A storyteller whose tale might hardly merit a footnote can still shine a light on how a little vignette can come to be seen as a big deal. This first-person account goes back fifty years to another Thanksgiving period. The backstory recounts how the Clerk of the New York State Court of Appeals became Counsel to the Court. That new title and functional role arose not from a job listing description, but from the creative subtlety of a chief judge’s determination to close a deal.