(The Moon over the patio at 2:23AM Sunday. Clockwise from top left, DeMille, Splash, Eddie, Melissa, Rocket, Vapor & Rick. Middle is Kristina. Sketches by Vic).

 That was the moon above the Big Pink patio outside the entrance to Socotra House World Headquarters this morning. Jupiter is in there as well, but things got a little confused. It was Saturday night here, don’t know about where you were. The Boomers went back to Havana 151 since they had made a big splash the other night and wanted to see if the waves had abated. 

Although it was within the twenty-minute range, Melissa was not going to bother with covering a story with local impact that she has to put up with every day and went to look at the place for sale over on Ballston Row. The Quad at George Mason is predictably spare and the HQ is a little homier and more to her taste. Though it is filled periodicall with people who are habitually ship-shape, but a lacking a little in detail. 

So, after admiring the still-new features on the narrow four-story structure, four “bedrooms” stacked at angles atop one another in the four levels, nice kitchen with working appliances. She wondered what the impact of maybe a thousand properties in the County coming suddenly on the market and who might be looking to buy them. So, with that in mind she went over to the Clarendon Ballroom to hook up with some pals and work a business project. 

The Ballroom provides a break from the Boomers, who like to sit around and look at each other while they drink. They used to smoke as well, so now there is a regular sort of cycle to their evenings if you combine the smoke and head breaks. 

The Ballroom is more iconic. It is convenient, being between work and school for her on Wilson, and recently renovated after some of the troubles before Covid. There is a video wall, powerful sound and a decent dancefloor with a VIP place to chat near the bar. Nice place, and there is where Eddie and Rick, two decent pre-law guys were sitting with Kristina, who was a potential target of interest for all three when Melissas joined. 

Melissa knows Eddie and Rick have their own story and they will tell it when DeMille thinks it is ready for prime time. There was some uncertainty about who they were interested in this evening, which is part of it, no problem, of course. But Melissa was not interested in romance in the work place and more interested in shedding some of the new workload that was coming with the transition chaos about to hit her twenty minutes. 

That is Kristina in the middle up above. She is in the Shar Pre-Law Patriot program at George Mason, just starting as Melissa is moving on. She figures a part time job for her would be an interesting resume bullet.  

The Patriot program is like the other schools in the NCR- the National Capital Region. The adjunct faculty is filled with actual participants in the bewildering bureaucracy. Plus  and the chance to interact with places Georgetown, George Washington University and Scalia Law as part of the admission prep. Having just done it, Melissa sat next to her and started to plant some seeds. 

“You following the transition stuff?” Melissa asked in a lull between songs. 

Kristina is.a Fairfax County girl, but the in-close part out in Burke. She laughed as the boys got up to dance. “Yeah. Professor Gordon told us to follow the fight over the Senate seat in Pennsylvania to see what a talented lawyer can to change the world.”

Melissa knew the deal and commented on the impressive career of Mark Elias, a gifted attorney who turned his trade into overturning elections from the inside. “It’s a repeat of how the Minnesota seat was changed from a Republican to a dynamic television Comedian by counting votes that had been disqualified for lack of signature or address.”

“That worked?”

“Yep. That was the genius of the scheme. The signature and complete information are required for a reason, like any important legal transaction. But Mark played this as a civil rights issue. Like, people’s votes should count even if they can’t fill out a paper properly or don’t actually have an address in the place they voted.”

“Or, you just printed up a bunch of ballots with minimal differences, passed them to a Judge you selected to agree. Then decide a close race determining the majority of those elected to the United states Senate.”

Kristina laughed. That sort of civil drama is what attracted her to the field. “So, are you doing that sort of stuff over at Socotra House?”

Melissa smiled and tapped Kristina’s arm. “I was the Legal Intern assigned to monitor the Creative dudes. Instead, they found out I am at least as creative as they are. So, they gave me the local stuff they don’t care about. Now I need help with the legal stuff, and a few hours a week after school or on weekends would give you a free resume bullet that could help you get into Georgetown.”

Ran D’s Zombie (Extended Mix) faded from the dance floor and the video wall blinked under the dark walls as the boys came back, laughing. Kristina clearly wanted to party, since the group planned on doing some moonwalking when things started to shut down. She turned and looked Melissa in the eyes. 

“If you can work something with Socotra to get me some time I would appreciate it. Do some para-legal stuff and buff up the resume without too much effort. Would that work?” 

Melissa nodded. This would be a completely free means of taking some of the load off her trim shoulders where the Boomers piled stuff. 

“Welcome aboard, Kristina,” she said, and gave her a quick hug before getting up to shake some anxiety off.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra

www.vicsocotra.com