The weekend went by in a blur. \u00a0Every since Salina dropped the bomb on me of her leaving, I have been kinda “out of it.” \u00a0I even left early on Friday, just because every time I passed by her desk (which was inevitable since of her direct proximity to me) I tried to beg her to stay. \u00a0The redundancy and the tears became overbearing–so I left.<\/p>\n
Today, I arrived to work early. \u00a0I pull into my parking spot next to the custom-made, platinum, F-type R Series Jaquar already parked and cooling off–Ms. Howell is here. \u00a0I let out a sigh as I grab my bag, my purse, my water jug and my coffee mug and slowly drag out of my car. \u00a0I miss Salina, already. \u00a0As I muster up enough energy to get out of Goblin, I notice Keith’s Tundra is parked, too. \u00a0Is EVERYONE here? \u00a0WAIT. \u00a0Am<\/em> I early? \u00a0I looked at my phone and the time\u00a0read 8:53 am<\/em>. \u00a0What the deuces is going on? \u00a0Why is everyone here so early? \u00a0Well, truth be told, everyone is simply on time, but in their defense, on time is…well…early.<\/p>\n I open the door and trudge my way up the stairs.<\/p>\n “Good Morning, Mr. Howell.”<\/em> I yell out around the corner at Mr. Howell. \u00a0Interesting, no response.<\/p>\n “Good Morning, Keith.”<\/i> I yell down the hall towards Smithson Keith’s office. \u00a0No answer.<\/p>\n I walk up the stairs and, as I approach the top step, I can faintly hear murmuring coming from the direction of my office.<\/p>\n “I knew she had something extra going on anyways.”\u00a0<\/em>Attorney Shondra Howell says.<\/p>\n “Did she say anything? \u00a0Was there any warning of this happening?”<\/em> Keith questions.<\/p>\n “She was an ungrateful brat, anyways. \u00a0She was always late, leaving early, and ALWAYS had something going on. \u00a0Some people just have no idea how good they have it. \u00a0Nothing in her life should have been more important than her job.”<\/em>\u00a0 Mr. Howell belts out in his matter-of-fact tone. Leave it to Larry Howell to grow some AFTER the person leaves.\u00a0His voice is the last voice I hear as I approach the empty vestibule to my office–once the office of Salina Chavez.\u00a0 Well, kinda empty.\u00a0 It’s now full of Howell, Howell and Keith and the files Salina was last working on.\u00a0 As I slowly walk into the Open Fire of Salina Chavez<\/em>\u00a0, Mr. Howell, gives me a glaring look of harsh judgment.<\/p>\n “Good Morning, Everyone.”<\/em> \u00a0I say as I pass through the huddle and into my office. \u00a0I continue through as if today is just another Monday–nothing new, nothing special. \u00a0I place my personal affects down and, intentionally and desperately, look for something on my desk to quickly pick up and help me seem busy! \u00a0Everyone is quiet in the adjoining room. \u00a0I supposed they are waiting on a response from me.<\/p>\n As I begin clicking away on my keyboard, frantically\u00a0typing\u00a0Dear Mr. Soin So. \u00a0We appreciate you for being available during this difficult time.<\/em>\u00a0 I had no other option. \u00a0I had no letter that I was working on and all the files that I need are still in Salina’s office–and I am NOT going in there. \u00a0Mr. Soin So<\/em> never lets me down. \u00a0I simply open a Microsoft Word document, squint my eyes and wrinkle my forehead in deep, or at least seemingly deep, thought.\u00a0 Shondra Howell, who clearly knows me and my\u00a0look of fake-a-busy<\/em> oh too well, leans in.<\/p>\n “Danni. \u00a0When you finish the letter to Mr. So, can you step in for a moment.<\/em>” \u00a0She says as she\u00a0gives me a smirk and peers over her glasses.\u00a0DANGIT!\u00a0<\/em> I think to myself. \u00a0She KNEW I didn’t want to deal with this situation right now–not with an audience. I drop my shoulders so low that, if I was a dog, my tail would be practically dragging the floor. \u00a0I sigh, look up towards Heaven, roll my eyes, and slowly push my chair back. \u00a0I never open my eyes until I sigh, again, as I stand. \u00a0I walk to Salina’s office even slower than I pushed back my chair to stand up. \u00a0I even added extra steps to approach the door. \u00a0I simply do NOT want to deal with this right now. \u00a0Nevertheless, I paint on my smile and stand to the doorway.<\/p>\n “Yes, Ma’am.”<\/em> I ask in my\u00a0I have no clue what’s going on voice.<\/em><\/p>\n “Your shady girl threw us shade!”<\/em> Mr. Howell says with a grin of contentment. \u00a0You know, sometimes Mr. Howell’s\u00a0southern drawl is not so much sexy gentleman as it is country hick–this is one of those times.<\/p>\n “Larry! That’s enough<\/em>” Shondra interjects. \u00a0“As you know, Danni, Salina is no longer with us.<\/em>”<\/p>\n When I first began working for Howell and Knotch (the original name), Shondra insisted that we all become a family and call each other on a first-name basis.\u00a0 We did until about three years ago when Larry Howell became a silent partner.\u00a0 After Keith made partner but, suspiciously, before pending divorce papers mysteriously disappeared and the proceedings completely dropped, Mr. Larry Howell became the additional Howell<\/em> added to the business association.\u00a0 Something about twenty-four years of marriage, a family secret and connections to a radio station and bing-bang BOOM–we, instantly became Howell, Keith, Howell and Knotch.\u00a0 Mr. Howell’s first order of business as partner was to move his name from behind Keith’s, making us Howell, Howell, Keith and Knotch.\u00a0 This way, there is no question which Howell is first.\u00a0 Mr. Howell’s second task was to ensure everyone called him MISTER <\/em>Howell.\u00a0 It was so bad that, if we missed the inter-office memo that only went to three people, he would not answer you without the salutation.\u00a0 Lastly, he wanted to begin office cut-backs–namely me.\u00a0 However, that lasted about as long as his vegetarian lifestyle–which was from post Memorial Day until the office 4th of July cookout.<\/p>\n I acknowledged the news with a head nod as Shondra continued.<\/p>\n “Danni, I’m so sorry.\u00a0 That will mean more work for you.\u00a0 I will try to get someone in on a temp-to-perm basis as soon as I can.\u00a0 I have someone in mind.\u00a0 We will see how soon she can begin. <\/em>”\u00a0 When Ms. Howell–Shondra–is in her work mode, she is a force to be reckoned with.\u00a0 No bull.\u00a0 No drama. Strictly business.\u00a0 That’s one of the things I admire most about her–the ability to decipher and discern timing for everything.<\/p>\n “I don’t mind helping her<\/em>” Keith speaks up “Of course, that is until my workload and cases pick up.\u00a0 But, in the interim, I will be more than happy to lend a helping hand.”<\/em><\/p>\n I look over at Keith and give him a kissing gesture with my full lips.\u00a0 Keith and I once worked together.\u00a0 The entire time he was in law school, I trained him.\u00a0 He is diligent and knows how I like things.\u00a0 This will work out wonderfully because I don’t have to train anyone\u00a0 Keith also knows that my choice to be a Paralegal is my choice and not because I could not cut-it in law school.\u00a0 I mean, Keith’s only civil suit is proof that a degree doesn’t bring in the money.\u00a0 Truth told, I make more than him.\u00a0 Shondra placed Keith back on payroll so that he could justify being in the office.\u00a0 Periodically, the small cases that Keith received, they were bones Shondra threw him from time to time.<\/p>\n “Thanks, Luvy.\u00a0 I will leave the basket here on Salin…”<\/em> I stopped myself and sighed.\u00a0 “I will leave everything here, in this basket, on this desk.\u00a0 You can even take up residence here, if you want.”<\/em><\/p>\n “Thanks,” <\/em>Keith said, open-ended.\u00a0 I knew his gentle gesture was going to be short-lived.\u00a0 “But this office is too small for my desk.\u00a0 Perhaps when you need something, you can just call me on the intercom,”<\/em><\/p>\n We dismissed.\u00a0 Well, I dismissed and tuned out the remainder of what was going on.\u00a0 For the rest of the day, I amused myself by calling Keith on the intercom–ALL DAY LONG.<\/p>\n “Keith, I need help with the papers.\u00a0 Keith, I have something else in the basket for you.\u00a0 Keith, did you ever finish…Keith…Keith…Keith.”\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The weekend went by in a blur. \u00a0Every since Salina dropped the bomb on me of her leaving, I have been kinda “out of it.” \u00a0I even left early on Friday, just because every time I passed by her desk (which was inevitable since of her direct proximity to me) I tried to beg her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[7,14,19,20,22,25,70,28,29,32,36],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memoirs-of-a-paralegal","tag-danni-j","tag-law","tag-legal-assistant","tag-legal-drama","tag-legal-secretary","tag-memoirs","tag-memoirs-of-a-paralegal","tag-office-drama","tag-online-drama","tag-paralegal","tag-sweet-danni-j"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2WTgw-3P","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}