The case involved two little sisters who had been
molested by the defendant.  The good news
was that they suffered no physical trauma; the bad news was that there was no direct evidence to support what they said happened.  I had to make a prosecutorial charging
decision and so I had the mother come in with her two daughters, aged 9 and
11.  Following my standard procedure, I
first met with all three together, the purpose being to explain the process and
get the victims to be as at ease with me as possible under the
circumstances.  Then I talked to one of
the girls alone, then with the other girl alone.  This was so as not to have what one girl told
me affect what the other girl said, although they’d probably already spoken
about it between themselves to a limited extent.

Finally, I brought all three back in together for
some summing up and to answer any questions that they might have.

It just so happened that it had been my birthday a
few days prior and I still had a birthday gift sitting on my desk, two little
green porcelain frogs.  To be more exact,
two little green anatomically correct porcelain frogs. 

As the interview drew to a close, being little
girls, they were getting bored and anxious to move on.  One of them suddenly noticed the frogs and,
before I could react, reached over and picked them both up.  I held my breath.  She examined the frogs.  She turned them over.  Her eyes went wide.  My stomach fell.  She giggled and passed them both to her
sister, who giggled in turn. 

The second sister replaced the frogs upon my desk
with a coy little smile.  As far as I
could tell, the mom had never become aware of the unusual nature of the little
things.  I have lived ever since with the
hope that the sisters kept the secret to themselves.