It was a sparkling summer day in 1996, and I was stuck in the windowlessbasement of a prominent Manhattan law firm, basking under the fluorescentglare. Surrounding me were several hundred boxes filled with documents thatI and others were being paid to review for their legal significance. Therewere a dozen of us on this job-all attorneys hired through temporaryemployment agencies. But on a typical afternoon, only about five of the 12would actually be present. Perhaps three would be off at a matinee. Anothermight be attending her dance class. Others would be out shopping. As forthose in attendance, their presence was merely physical. One woman spenthours a day on the phone planning her wedding. Another guy was trying to gethis script made into a film. People took turns reading gossip items from theday’s newspapers to provoke conversation and pass the time. So much talkmade it hard for me to concentrate on my work: I was editing a short storythat I hoped to send off to a few literary magazines by the end of themonth.
The fact that we were involved in defending against severalmultimillion-dollar suits existed only in the distant background of ourminds. Of course, each of us had a box of documents at our work space sothat we could keep up appearances in case anyone came down to check on us.But the only one who ever did was a second-year associate with apparently nodesire to monitor us in any meaningful way.
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