The Wrong Lawyer Read Online Free PDF Page B

sounds
fantastic.”
    We made
arrangements that I’d pick Linda up at four o’clock.
    I did take care to
wear nice casual clothes, white pants and a black golf-style shirt with the
Binion’s Casino logo on the breast pocket.
    Linda looked particularly
fetching in a multi-colored sun dress which somehow accentuated her lovely
little bum.
    She asked me to
come in and meet her parents.
    Mr. and Mrs.
Wright, or Lionel and Bernice as Linda introduced them, were not only reserved
but were just on the cusp of being downright impolite. There was an
unmistakable aroma of disapproval lurking just under the surface of their icy civility.
    Linda and I packed
the picnic paraphernalia into my car and she seemed delighted with my
suggestion of taking the ferry over to Wolfe Island and finding a pretty spot
over there to sit and eat our supper.
    “Your parents
didn’t seem very pleased about my showing up to take you out. What gives with
that?”
    “Oh, Tom, I was
hoping you hadn’t noticed. I’m so sorry. Mom and Dad can be impossible. They’re
both extremely old fashioned and criticized me mercilessly when I told them
that I was going out on a date with a man I had met at the dance last night.”
    “I assume they
believe that it’s too early for you to be out socializing.”
    “Precisely; I
never said a bad word to them about Paul even though he wasn’t the easiest man
to live with. He got along marvelously with both my parents and to them it
seems as if we just had the funeral yesterday. They tore a strip off me today
for tarnishing his memory by throwing myself at the first man who happened
along. It was both embarrassing and infuriating at the same time.”
    “Well, not to
worry, Linda. I’ll make sure you get home this evening before the old fogeys go
to bed. That should earn me a few brownie points with them. Perhaps it has
nothing to do with you at all. It could be that your folks are in fact
exceedingly wise and know that lawyers are the scum of the earth and can’t be
trusted with their gorgeous daughter.”
    Linda chuckled.
    “What are you
after, you devious little smooth talker?”
    The ferry ride itself
was always a fun experience even though it only travelled in a straight line
from the mainland to the island. We got out of the car and watched the scenery
from the upper viewing deck.
    Once on Wolfe Island
we drove around the zigzagging County Road 96 heading east until the very end
at Port Metcalf where we found a picnic table overlooking the St. Lawrence
River and stopped to eat.
    Linda had packed
sandwiches and small salads to go along with soft drinks.
    We chatted about
our past lives and careers and then Linda began probing about my marriage to
Marg.
    “Do you regret
having been married?” she inquired.
    “Not at all; the
marriage was fine for at least the first ten years until we began drifting
apart. By the time we finally split, neither of us enjoyed living together.
Despite the marriage eventually failing, I see the whole experience as an
integral part of my life.”
    “Are you saying
that you’d do it all over again?”
    “Sure, if I were
thirty years old. I certainly don’t regret not having children. Corbett and I
each thank our lucky stars that we managed to avoid kids. Tell me a bit about
your son.”
    “Jeremy has always
been a handful, especially once he hit his teenage years. He lives in a
disgusting slummy apartment with a young woman I can’t stand. She’s heavily
into drugs and as a result, Jeremy is constantly broke and putting his hand out
for financial assistance. I’ve never had the heart to deny him and Paul always
spoiled our son rotten.”
    “Does Jeremy
work?”
    “At the moment he
works at a call center but it’s rare for him to keep the same job more than a
year or two. Don’t get me wrong. I love Jeremy completely but I deplore the
life he leads and the company he keeps. You seem like a very happy person, Tom.
Is there nothing about your past life that you