Chapter 5

I was up at six, showered, and dressed to meet Juliet for breakfast. She seemed to be under the weather or a little sickly today. She seemed a little irritable about life in general. Knowing that women can get moody, I let it go and advised her that I was going to see Dr. Morgan to get some questions answered this morning. We said our goodbyes and I didn’t try to be familiar with her because she was being standoffish.

I was standing at his door when he came whistling down the hall in his ever present good mood. “Good morning, Barney. Is it time for a chat? Let me put some coffee on and we’ll have a powwow.”

He handed me the coffee pot and told me to run down to the men’s room and fill it while he got the coffee grounds in the basket. I was there and back with the full pot as he was sliding the basket into the Mr. Coffee. He sat at his desk and waved toward the chairs in front of his desk.

I handed him the completed work and tests from the end of chapters for his second semester course, and then said, “I’m going to finish all my second semester work pretty soon and should finish with decent grades. I think everyone will be satisfied with my progress. My question is that should I be choosing a course of study since I’ll be beginning my third semester? You know that my education goal is to become a lawyer. I’ve looked everywhere for class listings for potential lawyers, and there aren’t any. Some schools have a pre-law schedule, but Mizzou doesn’t. I need to know what classes I’ll need and what degree I should work toward.”

Jonathan nodded and said, “You do ask a serious question, and I have to answer that I don’t know. Let me call over to the law school and talk to a professor there who I’ve known for a long time. She doesn’t get along with men all that well, but she’ll like you because you’re quiet and unassuming.

He called a number and said, “Good morning, Denise. How is the most beautiful professor in Law School?”

The woman’s voice was very piercing, and I could plainly hear her although I wasn’t near the receiver. “You’re so full of shit, Jonathan. What do you need, a lawyer to get you out of a paternity suit?”

“Not this time, Denise, I’ll try to up my rate of seductions so that we can get together more often. No, I have a young man who wants to become an attorney in front of me this time. He’s in one of my experiments in learning programs and is rapidly progressing. He wants to know what courses he should take during his third semester and beyond that will assist him in Law School. He’s discovered that there isn’t a course of study for pre-law and is looking for guidance.”

She asked the question that had Jonathan smiling, “Is he courteous? Do you think I can get along with him?”

Jonathan said, “You would be the perfect counselor for him. I’m going to remain his undergraduate counselor and you can guide him through Law School. He’s moving fast as he only entered school this semester and is already over halfway through his second semester. Grunderson even likes him, so you know that the kid is likable.”

The voice said, “Send him over here. I don’t have any classes this morning, and you know that I hate to have coffee by myself. What’s his name so I can look him up?”

“Bernard Beck, and it should note that all his associates call him ‘Barney’. You’ll like him.”

“Send him.” She hung up with a clunk.

I asked, “Does she speak that loud when she’s talking one on one? She has a very piercing voice.”

“You’ll get used to it. Now for some advice; Denise Ponders is an extremely attractive woman. However, she doesn’t care for men and doesn’t date them at all. You could have a really good time with her if you were a sweet looking young lady. She and I have established a good relationship, and have even gone to functions together. We had too much ale at the Ale House a couple of times and I’ve made sure that she was home safe, so she trusts me. Go see her and enjoy having a relationship with an extremely knowledgeable woman. She’ll be good for you.”

I didn’t get any of his fresh coffee, but I was on the way to a promised cup with Denise Ponders. I wondered if she was a PhD, or even if there was a law PhD. She would almost have to have passed the bar and know the law to be teaching. I wondered why becoming a lawyer was so ambiguous. It was almost as if you could pass the LSAT with a high score and not even need a degree if your other qualifications were good.

Jonathan had drawn me a map and I arrived at her office in less than ten minutes after she hung up. Her door had her name along with JD. Under that was printed in smaller letters was ‘Doctor of Jurisprudence’.

I was about to knock when that piercing voice said, “I see you lurking out there. Come in if you’re going to talk to me. I know, I know, you were reading my name and about my being a Doctor of Jurisprudence. Yes, Sir, I can put your educational wounds back together. How do you want your coffee? Bring me a donut or pastry the next time you come to see me. They aren’t on my diet, but it’s okay if someone else brings it, and I’ll eat it to show that I’m not being ungrateful.”

She poured me coffee in a foam cup, and turned, “Well, sit down for crying out loud. I hope we can have a conversation and not just a ‘wham, bam, thank you, Ma’am.”

I cracked a smile, and then broke into a laugh. “Thank you for making me feel at ease. I needed something to lighten up the load this morning.”

“Tell me all about it. What are you wondering about?”

“I want to be a lawyer and I generally know what I need to do to get there, but I don’t know the correct path. I don’t know what course of study I should follow or what undergraduate classes to take. I’m going to try to push through the undergraduate work and study as hard and fast as I can. I’m going to need some experience and I’ll want to work with the County Attorney and the local lawyer back home for the experience I’ll need. I need guidance to know what degree I should study for and to be pointed to where I might get some of the experience I’m going to need.”

Denise said, “You’re right. We don’t publish any specific course of study that potential law students should follow. My suggestions would probably be a business degree as a major, with a sociology or psychology minor. You’ll want to take a logic class as an elective, which means that you might even choose a minor in mathematics if you’re good in math. That’s always good to get your head working when you’re up against a brick wall. Does any of that help?”

The woman seemed to enjoy discussing this topic, and said, “Here, bring the chair around and sit next to me. We’ll go through the courses needed for a couple of degrees.”

We began with Sociology and went through them and then psychology which really looked boring. I told Dr. Ponders, “They need to combine Sociology and Psychology for a degree as it could be interesting to understand both sides.”

She looked at me funny, and said, “That’s very observant of you. Have you looked at what was in these courses before?”

“No, Ma’am, but I read as much as I could about the various types of knowledge areas that I could. High schools don’t have a lot of reference material on degrees like that. Our County Library didn’t have that much on them either. I used the computer at the library and they didn’t have a lot of information from any of the major universities, even this one.”

We looked at a math degree and it was exciting to me, but it didn’t have anything to help me in Law School. I saw a couple of classes I was going to look up to see if Grunderson taught them. I could always use them as electives.

She brought up the English Department and I liked a lot of it, but not the English Literature classes. I like to read and can even almost recite a couple of Shakespeare books, but a lot of the supposedly great books are so boring that they’re a struggle to read and comprehend. I remember reading Gulliver’s Travels in grade school and was bored to tears. A new high school teacher had us read it again and it was still like watching paint dry. I thought Mutiny on the Bounty was really good because it dealt with all the crewmembers’ emotions.

She said, “There is one class that you can take that will give you insight on what the law is about. It’s this three level class that is ‘The Psychology of Eighteenth Century Law’.” This will give you a lot to think about when you consider our country was still being put together and how the court system we had then was trying to make decisions that were fair and just. A lot of court cases today still reference the decisions from back then. You’ll also want to take the class because I teach it. I’m a tyrant like Grunderson and some of the other professors, but my goal is to teach you and yours is to learn. It’s really an interesting class.”

I said, “The Psychology program has a lot of sociology classes and a greater portion of English classes than Sociology. I’m not keen on Anthropology, but I suppose I’ll have to take some classes I don’t like. You’ve helped a lot, so now I’ll have to find out how to register for the next semester and visit with the professors to see if they might let me progress at my own speed the way I have so far. I’d like to get through my third and fourth semesters before I have to attend every lecture to know the course material. My reading comprehension is good and I retain knowledge well. I did twenty-two hours the first semester, and I’m doing twenty this second semester. I should be just about done with the boring required stuff. I took the mid-term with the class for Dr. Morgan, although I was through with the class and had passed the final he privately administered to me. It was almost too easy.”

“Grunderson gave me a second mid-term, and then a second final for freshman algebra. He was aggravated because I didn’t show my work. I didn’t use any scratch paper as every problem he gave me was so easy that I could do it in my head. I think our math teacher in our high school is better than a lot of the other teachers in the state.”

Denise asked, “Did your school have class standings when you graduated?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I was second behind Charlene Cream. She was coming here on a scholarship, but she was pregnant when she graduated and decided to get married and stay home to take care of her baby. That’s country folks for you. Their priorities are different. We did have one of our baseball players go to the Cardinals in the first round of the draft. He’s a pitcher who is going to be good in the majors one day. He could have gone to college for free, but his family just didn’t have the money to buy books and stuff. He’s doing well in the baseball farm system and is playing winter ball down in Puerto Rico.”

Denise said, “I’d ask you out for a drink, but I doubt you’re old enough. Do you have a friend you’re sweet on?”

This surprised me because Jonathan thinks she might be a lesbian or gay. I didn’t want to ask her, but she could guide me on suing Scott McKendry Jr. “You could probably direct me to a local lawyer. I have a situation that I could use some assistance with.”

Denise said, “Tell me about it.”

“I was assigned a room with a man who was a little full of himself when the semester first started. He didn’t have a roommate the first semester, so he was used to spreading out and thought he could continue to do it even though I was going to be in the room. I asked him to put his stuff away and he became angry.”

Denise said, “Scott McKendry Jr. He was in trouble a few times his first semester and the university used our school to defend the boy and get him off the civil charges that were against him. He’s supposed to become one of the great quarterbacks that come from Mizzou. So you think you can sue him for what? Did he beat you up?”

“No, Ma’am, he tried to kill me with the Chief of Police there with me. He had attacked me before that, but I pushed him away each time he attacked. The police used a ruse to get me to leave with them, and I ended up being locked up in a holding cell without food until the next afternoon. There’s more to the story at the police station, but the important part was that we found the room totally destroyed when the Chief of Police took me back to my room. All my clothes were ripped and cut. Even my dress shoes were sliced open. All my books were torn in half and cut up. My bed had been urinated on and there was human excrement spread all over the bed and pillow. He even trashed an old radio I used to relax with.”

“Scott McKendry Sr. gave me money to replace my clothes and books, but I didn’t sign anything. I’m still recovering financially from that episode, and I think he needs to pay me some money to make sure I get through Law School.”

Denise said, “I’d love to take your case, but the school may not like that I would assist a plaintiff against their golden boy.”

I told her, “He may not be their golden boy any longer. He has been suspended at this point because he’s in is jail for attempted murder. The Chief won’t drop those charges.”

The woman sat back with a big grin. She said, “That asshole was extremely aggressive feeling me up at a faculty meeting with the sports kids. I mentioned it to Jonathan who said that he would make sure I made it home without problems. It was still very unsettling to have someone do that in front of so many.”

“Well, he probably won’t be bullying and being a problem to women here at the university. I can see that the school might not be able to represent me, so can you recommend an attorney?”

Denise held a finger up for me to pause while she picked her phone up and dialed a number. “Hi, Sharon, how would you like an easy lawsuit that you can afford to do for twenty or twenty-five percent?” There was a pause before Denise said, “This is a nice guy who makes me want to change stripes. Listen to his story and you’ll know what I’m talking about. The suit will in all likelihood be almost instantly settled without a lot of effort.”

There was another pause, then Denise said, “I’ll send him right over if you’re free.” Pause; “Good, he’ll be on his way.”

Denise hung up and said, “Take any statements written up or an inventory of what was destroyed that you may have and go see Sharon Marconi. She has a little two-room office in the First National Bank building. There will be parking at the curb in front if you’re lucky. Take some quarters and put four in for two hours. That should take care of it.”

“Thank you for all your help, Denise. I appreciate the time you spent with me.”

The woman said, “It was my pleasure, but we’re not done. You have to come back and let me help you register for your next semester. I need to fulfill some university good deeds.”

I left and walked fast back to the dorm, checked my appearance, and decided that I still looked pressed and neat. I grabbed my file of everything from the incident and went to my truck. Columbia, Missouri isn’t very big, so it wasn’t far from the University to the old downtown area. I parked right in front of the bank and put four quarters in for two hours. It was easy to find Sharon Marconi’s office, as it was just off the old slow elevator.

A cute blonde came from the rear office with her hand stuck out. She said, “Barney Beck? I’m Sharon Marconi, Denise’s friend. Come in and we’ll get right down to business.” I came in as she grabbed a legal pad with a couple of pencils, and said, “Sit with me at the conference table. We’ll be more comfortable.”

I smiled and laid the files on the table. I had some of the police photographs that included the room after it was destroyed. There was a picture of the fire extinguisher and a picture of the large Buck knife. I gave her a copy of the complete statement I had written and typed up later. I told her that the police had the original handwritten statement.

I had written up another statement about how I was treated at the police station and was eventually rescued by the Chief who helped me recover most of the money that had been taken. That officer still owed me twenty-six dollars as far as I was concerned. I wonder if he was the one who kept my watch. I had included their names in my statement, but they might not be policemen any longer.

There was one more statement that told of my meeting Scott McKendry Sr. at the police station for him to give me some money to buy some clothes and another set of books. I told her the exact amount I received, but not what I spent.