After the Chambers Close

By day she is the lawyer other people hire when they are in trouble: tailored clothes, a hard voice, a desk that does not forgive lateness. The partners see the woman on the letterhead and mistake that polish for the whole of her. What they do not see is the hour after the chambers close, when the uniform of the job comes off and the building is no longer allowed to define her. / Someone in that office wants the version that appears after hours. She has not decided whether the attention threatens her name or is the only part of the day that belongs to her. Either way, the door locks from her side.