Fast Fiction Challenge 2010, Day 147: The Latin For Seven
Title: The Latin For Seven
Word: shag
Challenger: Jez Barnett
Length: 200 words exactly The lawyer sat behind the long oak table, witnessing the destruction of his career, and admired the deep shag pile carpet.
It had been a long process, and at times he wondered which would come first: the final verdict on his professional judgement as a legal advocate or the interminable evidence offered by his senior partner.
His employer was a bore; however, the man's detailed and forensic examination of the lawyer's case files had revealed unquestionable malpractice on a grand scale.
The room rang with his righteous indignation as he told the professional standards committee of the lawyer's performance: he had breached client confidentiality, his judgment in court had been flawed, and he had through his incompetence misread a contract such that the damages against his client had been seven times what it would have been without his actions.
The lawyer made copious notes during the proceedings, or so it appeared. In reality, he doodled caricatures and constantly thought of two pieces of paper: the medical report showing the effluent from his client's factory had poisoned sixty-two children, and the diagnosis from his oncologist.
The lawyer never smiled once. His rarely used conscience, however, often sighed in mild relief.
© Lee Barnett, 2010
This story is part of the 2010 Fast Fiction Challenge. A list of the first one hundred and twenty-five stories in the challenge can be found here.
The Fast Fiction Challenge - The Book; now available from lulu.com and, if you're in the US, via Amazon.com here; 180 of the best fast fiction challenge stories from the first three years' challenges...
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
Word: shag
Challenger: Jez Barnett
Length: 200 words exactly The lawyer sat behind the long oak table, witnessing the destruction of his career, and admired the deep shag pile carpet.
It had been a long process, and at times he wondered which would come first: the final verdict on his professional judgement as a legal advocate or the interminable evidence offered by his senior partner.
His employer was a bore; however, the man's detailed and forensic examination of the lawyer's case files had revealed unquestionable malpractice on a grand scale.
The room rang with his righteous indignation as he told the professional standards committee of the lawyer's performance: he had breached client confidentiality, his judgment in court had been flawed, and he had through his incompetence misread a contract such that the damages against his client had been seven times what it would have been without his actions.
The lawyer made copious notes during the proceedings, or so it appeared. In reality, he doodled caricatures and constantly thought of two pieces of paper: the medical report showing the effluent from his client's factory had poisoned sixty-two children, and the diagnosis from his oncologist.
The lawyer never smiled once. His rarely used conscience, however, often sighed in mild relief.
© Lee Barnett, 2010
This story is part of the 2010 Fast Fiction Challenge. A list of the first one hundred and twenty-five stories in the challenge can be found here.
The Fast Fiction Challenge - The Book; now available from lulu.com and, if you're in the US, via Amazon.com here; 180 of the best fast fiction challenge stories from the first three years' challenges...
Posted via LiveJournal.app.