Page 358 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
or, if the other side had filed answering papers, as I did not expect it to, “Your Honor, we wish to adjourn the hearing of the motion so that we may put in reply papers,” or something that to that effect.
As I started to relax and compose myself, however, I heard the bai- liff ’s next shout: “A hundred and sixty-six! Some Udduh Entity voisis Some Udduh So-and-so!” I was shocked. He might as well have been yelling, “Not so fast, Yaverbaum,” for it was immediately clear to me that 87 had now been called twice, and that, despite my apparent suc- cess in the most important Apache Relay of my life, I had lost, and my young career was over. Or had I? And was it? I soon rallied and, not tak- ing a leaf from my mother’s playbook, I let optimism be my guide. So what if I missed? If, as was likely, Unimportant and Badly Intentioned Corporation, Inc. had not put in papers, my failure to say “Submit for” was, I reasoned, probably irrelevant. After all, our papers were already in, so Our Slightly More Important and Clearly in the Right Client, Incorporated, would be okay. And so too would be Yaverbaum.
Just to be safe, however, I decided to approach my old friend, the United Lawyers Service representative, who was seated near the bench and beginning to put away her papers and a raft of yellow slips that told her what to answer when each of her fifty or so cases on the calendar was called. Rushing to the front, I greeted her and breathlessly asked whether she knew what happened in 87.
She did. The moving party (us) had failed to appear, but the respon- dent (them) was represented by United Lawyers Service, and she had, per their instructions and against our expectations (not to mention my hopes), filed the papers that they had delivered to her. She had therefore answered, “Submit against” on their behalf when 87 was first called. My maiden appearance in a courtroom was a disaster.
But there was one more straw to grasp at. I recalled that Ambrose had advised that I carry not just the redweld but also coins when I went to the courthouse. Clearly, it was now dime time.
I rushed from the courtroom into the lobby, desperate to find a phone booth. There was one right there, and, miracle of miracles, no one was in it. I put the dime in the slot and dialed MU-8-7800, the
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