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Volume VI – Dream Dreamt
We stop at an OTB
in Arcadia
for two Heinekens.
I follow J.T.
through a red door
to a large
covered patio.
The smoking area.
"Hey, Judge!"
Two guys greet us
just inside the door.
We exchange a glance.
J.T. may know them.
"Is this guy really
a Judge?"
one of them asks me.
"I don’t know what
the fuck he does.
I just drive him around."
"He’s a writer,"
J.T. interrupts
"You’ll know him
soon enough, remember
the name: Isaac Edwards."
"Zack." I introduce myself.
Now we’re both incognito.
The guys pelt him
with questions. Turns out
he’s a district court judge
out in Irwindale, handles
mostly civil suits.
J.T.’s story matches
his previous story.
The guys admit,
"We weren’t sure you’d know us."
"You were pretty drunk."
"Sounds like me," he says.
The waitress comes and we receive
a round in exchange for
legal advice from “The Judge”.
I’m already certain
the name is going to stick.
"So, what’s your dilemna,"
The Judge asks the guys.
"Well ..."
the tall one got himself into
an accident, hit somebody
with his Camaro.
The Judge sees me smile.
Up to now he’s been using
undetectable bull-poo, but
in real life, among other things
he’s part owner
of a cab company.
His drivers hit shit
all the time. His answers
are so precise the guys buy
another round, the topic turns
to divorce. I laugh out loud.
It’s like The Judge’s
litigation dream board
on Jeopardy. After a while
I leave and sit at a table.
I pull out my notebook
to jot down a few ideas.
What the hell, I figure,
I’m playing the role.
It’s amazing to watch
The Judge’s Secret Service
training in action, his altered
mannerisms, his changed usage
of the English language,
drinking and making up stories
truly is his courtroom.
J.T.’s favorite story, save
the football stuff, is about
“I went up the river to die”
by this guy Jose Luis Borges.
I’ve never read it, but
somebody gets lit on fire.
J.T. likes the line:
...it was then I discovered I’m a dream
dreamt by another.
'How ‘bout this one, Judge,'
I write, 'I’ll give it a twist:
I’m a dream
dreamt by myself.'
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