“Hello, Helga,” Judge Fleck said flatly.

“Richard, this is getting ridiculous. I mean, Linda is way too big for her britches. This has to stop!” Why was she calling Judge Fleck to complain about Judge Adams’s britches? Granted, I didn’t know much about the inner workings of the federal judiciary, but I was quite sure that chief judges were supposed to ensure that their courts ran smoothly, not to derail the process of editing and reviewing opinions and surely not to referee playground politics.

“Helga, I just don’t understand why you get so upset with her. What has she done now?” He was definitely annoyed. My ears perked up.

“I sent her a beautiful opinion last week. And she just won’t approve it, damn it! She always wants to talk about it. You, as chief, really need to talk to her,” she ordered.

Judge Fleck sighed loudly. He clearly wasn’t buying any of it. I hadn’t known Helga Friedman for long, but I knew enough to know that standing up to her took guts. It was no wonder Brian and his coclerk went around reiterating Supreme Court justice jokes. Even I would laugh at a Scalia joke delivered by a human brave enough to actually sigh at Judge Friedman.

“Helga, I’ll talk to her about it,” he lied before hanging up.

Before I could glance over, the judge was hovering above me, standing in my cubicle.

“Did you know that I was the first woman ever to have been given the presidential commission?” She smiled, patting her bun.

I wondered if she knew that two long, slightly curly hairs were coming out of her right nostril.

“Ah, yes, Judge, I did know. That’s really amazing. Really amaz—”

“Well, I don’t have time for this! And you should make time for eating. You’re rilly rilly thin.”

I should have been thankful. Puja and I had been trying to catch anorexia since we were tots. I’d never been successful. Not that I was fat, I just wasn’t rilly rilly thin. It had to stop. How could Laura take much more?

As expected, Laura came tapping. I vowed to be supportive.

“Yes?” I swiveled around, attempting to appear welcoming. It didn’t matter how I appeared, however. Laura didn’t see me. Just herself. All she had to do was hit “play” from the previous two nights.

“I really think Janet is homophobic. Do you even know how hard it is to work when she just stares at me? Stares at me when I walk through their office?” Not this again.