Chapter One

 

Fred made his way to the door and went inside to unit three and knocked. It looked like a good house, where he might live while he studied law in this city on the Canadian prairie. So he knocked. The landlord was supposed to meet him, but at that moment it didn`t seem likely the individual he had spoken to over the phone was inside. He wasn`t ... it was an elderly lady that opened the door, in plain clothes, who looked frail, but then she was moving out. He would be the new tenant, if that happened.

She saw him in the hall, and might have guessed he was a student, from his appearance.

"Yes?" she said.

"I`m here to see the room ... is the landlord here?" In spite of his rough-edged appearance he was a nice guy.

"I haven`t seen him," said the woman. "I can show it to you ... I`m moving out, because of my health." She led him into the large room, where he noticed bottles of pills on the dresser.

A few minutes later the landlord appeared, in a white shirt, as it was still summer. He said Fred could probably have the room, but he didn`t have the lease on him, so he`d have to sign it the next day. He was staying in a hotel, and new to the city. There was no way he could move in until the present tenant moved out so he said he`d be there at one the next day.

He spent awhile seeing the university and law school inside it, a modern facility, and he returned to the hotel and waited.

The next day he returned to the house, to find it had burned down in the night. It was still standing, but badly damaged. There was no way he would be able to live in the house after all. He met the landlord in the driveway, and from there they could see into the unit where he was supposed to live. It was all burnt, through the window. Fred thought he saw a needle on the floor, like a syringe, so he pointed it out to the landlord.

"What happened is someone homeless was inside last night," he said. "That`s what that needle is."

"What, you mean, drugs?" Fred asked. It looked like the other tenant had moved out, but it wasn`t clear.

"They were shooting up. Then something happened ... he must have fell asleep with the cigarette ... he was too stoned to get up before the place caught fire."

Luckily he still had time to find somewhere else to live before school started.

On the first day of law school he went into the building, saw the people in his class in the auditorium, and he thought he was going to be studying the law for the next three years. On the first day they learned there was going to be a seminar one week from today on the Supreme Court of the World, a new institution to be based in New York, that was about to be opened, and was to have judges from all the nations agreeing to be loyal to its decisions. It was a new body, departing from the existing system in which the governments of the great democracies were checked and balanced by the existing supreme courts within each nation ... now they would be checked by one Supreme Court with judges from all over, and they would be beholden to its rulings. On that first day the lecturer said that this development was part of the globalization of democracy and progress, and showed that laws were on a converging course.

Fred had heard about the development, but it was as yet just an idea. Presently, they were not obligated to the court. They were obligated to the Supreme Court of Canada, still.

The lecturer said that the Law School of Western Canada was sending two students to New York to help the court in question get going in a few months, and they would be looking for two volunteers a week from today.

Fred thought he might volunteer, but he didn`t think he`d get to go. But as it turned out, a week from then, he was the only person to raise his hand when they asked for volunteers. He had thought there would be many other hands because during the first week everyone was enthusiastic about the new court, and he thought he had made a lot of new friends, but finally only one other person raised her hand, a woman named Shane. She didn`t stand out, compared to many women in the class, but she had a large, curving front bang. She was light blond, with a nice face ... aside from this, she was not remarkable except for the fact she volunteered. So it was the two of them, off to New York City a few months from then.

It was now settled so they had to get down to their courses, which were not affected by the proposed Supreme Court of the World, yet. Even when the court came into effect, if it ever did, not much would be affected, Fred thought. But after a week of warm relations with the other members of the class, he found that no one wanted to be friendly with him. Shane, who was in another section, was in none of his classes. It became very clear he was unwanted, and it placed a lot of doubt on whether he would even become a lawyer. Not that he wanted to be, and now that he was ostracized by the rest of the class, who refused to meet his eyes in the halls of the law school, he was leaning toward not becoming one. There were always a few people, like John, who would hang out with him, and John was getting ready to practise law, even too well for his own good, because he already wore pretty thick glasses and if he kept on hitting the books, the cases, the statutes, then he might have to get even thicker glasses.

Then came December, and it was time for himself and Shane to go to New York. They flew, and got to know each other better on the plane, because they hadn`t had much chance during the first three months. After being rejected by most of the class, Fred was surprised to find Shane was different ... more willing to give him a chance. They sat side by side and he started to get fond of seeing her face when he looked over, with the sweeping blond hair over her eyes. They talked about their homes, because they were travelling, no longer in western Canada, and she probably knew what was going on at school, even though they hardly talked there. Still, after a while he told her he was feeling on the outs.

"But you decided to go to law school for a reason," Shane said.

"I must have," Fred agreed. He liked that she gave him a chance. As they settled into their papers and magazines for the remainder of the flight, he noticed she was actually quite pretty.

Then they arrived in New York, and took a cab, paid for by the university, to the Supreme Court of the World. It was an impressive structure, though it wasn`t in operation yet, but it was grey, made of stone, simulating ancient buildings, round like the world, having no front or back. It was completely modern once they got inside, though ... futuristic even. For example, a hologram fairy hostess named Stella accompanied them everywhere, and she hovered over their heads and spoke by way of concealed speakers that could throw voices into the air and make Stella seem like a true fairy guide, but the thing which completely caught Fred by surprise was how Stella with her distinctive hair resembled Shane so much. It made him nervous at first. They walked down the corridor after Stella introduced herself at the entrance and he even felt that this was a set up because there was the angel to his right and Shane to his left.

Stella said goodbye when they entered the registration room, though, and encountered some real people, but they would see her in other parts of the building, wherever they went, telling them information about the purpose of every wing.

She would have made them feel welcome, if she hadn`t taken them by surprise - or Fred, at least.

They went to the actual court after getting processed, getting clearances for the building, whether Stella approved or not. The next day, after finding the hotel, they would meet with a lot of people from everywhere, and most of them weren`t students, either. How could she not approve, though? They were there to support the Supreme Court of the World. They were the future, as students. They were there to aid in bringing about the future.

They took a cab to the hotel they were booked at, and then finally said goodnight. It was a long day, true. It flew past, though, and when they arrived they were eager to see the proposed court and get registered.

The next day, Fred met Shane and she was wearing a conservative skirt and black shoes and jacket to match. He was wearing a fairly old suit, a hangover from his younger days, and felt a little intimidated. Now that she looked like Stella, the hologram, emulating her, it seemed ... but Shane was not emulating Stella, after all ... he only thought so for a moment. She walked to the elevator, because their rooms were side by side, keeping by his side.

It was their big chance, the only day they had to make a difference. They went to the court, and stepped out of the taxi, staying mindful of the seriousness of what they were doing, and were greeted by Stella as they walked to the central courtroom. Shane hardly grinned, although it was funny, no matter what happened with the proposed Supreme Court of the World.

They entered the arena. They had tags identifying where they came from and soon they were engaged in conversation. Fred talked about the increased stability under one single court and how even if the rulings were symbolic and vague it would create a new understanding and would ultimately improve the prospects for those who lacked hope, especially as more and more nations agreed to join on.

He spoke, strangely, as much for Shane as the dignitaries, and people were eager to hear what he had to say, unlike the ones back home, and then there was Shane, who didn`t seem to agree with him or to disagree.

He thought the court was a good idea if only because it was something different.

When the morning was done, they went to the hotel, to spend one more night before flying home the next morning.

He met her again the next day, and they went to the airport, sombre and tired. Tired because they had spent themselves in travel and then in trying to sell the idea of the Supreme Court of the World, sombre, he thought, because he was going back to the school where he wasn`t accepted.

Whatever made Shane volunteer, it didn`t seem that she had regrets, Fred thought. He was more conscious of her than ever before, of course. She would never seem unremarkable again.

When they disembarked in Canada, they congratulated one another and went separate ways, and then Fred realized she was just a student, like himself.