As I talked on the phone with a lawyer who seemed to have an office in north Dallas, I began thinking that he sounded like an interesting fellow and that I might like to meet him. I first talked about legal matters, and he, like I, seemed to just be starting to become involved in litigating cases. He seemed to like doing it, but he related a story about how he had recently represented someone who had been injured while riding a motorcycle. The lawyer had lost the case and he talked about how painful that had been for him. I had never lost such a case, but I thought losing would probably affect me the same way.

During the conversation I inferred that he also did some writing and I thought he and I might have something in common, because I also wrote.

I tried to become more friendly and I asked him why he had come to Dallas in the first place. I then suggested that the two of us meet in downtown Dallas near the courthouse for lunch some day. I asked him how often he went to the courthouse and he said he only went once every hundred days. I had a mixed reaction when he said that. On the one hand, I also would like to go less to the courthouse and stop doing some of the routine, mundane work I did there. So I thought he might be doing the right thing by not going too often to the courthouse. On the other hand, I knew quite a bit about how the system of appointing lawyers in the courts worked and how to make pretty good money working as a court appointed lawyer. I thought about telling the lawyer a little about the court appointments, but then I decided not to say anything. After all, he could just prove to be more competition for me.

***

I was sitting in a restaurant and the same lawyer was sitting across from me. We had talked for quite a while and I had found him to be a likable person, although I wasn't yet sure I really wanted to be friends with him. He was probably around 30 years old, well built and had black hair. He was also wearing glasses and somehow the conversation turned to eye glasses. In a remark about the glasses I was wearing, he seemed to be saying that the glassed didn't look well on me. I wasn't offended because I likewise thought the glasses didn't look so good on me.

After a while, I realized I had two other friends, a man and a woman, who were also at the table with me, and I hadn't even introduced them to the lawyer. Cumbersomely, I began introducing everyone. The woman's name was Kim.

***

I was in a law office where I worked. I had a couple assistants there, and a woman who was my secretary walked in. Things seemed as if they needed a little cheering up, and I began singing the song, "When You're Smiling." The secretary chimed in, but she didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, and I made a comment about her lack of enthusiasm.

In my hand I was holding several large file folders which each contained several other files inside them. I had color-marked the tops of the various files with different colored dots so I could distinguish them at a glance.

The files contained cases involving immigration law. I had only recently decided I was going to begin vigorously practicing immigration law, and I was going to become involved with obtaining work certifications for immigrants, as well as obtaining immigration papers. This type of work could also lead to practicing abroad, because I knew that some American lawyers practiced immigration law in other countries. I might even be able to start off by setting up an office in Mexico City.

***

I was at the Dallas County Courthouse in a large room which looked like an auditorium. Some green plants seemed to be growing wild over one section of the room and I found it curious that no one had cut them. A fence was also running through the room and vines were growing wildly on it.

At the moment I was interested in tracking down one of my criminal misdemeanor clients who had disappeared. I had heard that she had been selected to serve on jury duty today, and I was hoping I might be able to find her in the central jury room. I needed to talk to her about her case. I wondered if she would say that she had a criminal case pending against her when she was asked questions about serving on a jury.