Mike stood, happiness infused every pore. He looked around as if he were in a magnificent paradise.
He didn’t race down to his office, he let himself experience the joy. This rare sense of the sun shining inside of him.
Then, pulling himself back to basics, he went to the elevator, down. He stopped into the bathroom,, washed his face, then into the office.
For the first time, since the early weeks of his ‘apprenticeship’ Mike saw the office as place he didn’t want to be. A place of pointless rules and protocols and attitudes, designed to erode the confidence of Junior Counsel.
When Mike had first came to the firm it was impossible for him to leave at Five although that was his set leaving time.
Everyday, like clock work, one of the Seniors would pop up after 4:30 with some ‘urgent’ matter.
If he got out at Six it was an ‘early’ night.
He was also ‘asked’ to come in on weekends to work on some ‘urgent’ matter.