Joe McKay stood up and came around his desk to greet
me as his secretary led me into Joe’s office.
He warmly shook my hand.
“George! So
good to see you. Come in. Have a seat.”
Joe pointed to one of the chairs next to a small table. Joe sat on the other chair. A small stack of legal papers sat in front of
him alongside a legal pad. “Coffee?”
“Sure.”
“Sheila, could you bring Mr. Leskovic a coffee?”
Joe’s secretary smiled. “How would you like it, Mr.
Leskovic?”
“Cream, no sugar.
Thank you, Sheila.”
Joe’s face broke into a huge grin. “I wasn’t sure you’d make it here this
morning. I thought I might have to draft
a writ of habeas corpus.”
“Not funny, Joe,” I smiled. “Jennifer was in a panic when I called to
tell her I was in the lock-up.”
“Hey, but now you’ve got something to write
about. How’s this for a title? The Night I Spent in Prison.”
“Actually, it was more like The Hour I Spent in
Prison. They separated the good guys
from the bad, calmed everyone down, encouraged everyone not to press any
charges and then released us.” Sheila
returned with my coffee.
“What about the guy you slugged?” asked Joe.
“He hit me first.
Anyway, the police made us shake hands and apologize to each other. We agreed to disagree on the politics and
were both happy to just let the physical stuff go. Neither of us was hurt beyond our pride.”
Joe nodded.
“That’s probably for the best, George.
Seriously, if you had to face an assault charge, it could adversely
affect your position in this damned custody case.”
“Yeah, so what’s happening on that, Joe? What have you heard from Melissa’s attorney?”
“He’s pushing for a court date, sooner rather than
later. My original goal was to stretch
this thing out as long as possible. When
does Jennifer turn 18?”
“August 28th.”
“Yeah, so he says you’ve had Jennifer to yourself
for something like two years, and now you want to deprive her mother from
having the same pleasure for a mere six months?”
“She walked out on us, Joe. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Hey, George.
I’m just trying to give you an idea of how Richard’s firm is pitching
this. You have to admit she’s got a
sympathetic story when you look at it from her perspective.”
Yes, but let’s look at it from my perspective. And Jennifer’s. Melissa walked out on us. Outside of some limited contact during our
divorce proceedings, we never heard from her for almost two years. Now, all of a sudden she wants back in. And she’s evil. So why should she get anything?”
“Calm down, George.
You know as well as I do, that evil is pretty hard to prove in a court
of law.”
“Has a judge been assigned yet?”
“Not yet.
Let’s hope it’s not Judge Shaulis.
He’s got a plaque behind his desk that quotes the Second Amendment. It won’t be pretty if he saw your television
debut.”
“God. That
would be just my luck.” I stood up and
walked to the window. Joe’s office had a
great view of the Monongahela River down to the Point where it joins the
Allegheny to form the Ohio River. For a
moment I watched Pittsburgh’s two inclines as they climbed up the slopes of Mt.
Washington in the distance. “Any chance
of negotiating a settlement?”
“I’ve raised it with Melissa’s lawyer.” Joe nervously tapped the legal pad with his
pen. “It’s Sidney Lutz. He said she’s not interested in negotiating,
but maybe that’s just posturing.”
I returned to the table and sat down. “How about shared custody? Jen is sick that she would have to leave her
high school.”
“They’re adamantly against it. They barely want to acknowledge that you have
visitation rights. As you said so
eloquently a few minutes ago, your ex is evil.
For some reason, she really despises you. Is there a reason that I should be aware of?”
“Joe, you remember our break-up. She was having an affair with Richard
Zingerman, who was her boss at the time.
I didn’t have a clue. One day she
just didn’t come home from work, confessed the affair, told me Richard’s wife
had moved out and she had moved in.
Divorce papers followed.”
“Maybe she hates that you didn’t fight for her. More coffee?”
Joe glanced at my empty mug.
“No thanks.
Joe, I wasn’t about to fight for someone who betrayed me. Whatever love I felt for Melissa was snuffed
out like a candle when she told me about the affair. If that upsets her, it sure isn’t my fault. Do we have anything else to cover today?”
“No, that’s it.
I’ll push back on the sole custody and argue for an arrangement that
will let Jennifer attend Bethel Park High until she graduates. I’ll let you know what I hear.”
“You know where to reach me.” I stood up to go.
“Oh, here’s something that might interest you. Did you hear that Richard just announced his
candidacy for the 12th Congressional District?
“You’re kidding.
Isn’t that the gerrymandered district that . . .”
“Extends across practically a third of the
state. Safe Republican distict. It’s already represented by a conservative
Republican, but Richard’s trying to outflank him on the far right.”
“You’ve given me another reason to despise Richard.”
“Here’s another.
He’s the president of the Sewickley Heights Gun Club. That’s where he announced his candidacy –
rifle in hand.”
“Joe, you’re really trying to depress me, aren’t
you.”
We shook hands and I turned to
leave his office. Joe patted me on the back. “Keep the faith, George. And stay out of jail!”
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