The Judge
Her First Satori

fiction
edward w pritchard

The Judge was a tough cookie. That was the polite way to describe the woman and often worse was said. She was however, formidable and for twelve years had ran the local divorce court with vigor. Our area was failing in the race of world wide economic development and nearby cities were absorbing our jobs and far away peoples were benefiting at our expense. Divorce in our area was a contrary indicator of our success and business was booming. The Judge ruled over the busy divorce court and managed the staff and routed the customers and directed the Attorneys day in and out and that area of local government functioned admirably well.

The Judge was rushing to a budget meeting at a local school where she served as a paid outside director of the local school system. She had ran over at her last hearing because the two male Attorneys had been posturing in front of their new wealthy clients and she had mismanaged her morning schedule because of them. The Judge was put off with herself for not being more firm and efficient with the two Attorneys. Her mismanagement of that one 15 minute status hearing had thrown off her schedule for the entire day and she was now going to be a few minutes late for a meeting, something she did not often allow her self the luxury to do.

Entering the second hallway of the school near the office the Judge saw six students in wheelchairs entering an elevator. There were two older woman with the six handicapped junior high students and they were pushing a couple of the students who had multiple handicaps onto the elevators. A few of the students had expensive heavy electric motored self moving wheel chairs that they were slumped in but operating the controls to power. One of the women assisting the students was holding with one hand as she pushed a wheelchair with her other hand, a medical IV of some sort for one of the students.

The shock of seeing a student at a public school going to class with a medical IV was jolting and overwhelming to the Judge. She knew this school from coming and going to other meetings here over the last few months and knew in about fifteen minutes the halls would be crammed with dashing excited children racing to class.

There was a small auditorium toward the back of the school and the Judge was sitting slumped near the stage quietly crying when the janitor heard and noticed her. After a few minutes he took her a small very cold plastic bottle of orange juice which she drank before she went to her budget meeting in the front portion of the building.