Soon after, I was in my new office. Clean, modern. New construction. You can still smell the paint off the walls. I sat there with nothing to do. No clients that day. I begin to scribble scrabble on my yellow pad and I remembered! I just had to find a way to get to the Supreme Court!
I applied for admission. When I received the letter from the Supreme Court I could hardly contain myself. My swearing in was scheduled for February and I can bring only one guest. Of course I could not do this. I brought three with me to the Supreme Court. Me, Vic, and the 2 kids. Gramita stayed home in the Bronx. Papi stayed home in Jersey.
I raised my right hand along with the other attorneys being admitted that day and stated my name:
I, Jennese Torres, do hereby swear to uphold the laws of the United States Constitution.
It was a day to remember! Even for Julieta! Gramita, on the other hand, thought I was at the court down on the Grand Concourse, but anyway… I digress.
Soon after, Papi came over from Jersey just to see my proudly displayed Supreme Court certification that I framed with 24K gold, of course! He stood in front of it and glanced up. His eyes rolling over every word as if he didn’t want to miss not one letter. It said that I was
"duly admitted and qualified as an Attorney and Counsellor of the Supreme Court of the United States".
He is reading it and looking at it with all the solemnity it deserves. Studying the document displayed high up on the wall.
Well, let him take his time I thought. This is my moment! My father is going to be so proud of me! I felt as if there were bright lights on me and my hair was blowing in the wind! I felt like a movie star, like Christina Aguilera singing “I just wanna feel this moment!”
He finally and slowly turns around and says with amazement in his voice:
“REALLY?”
“Sí, Papi, I am licensed to practice and appear in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.”
He repeats with incredulity, “REEEALLY?”
His incredulity leads to bewilderment, “REEEEEEALLY?”
His bewilderment now turns to befuddlement, “REEEEEEEEEALLY?”
He looks me straight in the eye and throws his hands up in dispair, “And you still don’t have a license to practice law in New Jersey!!!”
!!!!!!
You see, to my father, those words embossed on that parchment are just a means to an end. Not an end. It’s what you do with it. It’s how you sing and dance and whether you sing and dance at all that matters. The fancy calligraphy letters, nice, surely. But, they really are just
--- Scribble Scrabble---
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