The Stripper Equation

Rita and Weep

            After about an hour I knew that there wasn’t a case.  As long as the drug use didn’t come up this was all just nonsense.  I am assuming that her ex was counting on her not being able to afford an attorney and fight the case.  I didn’t make Rita any promises because you just never know but I did tell her that I was confidant.  Before she left I gave her some clothes to wear and told her that the less makeup the better.  I was afraid that she was going to get offended but in the end I think that it gave her some empowerment.  She felt that it gave her something that she could do to help win the case.  Regardless of whether or not it should make a difference of what you look like for your case, it does.

            I walked Rita to the door and she hugged me.  “Thank you so much, Ging.”

            I hugged her back.  “Well let’s wait until we win before you start thanking me.”

            She pulled away from the hug and looked me in the eye.  “Even if we don’t win, I am still going to thank you.  You didn’t have to trust me with your secret.  You didn’t have to offer to help.   You’re a good person Len.”

            I closed the door behind me and I my vision started to get blurry.  I don’t know why but her gratitude overwhelmed me.  I wondered if this is what it would feel like to be a lawyer.  To help people who don’t have a voice fight the good fight.  I thought back on the kids I graduated law school with.  They were all trust fund babies wanting to do corporate law in their daddies firms.  None of them would’ve helped Rita for nothing.     

            There was a knock at my door.  I turned off the television and walked over to the door.  I pulled the door open and saw a disheveled Vinnie standing there.  He looked upset.  “What’s wrong Vin?”  I couldn’t help but immediately think there was something wrong with Tori.

            He walked into my apartment and started pacing.  “Look Len, you need to break up with Mark.  You need to stay away from him.”

            I was tired of the conversation.  “Vinnie you need to stay out of my relationship.  What I do is none of your business.”

            “I’m serious Len.  He isn’t who you think he is.”  Vinnie was standing there pleading with me to believe him.  “I got back all the paperwork.  He isn’t a good person.”

            I immediately thought back to our lunch after I got Mark from the police station.  He had told me then that he had gotten mixed up in things he wasn’t proud of.  “Really Vin.  And whoever is who they say they are?”

            “This isn’t a joke.  There are a lot of things that you don’t know about him.” Vinnie was getting visibly upset

            “Vinnie, nobody is perfect.  Everyone makes mistakes; God knows I’ve had my share.  I think I know him a little more than you do.”  Regardless of what Mark has done I don’t need Vinnie telling me what to do.