files.
âSure,â she said distractedly, standing up. She grabbed a notepad and a pen. âFollow me, Iâll take you to Jacinta. Iâve really got to get moving.â As we walked down the hall she added, âIâll tell Casey to keep you in mind when she goes to court next. Sheâs our workersâ compensation and personal injury specialist.â
âDo you do criminal law?â
âNo, not really. Why? Were you hoping for some Law & Order type action?â
âWell yeah, of course,â I said, a little too enthusiastically. I quickly shrugged, like I didnât care either way.
She laughed. âSorry to disappoint you, Noah. But the real legal world isnât that exciting. Weâre just a small firm here. Pretty simple, low-profile cases.â
Great.
We walked into a room with two photocopiers, two printers, some filing cabinets and a row of bookshelves. It was warm and stuffy and Jacinta was at the photocopier, her sleeves rolled up, copying a document. She seemed stressed and gave us a startled look when she noticed us.
âJacinta, this is my nephew, Noah. Heâs going to be spending his holidays here. Kind of on work experience. Iâve got a meeting with the Cowls now so could you please show him around the office and give him a bit of an orientation? Heâs happy to help out with the photocopying.â
âYeah, sure,â Jacinta said, flashing Aunt Nirvine a big smile. She was cute (Jacinta, not my aunt). She had a tiny smattering of freckles across her porcelain-white cheeks. Her eyes were light hazel and an interesting shape. I guessed her parents were mixed race. Although I was mixed race myself (Dad was born in Egypt and Mum was born in the UK), Iâd missed out on looking âexoticâ. Dad insisted that my wanting to look exotic was an âOrientalist fantasyâ. When I was younger he would tuck me into bed and read aloud passages of Edward Saidâs book Orientalism while other parents were reading Harry Potter to their kids.
The one good thing about my parents procreating was that I got Dadâs olive complexion and Mumâs sandy blonde hair. Iâm also really tall and built pretty solid (okay, thatâs a lie, I was built skinny and owe the solid part to weekends at Jimâs Gym). Apart from that, Iâm about as average-looking as you can get.
I tried to avert my eyes from Jacinta. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I was some desperate, girl-crazy high school kid.
âOkay then, Noah,â my aunt said. âIâll leave you in Jacintaâs capable hands. Iâll see you later. Bye.â
She walked out and I turned to Jacinta, whose smile had transformed into a grimace.
âLike I have time,â she muttered.
âHey, Iâm not here to be a burden on anyone. I donât need to meet people.â
âYeah, well, if the boss makes a request youâve got no choice. Iâm just swamped at the moment. Come on then.â She sighed. âIâll give you a quick tour.â
âWhatever.â I shrugged and followed her.
A cute girl with attitude. How original.
The place was pissing me off already. Everybody was in a bad mood with the exception of Aunt Nirvine, who seemed only too happy to flick me onto somebody else. And the worst part about it all was that I wouldnât even get a chance to do some exciting cases. The accused murderers and toxic chemical companies were probably in the sandstone building next door.
Â
Well it didnât look like there would be much chance of me seeing any courtroom action given that Casey was the âcowâ Jacinta had been referring to earlier that morning. In fact, Jacinta had a whole list of adjectives to describe Casey and using any one of them would probably have had her jobless in less time than it took to photocopy a document.
Casey didnât smile. She frowned a lot. Rolled her eyes constantly. When