Even the room had changed. The hearing for the defense motions in the Rhode Island (RI) lead paint trial was in Court Room 16 on the 4th floor of the Courthouse. Most of us went to Court Room 11 on the 5th floor. It was not only shut down but Judge Michael Silverstein's name was not posted by the door. So, for me, who gets attached all too much all too easily, the day began with a seismic shock. Had I known then that everything else had also changed ...
Among those which did are:
- The peanut gallery was filled with chairs, not benches shaped like church pews. This wasn't the way it used to be.
- Judge Silverstein had a George Hamilton-type tan. I remembered how my classmate in high school used ManTan and came into homeroom not only tan in a Jersey City, New Jersey winter but with toast-colored hands. After that, I've been suspicious of all tans.
- The courthouse library on the 8th floor had new PCs with what seem to be high-speed Internet connections. Not a posting got lost the way they used to November-February when the dial-up connections sometimes worked, more often didn't. It was all too easy. Blogging about such complex matters as the RI lead paint follies shouldn't be easy.
- John Tarantino, it turned out, was there as an observer, not a presenter. I anticipated he would be the point man for the LESS Database arguments. He wasn't. Court isn't court without Tarantino's impassioned orations.
- Fidelma Fitzpatrick wore open-heeled shoes. What a walk on the wild side. Also, she, of course, was no longer pregnant and no longer appeared tired. Don't know if there's a cause-effect relationship but her performance seemed improved. Maybe those were her lucky shoes. (My executive coach made me dump my lucky suede shoes.)
- A figure right out of a southern Gothic novel came in with a straw hat and cane. Then he vanished. This is not the place for characters, only capitalists. Wall Street was present, as usual, and that business-as-usual made me feel safe again.
TIME Magazine says that the cool thing to do now when you feel the shock of the present is to eat cupcakes. That comfort food goes for 3 bucks a pop and they are only sold in boutiques. Don't even try to find them in a bakery, which is so yesterday. Fortunately, I located two chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. That did the trick. I can return to Court Room 16 feeling, well, okay.
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