Gary replied, "She's treating Mollie like a long-lost daughter dad. I think it's rather swell and Mollie is responding, whether or not she knows it. When together they act like real buddies."
Later in the evening Stephen called on Mollie to address the assembly. She was invited to speak for thirty minutes on any topic and it would be appreciated if she included some references to law.
My topic is Why Law? There is someone here tonight who calls me Mollie from Montana. I hope you all know where Montana is and if you think of cattle and horses and cowboys that's about right. But also think about a landscape of significant grandeur, a place where it's possible to live close to nature or where it's also possible to live in a city as a professor at a law school.
I've lived most of my life on a ranch but left home for college and to continue on to law school. I then returned home, lived at home and practiced law for almost five years in our servicing town, working in the only law firm in that town because the town and hinterland wasn't large enough to support two law firms. Then I immigrated here. Why here? My mother had died and I wanted to get a long way from Montana and this is a long way from Montana. You people think of Acacia as being small but in the way perspective operates I view it as a large city and expect to take some time acclimatizing. I miss the wide-open space, the mountains, my horse and my rifle and know I will miss the extremes of weather. But what lies ahead of me are challenges that I'd never face in Montana so I'm happy to have arrived in my new world.
So, why law?
My career adviser at high school inadvertently planted the idea when she said it was surprising for a student as smart as I was – her words – that I didn't have a career in mind. She asked why had I said I wanted to be a rodeo queen. The adviser said if I achieved that status it would provide me with a year or so of minor fame but not a career. I was told to sit outside her office until I returned with my career choice written down. I sat beside another girl Mandy who was doodling and found I shared her predicament. I asked had she been back and she nodded, saying Miss Young had looked at her reconsidered career choice but told her to go outside and think again because Mandy wasn't smart enough to be an attorney. That switched a light on for me. Miss Young had alleged I was smart so I acted smart. I wrote down attorney and went back to Miss Young who all but hugged me when she read what I'd written. I went out and said to Mandy to write nurse and return to Miss Young. Mandy was out in less than two minutes, elated and said Miss Young had said Mandy would make a fine nurse. Mandy had a dollar in her pocket and gave it to me – I regard it as my first although unsolicited fee as a legal adviser. Mandy was in my intake at college and she is now a highly regarded biochemist. Well, I had said nurse but attorneys are not noted for their perception, are they?
I immediately began asking adults I knew about what attorneys did and chatting to some straight-talking people learned that words associated with attorneys included smooth-talkers, shysters, useless varmints, professional fee extractors, scumbags and then I spoke to one of my mother's friends, unaware that her husband was my parents' attorney. She said, oh they were people who'd studied and become successfully examined and registered to practice law to advise clients in matters of law and to represent them in lawsuits. Her reply impressed me and I switched my interest back to law after having decided to go nursing after hearing about shysters and scumbags. I'm glad I did because I've never been great at the sight of free-flowing blood.
Mollie then spoke of her representing some of her country clients in disputes in matters unlikely lawyers she was addressing would have experienced. They included the dynamiting of an illegally dammed waterway, a shoot-out over a boundary dispute, defending alleged rustlers, successfully prosecuting on behalf of a regional wildlife authority two teenagers accused of shooting protected eagles, prosecuting on behalf of the owner of a prized stallion who alleged a neighbor had introduced his mares to the stabled stallion and defending an injured farmer's wife in proceedings brought by another farmer's wife claiming she'd been forced into a fight using pitchforks by the defendant at 2:30 am; both had been drinking heavily and there were no witnesses.
She then spoke about her consuming passion in studying the history of law, battling to understand the complexity of law and the senses of triumph, frustration and failure experienced in working as an attorney. Mollie said she in entering the profession it had taken her quite some time to accept the truth in what she'd heard at the outset: the more you know the less you appear to know.
What I have come to know is that it is naïve if not dangerous to think that any piece of written law is absolute. I close to say I have found the most emotionally heart-wrenching cases I've had are battles over custody of children, particularly very small children and struggle unsuccessfully to concur with some of the awards handed down. I look forward to helping to represent King & King clients especially in road accident cases. I remind myself that even road accidents are not open and shut cases. For example, two vehicles colliding head-on and both over the center line. Attempting to establish the degree of negligence is almost frightening, especially in the absence of witnesses. However, I rest easy knowing in effect it is little different to a decision that awards custody to one parent over another. It's based on fair assumptions that perhaps some may prove incorrect but remedies are available and hopefully are sought in timely fashion. The gap between what we know and don't know is always there and we never know just how wide that unknown gap is. It is the process of trying to narrow that gap that I find so challenging as is the challenge of relentlessly trying to both update and expand my knowledge. Such challenges have addicted me to law and for that I go back to the very beginning and thank my high school career adviser Miss Young and fellow student Mandy Roberts.
Mollie returned to her seat to loud applause, knowing she hadn't qualified as an orator but content to know she'd spoken from the heart and her immediate work colleagues would have a better idea of who she was and that she appeared open to support.
"You were great Mollie," Elaine said supportively. "Very personalized, interesting and people around you will have a better idea of who you are."
"Thank you Elaine," Mollie said warmly. "I set out to lower expectation so I'll never be invited to speak again."
Stephen laughed and as Mollie went to sit down beside Gary he patted her butt and looked at her mildly but not possessively. That was the look she expected so she gently speculated should she crawl in under the table and unzip him to begin sending a rush of red blood through his veins.
Stanley came over and patted her on the back. Smiling, he said she'd done well and he was proud of her.
"Thank you Stanley," she said, briefly touching his hand that rested on her shoulder to indicate his comment was appreciated.
"We'll all be moving out to the bar now for coffee and liqueurs," Stanley said. "I invite you to accompany me – my wife Lucia has asked to be introduced."
"Yes sure, I'd like you to come with me Gary.
"Aw, do I have to?"
At that Gary sat up straight with a jolt and as he eased from his chair rubbing a shin and glared at his mother sitting opposite him. Looking innocently at Mollie, Elaine asked did she require a ride home.
"No thank you. Gary has offered to take me home in a cab," she lied.
Gary rose to the occasion. "Oh, so I did – ten days ago." That, of course, would have been when Mollie was preparing to leave Montana for the Great Unknown.
* * *
In the cab Gary said his mother had told him she'd rented a vehicle for a month or two to carry Mollie over until she figured out what kind of vehicle to buy. "Why didn't you drive here tonight?"
"I didn't want to limit drinking alcohol."
"Good girl, same here. I'll help you sort out a vehicle if you wish."
"Thanks but I probably know what I want. What would you have chosen for me?"
"Probably Volkswagen, a model like you that is high-revving, corners well and has a reserve of power and looks good."
"So that's what you think of me?"
He didn't answer directly. "I suggest the EOS roadster convertible."
"I prefer a Rav4."
"It's too chunky – the roadster is sleek and refined, just like you."
