lawyer

Simply 6 Minutes — A Weekend at the Shore

Fandango10 Comments

Nathan was excited when he came home from his local Costco and unloaded the SUV with stuff to take with him, his wife, and two young children to the shore for a mini-vacation over the weekend.

But when he walked through the door to his apartment, he knew something was wrong. It was deadly quiet. No kids running around screaming, no TV on in the background, and no wife to ask him why he was late coming home again.

He called out to his wife, “Sophia, are you here?” No answer. “Danny, Denise, where are you kids? Daddy’s home.” Silence.

That’s when Nathan noticed the envelope with his name on it pinned to the refrigerator door with a magnet. He took it down, opened the envelope and read the letter inside. It simply read,

Nathan hadn’t seen this coming, but Sophia had always told him that he was oblivious. He sat down at the kitchen table and tried to decide what to do next. He had motel reservations at the shore so he decided to take everything he just bought at Costco, put it back in the SUV, and drive there by himself. At least he could have a mini-vacation where he could clear his head and figure out next steps.

When Nathan woke up the next morning in the motel room, it was raining outside, and the forecast called for rain for the rest of the weekend.

Undeterred, Nathan took out the beach chair, the umbrella, the bucket, the beach toys and the inflatable pink flamingo, and set them up in the hotel room. Now, especially, he deserved this mini-vacation, and despite losing his wife and kids and the rainy weather, Nathan wanted his shore time.

After a few minutes sitting there in the beach chair, Nathan began to feel a little foolish. He grabbed his laptop, opened it up, and did a Google search on divorce lawyers.

Written for Christine Bialczak’s Simply 6 Minutes Challenge. Photo credit: istockphotos.com.

The Best There Is

Fandango2 Comments

“From the sound of things, it seems that I am indebted to you. You could have left me out to hang, but you came to my aid without question to achieve a positive disposition on my case. Who knew that monstrous SOB would be so damn litigious?” Charles said.

“I’m happy with the outcome,” Max said, reaching out to shake Charles’ hand.

Charles rebuffed the handshake. “At the same time,” he said, “while I do like you, and you are quite good at your job, your invoice for your services has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I get sued a lot, but unless you can do something about your exorbitant fees, I may have to replace you as my attorney.”

Max looked at Charles and said, “I like you, too, Charles, but if you don’t pay my invoice, you will find yourself in court forthwith, and you’d better hire a great lawyer because there will be no secrecy around the fact that you’ll be facing me, and I’m the best there is. Look how I just pulled your sorry ass out of the fire.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (sound/monstrous), Fandango’s One Word Challenge (indebted/litigious), Ragtag Daily Prompt (hang/question), Your Daily Word Prompt (disposition/replace), My Vivid Blog (like), and Word of the Day Challenge (bitter/secrecy).

#WDYS — Storm Warnings

Fandango14 Comments

The storm clouds had been gathering
For quite some time now
The seas were getting rougher
We were heading toward disaster
Our boat was about to capsize
A strong gust of wind
Picked me up and threw me overboard
Into the dark, frigid waters
You made no effort to save me
You left me to sink or swim
I felt like I was drowning
And after I thrust my hand up
For the third time
I knew that it was over for me
I would sink to a watery grave
Our life together abruptly ended

Then I woke from my nightmare and decided to call my lawyer.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. Photo credit: Stromseeker @ Unsplash.

Should I Call My Lawyer?

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Jill admired her reflection in the full-length mirror in her boudoir. Wearing her sexiest silk dress, the breeze from the oscillating fan gently blowing her long, bleach-blonde hair, she felt she looked every bit the movie star. She was in her element.

She almost glided to the bedroom door, her hand grabbing the doorknob and gently turning it. She pushed the door open and made her way to the grand staircase. She slowly, gracefully descended them with a poise unexpected under the circumstances.

“Thank you for meeting me, Mrs. Donnelly,” Detective Fred Morrisey, who was waiting for Jill in the foyer at the bottom of the stairs, said. “I just need to get some information from you. I’ll be brief.”

“I understand, Detective, that you want to speak with me about the disappearance of my beloved husband, Brian,” Jill said in a manner that was both sugary sweet and filled with disdain.

“That is correct, Mrs. Donnelly,” Morrisey said.

“Please call me Jill,” she said. “I’m happy to talk to you, but you’ll get no admissions from me, Detective,” Jill said, defensively.

“No one is accusing you of anything, Mrs. Donnelly,” Morrisey said. “Not yet, anyway. Your husband is an important political fundraiser, and I’m sure he has many enemies, one of whom is Eric Lofgren, the head of a radical faction of the opposition party. We have reason to believe that your husband was kidnapped by that group.”

“I have no knowledge of such things,” Jill said. “Should I be calling my lawyer?”

“Do you deny knowing or having a relationship with Eric Lofgren?” Morrisey asked. “Before you answer, here are some photos of you and Mr. Lofgren and you appear to be quite cozy.”

“I admit to nothing,” Jill said. “You need to leave now.”

“Actually, Mrs. Donnelly,” Morrisey said, “You need to come down to the station with me. You might want to change out of that silk dress and get comfortable, though. You could be there for a while. And it would be wise to have your lawyer meet you there.”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (silk), Word of the Day Challenge (oscillating), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (element), My Vivid Blog (doorknob), The Daily Spur (sugar), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (admissions), and Your Daily Word Prompt (faction).

#WDYS — Grandma’s Dilemma

Fandango27 Comments

Grandma just couldn’t get the hang of it. She didn’t grasp the concept of answering machines. Whenever she called someone and the answering machine picked up, she couldn’t understand that there wasn’t a person on the other end, and she’d start saying, “Hello, hello, hello, it’s Grandma,” and when the voice kept talking over her, she’d get angry. And then, when she heard the tone and thought she had been hung up on, she got even angrier.

We all tried to teach her how to use the voicemail box we set up for her on her own phone, but when she listened to the messages, she didn’t realize that it was just a recording and not an actual person talking to her.

We left Grandma little notes, like “After the tone,” and “Leave us a message.” But even that didn’t work.

One day, Grandma got so angry that she called her lawyer with the intention of cutting us all out of her will. Sadly for her, and fortunately for us, her phone call to the lawyer went right to voicemail.

Grandma’s now gone, but the one thing we all have to remember her by was the voicemail message she left for the lawyer. Who knew the old bat could use such salty language?

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? prompt. Photo credit: Taylor Heery @ Unsplash.