edict
Proclamation the First:
HAVEN'T YOU PEOPLE HEARD OF BIRTH CONTROL? I can't handle this mass
procreation that's going on these days. Well, at least it gets the pressure
off my back.
Proclamation the Second:
I got to work at 5:30. This means I can be home in time to watch Jacques
Martin's return as the prodigal son to Ottawa. I want to see how the fans
receive him. I hope they're smart enough to applaud.
Proclamation the Third:
It really is true about being nice to people (Golden Rule, yahda yahda yahda .
. .). The clients for whom I went to trial were here when I got in. These
people fight with everyone. When they get angry (and they have very short
fuses) it's a spectacle that involves so much yelling and swearing you'd think
there were fifteen of them instead of just two.
But these guys LOVE me. They were a little wary at first, but then they saw
me come in on weekends for them, they saw me organize their case so that
Wayner could present it logically, they saw me sitting next to them day after
day while we were at trial for a month. And I always smiled.
I think I may have won myself some allies in the world, although I don't know
how much use it will be. T is an enormous Jamaican man, and we have fun
discussions about Rastafarianism and the like. He gives me fliers for his
reggae shows that he produces. M is tiny tiny, but with a four-letter
vocabulary the likes of which I have never seen before, and will likely never
see again. But she never swears at me, or yells. I'm one of the few people
who gets to see her smile. She and I are almost the same age, and I think
that helps.
While we were at trial, during the shorter recesses, we would sit together and
wait for Wayner to do something, or we would sit in the car together on the
way home and be social. It was awkward, but I tried to keep the conversation
light and away from contentious issues. M and I would discuss how stupid men
were (funny how I told her about the Pie but have never mentioned him to
Wayner), and T and I would talk about music. I was almost a sort of comic relief
(this trial was very stressful, arduous, and ultimately dissappointing for our
clients), and I think they appreciated that. It shows in how they treat me
now, while we're working on their appeal (while they are not necessarily
undeserving of the judge's decision, Her Honour certainly did not give our
case an objective review).
That pleases me.
Posted by Ally at November 17, 2005 06:07 PM