E.R.

“That’s right Karen. The high today will be 95 and it doesn’t look like we’re getting any rain until after the weekend . . .”

The radio died out after I killed the engine. I told myself that I would make the most of the warm weather so I rode into work without the AC. Even though it was still early I could feel that it would be ninety by lunchtime and I made a plan to create a lunch from the cakes and chips in the vending machines on the fourth floor. Anything would be better than melting outside in the midday heat.

After unfastening my seatbelt, I checked my book bag to make sure I had everything. Reading glasses, wallet, PLS binder . . . it was all there. I slid off my high tops and reached in the back seat to grab my black leather lace ups. I was lucky today because traffic on 476 North was smooth. There was no doubt that I would be the first one to arrive. I decided to take my time heading in. I poked around and found a piece of gum left in an old pack of Juicy Fruit. Eventually it was time to get moving so I put the cap on what was left of my twenty ounce Mountain Dew, slid it into the side pocket of my book bag, and climbed out of the Jeep.

As I waited for the elevator to come down from the 6th floor, a couple of beauties from the seventh floor entered the building and I thought about how great it was not to be studying for a Property exam. The internship was going well so far. The managing attorney, Lori, let me choose which area of the law I wanted to concentrate in and I chose bankruptcy in a public interest setting. After reading a few of the manuals in the office and researching statutes on Lexis I was finally starting to understand Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcies. With this new knowledge, I was looking forward to getting started on the memo that Lori and I had decided I would write as a capstone project for the MLK internship.

Nine o’clock had arrived and I started to work through what I had left on my desk from Friday. As my computer booted up, I could hear the staff attorneys and paralegals welcoming clients into their offices and I was now sure that the drive into work was not a dream set to music by Beyonce and Jay Z. It was then that I heard the noise. At first it sounded like someone complaining, then it sounded like someone trying to get an idea out, and then I realized that it was the sound of a child . . . crying. No child can cry forever, I thought, and I ignored the sound, certain that the child would lose its voice or find something to play with. Either way the noise would be gone soon. I was right. The noise was gone after the baby went into the office and the door closed. To my chagrin, the door was only closed temporarily and when it opened again the crying child was alive again after having rested her vocal chords.

Well, I thought, babies cry all the time. And besides, the morning was moving along, I still had two bankruptcies to put in the system, and it was time to get focused. The first bankruptcy had two grocery bags full of credit card and medical bills and I was sure that I would be busy completing the personal property and unsecured debt schedules until the early afternoon. I cleared off a space near the computer and began to wrap my mind around the task ahead. After some searching in the file, I found the bankruptcy worksheet the client had completed, and began to unleash my fury on the keyboard. A few minutes into my typing the song “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire came on the radio and I could myself settling into what paralegals and young attorneys often call “the zone”. Forty-five minutes later when the bankruptcy was about halfway done, something strange happened. The crying stopped. With cautious optimism, I stopped typing and listened to the office to see if the silence was real. Had the baby fallen asleep? Not hearing anything, I decided it was a good time to take a break. I grabbed my mug and headed for the water cooler. Two steps outside of my door I noticed Lori standing next to the copier. In her right arm were some copies she had to make for the client in her office and cradled in her left arm was the adorable little girl. She was done crying. Apparently the office decided to take on her mother’s eviction case. Even though the problem was not yet solved, finding an attorney gave the client comfort and hope.

After I finished printing the documents for the second bankruptcy petition I walked them over to Sheila’s office. On the way I saw Lori shaking the eviction client’s hand and waving goodbye to the adorable little girl. In the midst of it all the office stayed on course, like a legal emergency room, meeting the needs of Pennsylvania’s less fortunate.