City Living

Just in case there was any doubt, the crazies, they LOVE me.

After the interminable mandatory DC Bar CLE class ended on Tuesday afternoon I had a couple of hours to kill before meeting a friend at the Kennedy Center to see Orrin Star.* I had gone for a little walk on my lunch hour and noticed a Barnes and Noble down the street.** So once we were released, I mosied over to the bookstore.

I picked up a few books*** and planted myself at a coffee shop table to decide which ones I was going to buy because you know what an English and History major with a law degree always needs is MORE books. I placed the big DC Bar binder from the class on the table and started perusing the books. About 10 minutes later a nicely-dressed man with a brown fedora sat down at the table next to me. We made eye contact and politely nodded at one another. I noticed he had a law textbook.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him take in the DC Bar binder and then he said, "Excuse me, are you an attorney?" I replied yes.

Then he started talking about how he's a law professor and he's involved with this really big case and Oprah is going to get indicted and how it's going to be this big deal. He just spewed forth with information. As he was talking, I wondered why he was telling me all of these details since, you know, aren't client matters supposed to be confidential. Then he said, "We just filed this in court today." Oh, ok, so it's public record now I suppose. But then he kept going on and on. And on. After awhile I smiled politely and said, "Well, I'll have to keep my eye out for that."

Then he asked what law school I went to and when I told him it was in Boston he started talking about how he had interviewed the man who was driving JFK the day he got shot. He got really excited and mumbled some stuff about JFK, then JFK, Jr. and said loud enough for me to make out, "You know, the same people killed them." I must have looked skeptical because he followed that up with, "Didn't you ever think of that?" with a smile on his face and a tone in his voice as if I was a fool to have never thought of that possibility. I said, "Um, no, I never really thought much about the Kennedys actually." He said, "Well, it's true."

I suppose he had imparted enough wisdom to me at that point because he smiled and said, "Well, good luck to you," which I thanked him for. He opened his [Intellectual Property] textbook and proceeded to read cases, taking copious notes on an accompanying legal pad.

So maybe he was legit, and maybe he wasn't crazy, but I'm thinking not, despite the tie and the brown fedora.

* I had no idea the Kennedy Center does free 6 PM concerts EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. How cool is that? Orrin Star put on a good show. Just 2 guys singing with mandolins, guitars and a banjo. Bluegrass mostly with some Irish and Creole music thrown in for good measure. During the concert he mentioned that he had lived in Boston for a long time right near where I live. Small world.

**Yes, I know, Laura Llew, evil corporate bookstore. But it’s the best I could do in downtown DC. I promise there is a great independent bookstore in Cambridge that I heart profusely.

*** Including You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation by Deborah Tannen, which after finishing 100 pages in a day and a half, I recommended to all of my friends. Fascinating.