A Change in the Elements

While sipping and thinking about the phone call, she is approached by a young lawyer lady with whom she establishes an incredible, yet brief, rapport.
She rarely talks to lawyers.

(It is here that she finally begins to catalog real names.)

She stared at her phone as the blackness of her drink seeped slowly down. He didn't leave a voice mail. He never does anymore. She closed her eyes a second and thought back to the last time she'd been in the Firefly. It'd been one of those brutally cold, Indiana nights and she had been near death with frost on her bones. (She was always getting ice on her bones.) She'd worn a white hat and a ski coat so that she could sit with him outside. It had been such a wonderful evening. Being frozen like that had never felt so much like flames. It's funny how easy it is to ignore the elements when the brain is tuned in at a higher temperature.

She smiled at the memory, debated on calling him at all. It'd been so long and yet there had been so many missed calls, so many unreturned emails. She wasn't sure she could call back without raising a signal in her gut. For now, she would think about it.

She put the phone away and picked up a magazine lying near her seat and started toying with the pages, not reading, just listening to the filmy papers crack against each other in the somewhat quiet room. It was then that she spotted the woman at the corner table, clackity-clacking on her laptop. Next to this woman sat a man in a hat and tweed dress coat, looking somewhat perplexed and peaceful at the same time.

She wondered about that couple – what was going on there. They weren't talking much. They were bathed only in the sounds of the rapid fire typing and the softness of the man's presence.

Just as she was toying with the idea of leaving, the young woman at the corner table caught her eye and shot a smile her direction.

"Hi," she said warmly.

The woman was wearing trendy spectacles, jeans and a sweater, and thin brace around her right wrist. She had a mess of unruly curls springing from her head, but though they looked in disarray, it appeared deliberately contained. If cleverness could be personified, this is what it would look like.

To her surprise, the woman left her laptop and sat down across the table from her.

"What are you doing?" she asked pointedly.

"I'm not quite sure," she responded.

"Well, I don't see you here much and when I'm in town, I come here all the time. Name's Katherine McDoogle, two o's, not o, then u. Law's my bag," she said pleasantly, but confidently.

"Nice to meet you," she responded. She gave her name.

"I work for Bull, Crass, and Strumpet in Indianapolis. No really, that's the same of the firm. I'm the youngest on the team – criminal law. I thought about medical or environmental once, but not in the cards. I even toyed with copyright law, but no money in that. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a pretty big deal," she said laughing. She was making an attempt to be humorous, probably guessing she was dealing with a big downer.

"Sounds wonderful," she responded. She closed the magazine. "Actually, I may need a lawyer."

"Yeah? What did you do?"
"Dumped a bunch of shit on a major thoroughfare and damn near impaled a passerby on a wire hanger – all by mistake of course," she said quickly.

"Damn. Why?" Katherine asked.

"Had to get rid of stuff, you know? I just couldn't manage it or keep it around anymore. Too big, too small, too awkward, you know - just stuff that had to be gotten rid of, but maybe donated to others who may benefit. Unfortunately, I didn't make the impact I'd intended," she said.

"I see," Katherine said slowly. "I think I get it. I'm not worried about the littering charge or the disorderly conduct. We need to worry about the poor bastard who is at risk of becoming a Cyclops. He'll likely sue."

"Wouldn't you?" she asked.

"Sure would. An eye's an eye. You lose one without taking one, well, that's a pisser." The lawyer responded.

"Can you help me? I mean, if it comes to that?" she asked. "I don't have a lawyer right now - not one like you anyway."

"Sure," no problem. I'll get you out of this. Sounds like some dramatic antics to me. Did you come from a broken home or have some major trauma that may cause emotional outbursts? You on any meds? Can we blame this on female lunacy? I'm all about that. Then again, I tend to be a bit emo and most of my angst is displayed on the page instead."

"You write?" she asked Katherine.

"All the time. It's kind of my thing. You see, I have a few hypertexts out there, with a cult following – creative fiction and non-fiction. Here's my card. The true stuff is on the back." Katherine said.

She looked at the card. The front side contained Katherine's office information. The back contained an image of a rain cloud swarmed by fireflies. Below the image was a web site address. She put the card in her pocket, making a mental note to check it out as soon as she could.

"Do you write?" the lawyer asked.

"Yes, when nothing else will do it. When I'm not writing, I throw shit out onto the highway in hopes of making people notice." She laughed.

"I get it." Katherine looked over her shoulder, back at her companion, who was now toying with the laptop with a smile on his face. He looked charming, like an old friend you could tell any secret to without fear.

"You need to get back to your friend?" she asked.

"He's not my friend," Katherine replied. "You are. He's someone else entirely. If this criminal case thing works out in your favor, I may have a chance to tell you more about it. Check out the web site. Only then, will you know and it's been nice chatting. Call my office on Monday morning. We'll set some stuff up."

With that the lawyer lady returned to her table. As she watched Katherine sit back down, she noticed that she broke into a large smile. Her arm brushed up next to her friend in that timid and electrifying way it happens on a first date. Fear seemed to flash over the confident lawyer's eyes, but it disappeared leaving her looking effervescent.

"Katherine's in love," she said to herself, smiling. It was then that she noticed that the sky had clouded over in a beautifully lavender way and thunder was rumbling gently. She thought back to her first love and remembered fondly that it had smelled like mocha and tasted like rain.

It was at that moment that lightening finally lit up the sky.