Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 16:41:15 -0800 (PST)
From: B J Courtney <jc23a@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: And still in love - part 3 (relationships, beginnings)

AND STILL IN LOVE

Part Three -- A new companion

On Wednesday Mr. Roberts sent a message to James'
office colleagues telling them that there would be a
student coming to help out in the office the following
week. The news was met with the quiet disinterest that
was so commonplace in the dreary office. The arrival
of a student in the office was something that the
staff had experienced before. Roberts' son taught
A-level law in a comprehensive school somewhere in the
East End. Unlike his father the younger Roberts was
very aware of social deprivation. He had worked for
some time as a legal aid solicitor after qualifying
and had become somewhat interested in the less
advantaged communities of east London. His father
reluctantly indulged him by taking a student for
"work-experience" twice a year.

At the weekend James went home. His parents were taken
a bit aback when they saw how tired their son looked.
His father called him aside and gave him a lecture
about duty to study and work hard. He wrongly assumed
that a wild social life was the cause of his son's
pallid look and couldn't hear what his son was saying
about the work in the office being very demanding.
Quite simply he wasn't listening. By Sunday evening
the young trainee was exhausted by the constant
lecturing and sighed in deep relief when he boarded
the train to London at seven o'clock.

On Monday James arrived at his desk dreading the week
ahead. There was a pile of new briefs to be sorted in
the conveyancing area and he knew that this would mean
endless searches and investigations of title. He set
to it.

At ten o'clock Mr. Roberts walked in followed by a
very awed young man. James looked up as Roberts
introduced the youth to the staff.

"This is Gareth Fitzpatrick!" he announced, "Gareth
will be working in this office for the next two
weeks."

Andrea Kirk, the office senior, welcomed Gareth and
invited him to join her at her desk. She sat and
patiently asked the young man what he knew about work
at a busy firm and what interests he had in the legal
area. James was too immersed in a title investigation
to take much notice of what was happening around him.
In fact he was so involved that ten minutes later he
didn't notice Andrea standing over his desk until she
gently tapped his shoulder.

"James!" she said softly, "this is Gareth and I was
hoping he might do some work with you today!"

James looked up. He wasn't keen on the idea because he
was already overloaded with work. Trying to show the
ropes to a new hand would slow him down rather than
help him. He looked over at Gareth dreading the
experience but quickly caught himself. Gareth's face
was written all over with fear. James knew that the
poor lad was well out of his depth and was acutely
aware of it! He mustered a smile and proffered a hand
to his new burden.

"The name's James!" he said forcing a smile that he
hoped look genuine.

"Gareth!" the lad replied.

"Come on then Gareth, let's convey a few houses!"

Gareth pulled up a chair and James started to show him
the contents of one of the files. It was a house in
Southfields that had been divided into two apartments,
one up and one down. The lower apartment was for sale
but the owner of the freehold intended living in the
upper apartment and only intended to sell the lower
one. The purchaser, who was a client of Roberts &
Grimes wanted to purchase the freehold outright and
wasn't content with the leasehold interest that was on
offer. As James explained the problem he realised that
it wasn't making much sense to Gareth but he continued
nonetheless. He knew this was going to be very
difficult.

By lunchtime James was beginning to panic about his
workload. He approached Andrea and explained that he
wasn't good at explaining things and would prefer if
Gareth worked somewhere else. This was the first time
he had ever complained since arriving at the office
and Andrea was stunned!

"Sorry James!" she said somewhat surprised at his
request, "I put him with you because you're much of an
age and there's nobody else your age in this section.
I thought you two would get along!"

"I have too much work!" James said almost whining,
"I'll never get through it if I have to work with
him!"

Andrea sat back in her chair and smiled. At fifty-five
years of age she was a very settled and balanced
person. An excellent solicitor she had left practice
when her children were born and only returned five
years earlier when her younger daughter started
college. As a mother she also saw something that she
hadn't noticed until now, James was overworking!

"I'll take him for the afternoon and show him how to
do a basic search," she said smiling, "and if he gets
the idea I'll send him over to help you tomorrow."

"And if he doesn't?"

"He will!" she muttered, "he will!"

James skipped lunch and finished off the investigation
into Southfields. He drafted the preliminary
documentation, put it in the file and sent it over to
Andrea. His next case was one in Cheshire. He sighed
and looked at the eight remaining cases before him.
Each looked more complex than the other.

Andrea took Gareth over to her desk and opening the
file on Southfields explained what was needed and
where each item could be investigated. Younger than
her own children the lad was quite bright and quickly
understood her directions. She walked over to James'
desk took a file.

"Any idea about this one?" she asked cheerfully.

James looked up at her; she had taken the Whitechapel
file. The case in that one was nightmarish. A
purchaser was seeking details of the title on an old
artisan's dwelling. The problem was that the
freeholder was a defunct charity and there was only
fifteen years left on the lease.

"That's a Settled Lands Act case," he muttered, "maybe
this one would be better!"

He handed her the Cheshire one, "this one is easy
enough," he said, "quite straightforward!"

"The one I have will do fine!" Andrea replied pushing
the proffered file back, "he's a bright lad and he has
to learn somehow!"

Andrea spent the rest of the day with Gareth showing
him how to investigate title and how to organise the
file for one of the solicitors. Gareth had no problem
following her clear instructions and she was impressed
by his ability to follow them to a letter and not have
to ask the same question twice.

James prepared three more files for Andrea before the
day was over. By six o'clock there was only four files
left on his desk for the following day. Losing the
Whitechapel case had saved him a half-day's work and
he had a slight possibility of clearing his desk
before Wednesday. He stood up to go home and noticed
Gareth smiling at him.

"I hope I wasn't in your way," Gareth said.

"No problem mate," James replied, "I'm just a bit
swamped with work at the moment!"

"You two boys will be working together tomorrow,"
Andrea said as she breezed past pulling her coat over
her outstretched arms, "goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" they reliped in unison.

As they walked from the building to the Tube station
Gareth and James exchanged civilities. Their lives had
little in common and a friendship seemed unlikely even
though they lived on the same Tube line. James got off
at Baron's Court whilst his travelling companion
stayed on to Aldgate. As he walked back to the hose
James suddenly thought that meeting Gareth had been
quite a pleasant experience. Something was changing
inside him and he liked it. He lived in a house where
his companions swore blindly all day, he never knew
that people could live that way but he liked it. He
had snatched furtive glimpses of the other boys'
bottoms in the showers at school, but now he wanted to
cuddle up to bald hairy Barry! He had never spoken at
length to anybody from the East End before, but he
liked Gareth -- London was such liberation from his
polite and genteel upbringing to date.

When he got into the house he was greeted by a shout
from Mike who was upstairs; "it's about fucking time
ya got back!" he roared.

"It's me James!" James called back as Mike stuck his
head over the landing rails.

"Sorry mate!" Mike called, "though ya were the red
vixen!"

"Clearly you mean you were awaiting Cindy!" James
smiled back aware of his grandiose accent.

"Yeah that slut!" Mike laughed, "went for bog-roll
twenty minutes ago and never came back!"

James loved the way he lived in London.


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