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smackenzieHe had enough to do that he ended up eating lunch at his desk, much to Chad’s amusement – Chad, true to form, had spent some quality time hanging around Lena’s desk – and didn’t get out of the office until almost eight.
It was an hour or two earlier in Texas – he could never remember for sure – which meant it was still early enough to call Morgan when he got home and pin down some details for her visit and when they could see each other and what she wanted to do.
“Billy’s going to be in his training course all day,” she said. “I don’t want to do anything besides get myself a chicken sandwich and not deal with his phobia.”
“Is he a total wreck?” Val asked.
“The doctor prescribed drugs and I think he’s actually going to take them, and you know how bad Billy is about taking anything for anything.”
Billy had a macho attitude towards medicine – he was too tough to need pharmaceutical assistance getting rid of an illness or a muscle strain or anything, really. So for him to not only not argue with his doctor about getting a prescription, but to also willingly take the prescription, he must have been really freaked out about flying.
“What’s this course for?”
“Some state-mandated thing, I don’t know. Ask me why he can’t do it here. Go on, ask me.”
“Why can’t he do it there?” Val asked obediently.
“I don’t know.” Morgan sounded annoyed and a little disgusted. “They didn’t even fucking tell him until a couple weeks ago, and he wasted so much time trying to figure out a way to take the damn course that didn’t involve flying anywhere, now he has to fly somewhere.” She snorted. “My husband’s an idiot. The twists he’ll go through to avoid getting on a plane, I don’t even know. It’s a good thing he’s cute.”
“So when are you getting in?”
“Friday night, if you can believe it. Billy wanted to take the last plane out. We’ll get to the hotel and crash. He’ll sleep off the tranquilizers, get over his jet lag, and go to his course in the morning. And then we’re flying home Saturday night because he’s just that crazy. I said ‘You know that’s where Val lives, we can spend some time with him,’ and he said no, he’ll want to go home.” She snorted again. “Would you believe he still wants to see you?”
“Maybe we can meet him after the course gets out. Do you know where it is?”
“Not a clue. Billy!” she yelled, presumably at her husband. “Where’s your course on Saturday?” Val couldn’t hear what Billy said, but apparently it wasn’t the answer Morgan wanted, because she yelled “I know that, Bill, but where?”
“Does he know?”
“He says it’s written down somewhere, he doesn’t want to look for it. My husband, I don’t even know. I’ll deal with him later. I’ll see you after breakfast. Ok? I’ll call you after I see Billy off, and you can pick me up and take me somewhere.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Besides have chicken for lunch? Window shop, I don’t know. Meet your friends. You can show me where you work.” He could hear her grinning on the other end of the phone.
“You want to see the office?” he asked. “Really? Why?”
“I’ve never been in a law office. I took you to see Dr Stewart’s office, you can show me Caswell and Maxwell.”
“Caswell Velez Malcolm and Simonson.”
“Whatever. I want to see where you work! There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Well, no, but it’s just an office, it’s not that exciting. It’s a lot of conference rooms and offices and cubes. The lobby’s nice, though, and the atrium in the building is pretty.”
“This is probably the only time I’ll ever be up there, Val. You can show me your law office and let me think about you as a lawyer. It won’t kill you.”
“Fine, fine,” he conceded. “I’ll take you to work and you can see where I bust my ass every week.”
“Busy?”
“Busy.”
“Are you getting credit for all this work?”
“I think so?”
“You think so? You don’t know so?”
“Well, we haven’t gone in front of a judge yet or anything.”
“Val,” Morgan said, in a tone of voice that Val had learned to recognize as her “I’m about to give you a lecture” voice, “how long have you been working there?”
“Three years.”
“And how long to do you plan to keep working there?”
“I don’t know. Until I apply to law school, I guess.”
“And are you doing anything different now than you did when you started?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“More research, less filing. I don’t have to get anyone coffee any more or make binders for the lawyers. I’m not answering the phone for other people all the time. A lot of the research is pretty interesting and I don’t usually have people hanging over my shoulder telling me what to do. I have some, um, autonomy.”
“Are you happy there?”
“I think so.” He wondered if it would be worth it to mention that he liked a lot of people he worked with, even if he wasn’t particularly fond of Catherine or Greg right now. Caswell Velez Malcolm and Simonson was pretty easy to get to, the offices themselves were fairly comfortable, the pay wasn’t bad for what he did, although the hours weren’t ideal, and he liked to think he was getting some good experience and learning about being a lawyer.
He figured he may as well tell Morgan all that, so he did. She listened while he tried to explain why he was still in the same job after three years, and when he was done, she said “I hope all the hours are worth it,” and then changed the subject to her own place of work.
They chatted for another twenty minutes before Morgan said she had to go, Billy wanted to go out for ice cream before the place closed.
“We’ll see you Saturday,” she said. “Swim early if you want to swim at all. I’ll call you after breakfast.”
“I’ll be dressed and ready,” Val told her.
“I know you’ll be awake. Don’t let them work you too hard. Spend some time with your friends.”
“Yes Mom.”
“Good night, Val.”
“Tell Billy I said hi.”
“I will. Bye.”
“Bye.”
He hung up the phone, found his Crackberry, and made a note in it that Morgan was going to call him after breakfast on Saturday and they’d spend the whole day together, and went into the living room to watch TV for an hour before bed. He felt like his brain needed something mindless to relax it before sleep.
He got up early Wednesday to go swimming and made it to work a little early. That day and in fact the rest of the week continued in more or less the same vein as Monday and Tuesday, busy with minor variations for length of lunch break and interruptions by Theo or occasionally Ira with something new and different to do that didn’t involve Catherine’s case.
On Thursday, Catherine actually called a meeting with herself, Greg, Gil the paralegal, Val, Chad, and another junior lawyer named Yelena. It turned out that Greg was helping Yelena with a similar case, as well as working on Catherine’s, and Catherine and Yelena had to hash it out between them who got his time. They spent half an hour straightening that out, during which time Gil went to get himself some coffee and Chad and Val tried to stay out of it.
Yelena got to keep Greg, and after they left, Catherine outlined her case in more detail and discussed her approach, which was a lot more mercenary and cut-throat than Val was entirely comfortable with. The more she talked, the more surprised he was that this was the first time he’d assisted with a case like this. He wasn’t sure he really liked it.
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total words: 13,625
It was an hour or two earlier in Texas – he could never remember for sure – which meant it was still early enough to call Morgan when he got home and pin down some details for her visit and when they could see each other and what she wanted to do.
“Billy’s going to be in his training course all day,” she said. “I don’t want to do anything besides get myself a chicken sandwich and not deal with his phobia.”
“Is he a total wreck?” Val asked.
“The doctor prescribed drugs and I think he’s actually going to take them, and you know how bad Billy is about taking anything for anything.”
Billy had a macho attitude towards medicine – he was too tough to need pharmaceutical assistance getting rid of an illness or a muscle strain or anything, really. So for him to not only not argue with his doctor about getting a prescription, but to also willingly take the prescription, he must have been really freaked out about flying.
“What’s this course for?”
“Some state-mandated thing, I don’t know. Ask me why he can’t do it here. Go on, ask me.”
“Why can’t he do it there?” Val asked obediently.
“I don’t know.” Morgan sounded annoyed and a little disgusted. “They didn’t even fucking tell him until a couple weeks ago, and he wasted so much time trying to figure out a way to take the damn course that didn’t involve flying anywhere, now he has to fly somewhere.” She snorted. “My husband’s an idiot. The twists he’ll go through to avoid getting on a plane, I don’t even know. It’s a good thing he’s cute.”
“So when are you getting in?”
“Friday night, if you can believe it. Billy wanted to take the last plane out. We’ll get to the hotel and crash. He’ll sleep off the tranquilizers, get over his jet lag, and go to his course in the morning. And then we’re flying home Saturday night because he’s just that crazy. I said ‘You know that’s where Val lives, we can spend some time with him,’ and he said no, he’ll want to go home.” She snorted again. “Would you believe he still wants to see you?”
“Maybe we can meet him after the course gets out. Do you know where it is?”
“Not a clue. Billy!” she yelled, presumably at her husband. “Where’s your course on Saturday?” Val couldn’t hear what Billy said, but apparently it wasn’t the answer Morgan wanted, because she yelled “I know that, Bill, but where?”
“Does he know?”
“He says it’s written down somewhere, he doesn’t want to look for it. My husband, I don’t even know. I’ll deal with him later. I’ll see you after breakfast. Ok? I’ll call you after I see Billy off, and you can pick me up and take me somewhere.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Besides have chicken for lunch? Window shop, I don’t know. Meet your friends. You can show me where you work.” He could hear her grinning on the other end of the phone.
“You want to see the office?” he asked. “Really? Why?”
“I’ve never been in a law office. I took you to see Dr Stewart’s office, you can show me Caswell and Maxwell.”
“Caswell Velez Malcolm and Simonson.”
“Whatever. I want to see where you work! There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Well, no, but it’s just an office, it’s not that exciting. It’s a lot of conference rooms and offices and cubes. The lobby’s nice, though, and the atrium in the building is pretty.”
“This is probably the only time I’ll ever be up there, Val. You can show me your law office and let me think about you as a lawyer. It won’t kill you.”
“Fine, fine,” he conceded. “I’ll take you to work and you can see where I bust my ass every week.”
“Busy?”
“Busy.”
“Are you getting credit for all this work?”
“I think so?”
“You think so? You don’t know so?”
“Well, we haven’t gone in front of a judge yet or anything.”
“Val,” Morgan said, in a tone of voice that Val had learned to recognize as her “I’m about to give you a lecture” voice, “how long have you been working there?”
“Three years.”
“And how long to do you plan to keep working there?”
“I don’t know. Until I apply to law school, I guess.”
“And are you doing anything different now than you did when you started?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“More research, less filing. I don’t have to get anyone coffee any more or make binders for the lawyers. I’m not answering the phone for other people all the time. A lot of the research is pretty interesting and I don’t usually have people hanging over my shoulder telling me what to do. I have some, um, autonomy.”
“Are you happy there?”
“I think so.” He wondered if it would be worth it to mention that he liked a lot of people he worked with, even if he wasn’t particularly fond of Catherine or Greg right now. Caswell Velez Malcolm and Simonson was pretty easy to get to, the offices themselves were fairly comfortable, the pay wasn’t bad for what he did, although the hours weren’t ideal, and he liked to think he was getting some good experience and learning about being a lawyer.
He figured he may as well tell Morgan all that, so he did. She listened while he tried to explain why he was still in the same job after three years, and when he was done, she said “I hope all the hours are worth it,” and then changed the subject to her own place of work.
They chatted for another twenty minutes before Morgan said she had to go, Billy wanted to go out for ice cream before the place closed.
“We’ll see you Saturday,” she said. “Swim early if you want to swim at all. I’ll call you after breakfast.”
“I’ll be dressed and ready,” Val told her.
“I know you’ll be awake. Don’t let them work you too hard. Spend some time with your friends.”
“Yes Mom.”
“Good night, Val.”
“Tell Billy I said hi.”
“I will. Bye.”
“Bye.”
He hung up the phone, found his Crackberry, and made a note in it that Morgan was going to call him after breakfast on Saturday and they’d spend the whole day together, and went into the living room to watch TV for an hour before bed. He felt like his brain needed something mindless to relax it before sleep.
He got up early Wednesday to go swimming and made it to work a little early. That day and in fact the rest of the week continued in more or less the same vein as Monday and Tuesday, busy with minor variations for length of lunch break and interruptions by Theo or occasionally Ira with something new and different to do that didn’t involve Catherine’s case.
On Thursday, Catherine actually called a meeting with herself, Greg, Gil the paralegal, Val, Chad, and another junior lawyer named Yelena. It turned out that Greg was helping Yelena with a similar case, as well as working on Catherine’s, and Catherine and Yelena had to hash it out between them who got his time. They spent half an hour straightening that out, during which time Gil went to get himself some coffee and Chad and Val tried to stay out of it.
Yelena got to keep Greg, and after they left, Catherine outlined her case in more detail and discussed her approach, which was a lot more mercenary and cut-throat than Val was entirely comfortable with. The more she talked, the more surprised he was that this was the first time he’d assisted with a case like this. He wasn’t sure he really liked it.
words: 1352
total words: 13,625
