrow! You just wait!"

"$600,000 to buy back your dad's good name in his old ageyou're getting off cheap!"

The dashcam had captured it all, clear as day: my dad rescuing the girl, and the girl walking away on her own.

Fine. This summonsI'll take it.

But the charges of extortion, insult, and defamationthose you'll be taking too.

After we got home, my dad's phone kept ringing.

Most of them were:

"Engineer Head, what's going on online?"

My dad had no idea how to answer.

Because his side of it had no proof, and nobody believed him!

The student group chat my dad used to run was now as quiet as a grave.

Someone had posted that photo:

"Is this our Engineer Head? I can hardly believe it."

Below it were a dozen or so "shocked" emojis.

Some people had even quietly changed their nicknames.

One person's note used to read:

"My beloved teacher Aiden Head - his student forever."

Now it had been changed back to their own real name.

As if being tied to my dad's name would drag them down into the mud with him too.

I stared at the screen, my chest so tight I wanted to throw up.

My dad's phone suddenly rang.

It was Terry James, the deputy director in charge of personnel at Broadbridge Design Institute:

"Aiden, things have blown up so big now, the institute is in a tough spot too."

"Look... to keep the fallout down, why don't you resign first?"

"It's for everyone's good."

My dad hesitated:

"Director James, I hit retirement age next April."

"If I quit now, my whole life's work is for nothing."

There was silence on the other end.

"With public opinion the way it is, the institute is under pressure if it keeps shielding you."

"Try to understand. After doing something like that, you have to think about the institute's reputation too."

Understanding.

My dad had been slandered by a whole mob, gawked at by the entire internet like some circus animal.

The students he'd trained changed their nicknames overnight, and now his own workplace was telling him to clear out early.

And still, be understanding.

I grabbed my dad's phone and hung up.

When my mom heard, the hand holding her water glass shook.

"They're making your dad quit right now!"

"Twelve thousand a month! Your dad worked his whole life!"

She started crying as she talked.

"Aiden..."

She murmured:

"Why don't we just agree to what that parent wants and admit to it."

"As long as we settle privately and pay her off, she'll stop making trouble, and you'll keep your pension."

I shot to my feet.

"Mom, what are you saying? Why should we admit to something we never did?"

"You can't just reward whoever makes the biggest scene!"

My dad stared blankly at my mom:

"I didn't do it! Why should I admit to it!"

"You don't believe me either?"

My mom went on:

"With things blown up like this, does it matter whether I believe you or not?"

"Let's pay the money, get her to drop the lawsuit, and put it to rest."

"We'll scrape together $600,000 and mortgage the house..."

"Your dad can't afford this shame, our family can't afford this shame."

"He's been honest his whole life. If people point fingers at his back and curse him at the very end, he won't be able to take it."

"Reading those comments online... they say your dad is..."

"I can't stand it..."

I looked at her, then at the hunched-over old man on the sofa.

My dad's greatest fear his whole life was being a burden to anyone.

He'd rather bear it himself, work himself to the bone.

All he ever wanted was to peacefully work on his drawings and teach his students.

Retire honestly when the time came, live out his old age honestly. What had he done wrong?

Why should anyone get to throw mud at him.

Why should anyone get to say:

"Look at this old man, turns out he was that kind of person."

I took my dad's hand:

"Dad."

"Your whole life you taught others to carry themselves with dignity and honesty."

"Now someone's spreading lies about you, and you can't hide from it."

"I'll stand with you and get this whole thing sorted out."

"We're going to fight it in court!"

My dad had barely slept in three days.

I walked over and sat down beside him.

"Dad, stop dwelling on it. The truth will come out in court."

My dad sighed.

"If I hadn't stepped in back then..."

"None of this would've happened, right?"

I froze.

Ever since I was little, my dad had always told me:

"Do good, and don't fret over what comes of it."

But now, he'd ended up like this.

In that moment, I really wanted to charge down to the river.

And shove that whole extorting Norris family under the water.

I looked at my dad.

"Dad, what you did was a good thing."

"No matter what kind of person she is, you ran over and saved her, and that's why she's still alive."

"That was a human life."

"The ones in the wrong are the people spreading lies, the ones who took a photo out of context."

"Not you."

My dad stared at me, his eyes going red.

Finally, he nodded.

That night my mom came to me again.

"Sonia, the plaintiff's lawyer says..."

"They don't want this to blow up either, but public opinion has already turned against us."

"If we're willing to settle quickly and give a little, just pay four hundred thousand and it's done."

"Once we pay, they'll drop the lawsuit and even help clear your dad's name!"

"Your dad's reputation and his job would be saved! It's a good deal!"

A good deal? On what grounds?

I got worked up right away.

"Mom, we can't settle out of court!"

"If we settle, then the charge against my dad is basically confirmed!"

But my mom wouldn't hear a word of it. All that was left in her eyes was anxiety, as if the opposing lawyer had brainwashed her.

"Just let me finish."

"At first they wanted six hundred thousand, and we really can't come up with that."

"Four hundred thousandwe cash out the fixed deposit, and whatever's short we borrow from your uncle and scrape it together..."

"Mom."

I cut her off.

"On what grounds?"

"He's lived his whole life honest and clean!"

"And in the end he has to pay four hundred thousand out of his own pocket to buy a crime he never committed?"

Mom looked at me, then slammed her hand down and flipped the table.

"Then what do you want to do? What do we do?!"

"If this lawsuit drags on, your dad will be a laughingstock every single day!"

"His reputation ruined for life, and he might not even get his pension!"

"You make it sound simple, but what if we lose the case?"

"Then we'll have nothing left!"

"How is he supposed to live? How am I supposed to live?!"

My mom's words made my head buzz with anger.

"My dad did a kind thing saving someone, he did nothing wrong at all!"

"The one in the wrong is Clara Norris."

"It's those people who spread the videos and photos. They're the ones who dragged my dad into this."

"They misunderstood my dad, and I don't hate them for that, but if we go along and admit to this filth too, then my dad really will lose everything!"

"You can't be so short-sighted!"

My mom couldn't take it.

"But things have already come to this..."

"Mom, money can be earned back, a house can be rented."

"But if my dad swallows this, he'll never be able to stand tall again as long as he lives."

My mom hesitated, and then the phone rang again.

"I'm the attorney representing the plaintiff. My name is Lawrence."

"Have you two thought over settling privately?"

"Four hundred thousand, paid today, and we'll withdraw the lawsuit immediately."

"My clients are a kind-hearted mother and daughter, and taking into account the real hardship you defendants are facing"

"This is our biggest concession."

No wonder my mom seemed brainwashed. It turned out they'd been pressuring her into it.

I grabbed the phone.

"Pass a message along to Clara Norris for me."

"...Go ahead."

"See you in court."

There was a pause on the other end.

I went on.

"By then, we'll see who's begging whom to drop the case."

A soft laugh came from the other side.

"Miss Head, are you sure?"

"Your father doesn't have any evidence to prove his innocence."

I said:

"You'd better worry more about your own client."

My evidence was already in order. I knew where I stood.

Now, I was just waiting for our day in court.

We would not back down from this.

Clara Norris was an even better actress than I'd expected.

Three days before the trial, a sudden wail rose up from downstairs.

I walked to the window and looked down.

Clara Norris, hair hanging loose, stood in the middle of the complex's garden, pulling along a small, skinny girl in a school uniform.

The girl kept her head down, still with her bleached hair and heavy makeup.

The moment Clara saw the old men and women out for their strolls gathering around, she dropped to her knees with a thud.

"Neighbors! Please, I'm begging you, stand up for my daughter!"

She cried like her heart was being torn apart.

"My daughter's still in school!"

"That beast-hearted old man Aiden Head ruined her reputation!"

"That whole family's got money and power, and they're bullying us, a widow and her child!"

"Do you know how hard it is for a woman like me to raise a kid on my own?!"

A woman nearby walking her dog hurried over to help her up.

"Are you talking about that senior engineer at the design institute?"

"That's the one!"

Clara's shoulders heaved with her sobs.

"He looks just like a decent man!"

"But what he did is nothing a human being would do!"

"To this day my girl has nightmares every night. She's been diagnosed with all kinds of psychological problems!"

She held up a diagnosis form of unknown authenticity.

"Now she cries every day and can't even go to school."

"If this keeps up, her whole future is ruined!"

"And that family? They didn't even offer a single apology, and now they want to take us to court!"

A few passing neighbors glanced at each other and sighed.

"That old man always seemed so proper. How could he do something like that"

"You can know a person's face but never their heart!"

Clara threw an arm around the girl beside her, Jemima Norris, and pushed her forward for everyone to see.

"Look at how terrified my daughter is!"

"She's lost ten pounds!"

"She still has the bruise on her wrist from when she was shoved that day!"

"That old geezer's family won't pay a cent, and they still want to take us to court!"

"Where's the justice in that?"

Jemima never once looked up, but she didn't argue either.

She stayed curled up in Clara's arms, like a prop.

Clearly, Clara had made her scene at the workplace with her daughter, then brought it to our home, all to shame my father to death.

And in doing so, force us to pay that settlement and just smooth the whole thing over.

My dad had come over at some point and seen what was happening downstairs too.

I said:

"It's fine. Let her put on her show."

"The harder she works at it, the harder she'll fall tomorrow."

My dad didn't say anything, but he stood up straight.

We refused to believe there was no justice left in the world.

The morning of the hearing, my mom was up by six.

She kept pacing back and forth outside my dad's door and mine.

She gripped the doorframe, her knuckles white.

"There's something I want to talk over with you."

"Go ahead."

"Can we can we think about this again?"

"This is the last chance."

"Let's not go to court. Your dad and I will go apologize to Clara Norris."

"Four hundred thousandyour uncle will lend a hundred thousand, we'll pull two hundred thousand out of the fixed deposit, and borrow another hundred thousand. We tighten our belts and pay it off in two years and"

"Mom."

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"You're always taking an outsider's side. What is that supposed to be?"

My mom couldn't hold it in either, and raised her voice.

"Don't act like I'm just being foolish!"

"Your dad worked his whole life, and right before retirement something like this comes up. How is he supposed to face anyone now?"

"What will all his old classmates think of him?"

"How am I supposed to hold my head up with my own family?"

As she talked, the tears started falling.

"Sonia, I'm begging you, please."

"Just back down this once, and the whole thing is over"

I have to admit, it felt like being stabbed in the back.

Right when I was fighting to clear my father's name, my mom was insisting he plead guilty.

The anger surged up in my chest, and I forced it back down.

"Mom," I said. I gritted my teeth and did my best to keep my tone calm.

"After this lawsuit, everything will be over."

"I'll do exactly what I say!"

My mom tried to stop me again, but I pushed her aside.

In the elevator we ran into the woman from downstairs walking her dog.

When she saw us, she gave a little snort through her nose, hugged her dog, and shrank into the corner. Then she turned and muttered to the person beside her.

"It's their family"

"Sleazy old mandisgusting, bad luck"

I shot her a glance and ignored her.

Out the building's front door, the sunlight hit my face and made me squint.

Clara Norris and her handful of relatives were already waiting at the courthouse entrance.

Seeing us arrive, she gave a little sneer and jerked her chin toward us, as if to say, "Just wait to die."

I gripped the USB drive in my bag tightly.

Fine. Then let's see who's really the one waiting to die.