It was 6:21 am on a fine, sunny Wednesday morning.

Out of the front door of the bungalow stepped a sharply dressed man in his late 40s, arms filled with a number of files and books as he walked towards the silver Hyundai Equus parked on the compound. He nodded as the driver saluted and greeted him before handing the load in his arms to him. The driver quickly received them, placed them gently in the back seat, and waited till he was also seated before closing the door.

Having bade his family farewell for the day, it was time for Mr. Paul Kwarteng Takyi to head to Sowutuom Circuit Court for another day of administration of justice.

The job could be draining at times, and it wasn’t always pleasant to do the things he had to, but anyone who ever had to opportunity to engage him would know that he was living his childhood dream. As the son of a prestigious lawyer who won the John Mensah Sarbah award at his graduation, he had grown up admiring the legal profession and everything about it. When it was time to decide what he wanted to be, there was no shadow of a doubt about it, young Paul wanted to be a judge.

Eight years after his call to the Bar, here he was, fulfilling his destiny. And he did not take it for granted.

Was it always smooth? Of course not. He had had his share of clangers. Not every judgment or decision of his had been taken well, and in some cases where the judgment or ruling had been appealed and the Court of Appeal upheld it and set aside his decision, it was a slight blow to the chest.

But hey, everyone makes mistakes. As long as he continued to learn along the way, he would be fine. And those occurrences were nowhere near strong enough to make him question himself. At the end of the day, he loved what he did, and he couldn’t be more grateful that God had made his dream come true.

***

A little under an hour later, Justice Paul Takyi was at the court. Nana Adjei and Elias were on hand to take the items in the car and follow him to his office, where he would settle and prepare himself for the day ahead.

Taking his seat, he arranged the books on his desk and received the files Elias held.

“So that application from Amegbo is set for today, right?” he asked.

“Yes, my Lord,” Elias answered quietly.

Justice Paul looked up and stared at Elias. The young man looked pretty exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept well the previous night.

“Eli, is everything all right?” he asked.

Elias looked surprised at being asked this question again, but nodded sluggishly. “Yes, I’m-I’m doing okay.”

“You sure? Because you don’t look like someone who had a good nights’ sleep.”

Elias sighed and forced a smile. “Umm… yeah. I didn’t actually. My neighbours were disturbing throughout the night, so I… I struggled.”

“Oh, oh, sorry, wai. Hmmm, what was wrong?”

Elias shook his head. “Some guy and his girlfriend. Misbehaving throughout the night.”

Justice Paul’s face changed. “Ah. You mean they were firing throughout the night?”

Elias nodded. “Yes, my Lord.”

Justice Paul shook his head as he sat back. “Hm. Some of these young people of today, eh. They think it’s all about sex and enjoyment. It’s when they’ve finished jumping on each other and children have come in that they’ll go and be disturbing the family tribunals with their matters. Hmm. Ah well, sorry, Eli. Hopefully tonight will be better. Anyways, please take these files for me…”

***

“My Lord, respectfully, a careful perusal of the affidavit of the Plaintiff-Applicant would reveal that the names are wrong. The title of the case has the name Alexander Duffour, yet on the affidavit, we have a different name, Alexandre Duffour. My Lord, with the greatest of respect, this is a clear indication that the Plaintiff has nothing but mischief up his sleeve…”

Justice Paul sat at his bench, staring at the lawyer before him, trying his possible best to camouflage the look of amusement on his face.

Good old Marty Amegbo was at it again.

His classmate from the law school, he knew Marty to be one lawyer who could be extremely petty when handling a case. He would bombard the court with a plethora of applications to stall the case or try to have it struck out. This was one of them. An application for injunction had been filed by the opponent of Marty’s client, and in opposing the application, raised the issue of the plaintiff’s name having been spelled wrongly.

“Counsel. Please, let me just ask you this,” Justice Paul cut in, raising his hand. “When you look at the names in question, can you not tell that this is just a typo?”

“My Lord, this is not a typo!” Lawyer Amegbo insisted fiercely. “These are two very different names. Totally different names…”

“I know that, I know. But you really want me to believe that this is deliberate?”

“Yes, my Lord, it is very much deliberate! My Lord, with the greatest of respect, this application is nothing more than an attempt to deceive the court, and this has exposed them!”

Justice Paul shook his head. Yep, Marty was trying way too hard, and it was nowhere near convincing. The lawyer on the other side was trying his hardest not to laugh at his colleague’s lame attempts to imbue the document with an incurable defect. “Counsel, honestly… I’m not convinced. This to me is a clear typographical error. That is all. And honestly, even if it is defective, are you telling me this renders it incurable? Marty, you know it doesn’t. Order 81 comes in here. This is not a big matter you can magnify successfully before me.”

Marty still did his level best to insist the affidavit could not be depended upon for a minute or two, until Justice Paul asked him to take his seat and made his entry.

“The suit is hereby adjourned to 25th October, 2022 for a ruling on the motion for interlocutory injunction,” he announced. As a defeated-looking Marty and the other lawyer gave their greetings and left, Justice Paul called Divine.

“Divine! Did the lawyer for the Horser Industries case send a junior for the case?” he asked in a low voice as usual.

Divine shook his head. “No, my Lord. His clerk sent a letter for adjournment.”

Justice Paul’s scrunched in annoyance. “Adjournment letter? After I told him to at least send a junior to seal the mouth of the witness? Yoo, I’ve heard. Let’s continue with the applications. I know what to do.”

He saw the ‘oops’ look on Divine’s face as he turned to the pile of dockets before him. They all knew once a lawyer messed up and he said ‘ I know what to do’, it only meant one thing.

An order against the lawyer and punitive costs were to follow.

Yep, the last thing you would want to do as a lawyer was mess around with Justice Paul when he gave you an order to comply with. You would pay dearly for it.

***

The gate to Horez House opened, and in walked Elias.

Another day complete at work. Time for some rest. He had seen His Honour go pretty hard in court that day, and watching the lawyers on the end of his rod was somehow exhausting for him. He might not have been a lawyer, but he could certainly empathize with them. To an extent, he wished his boss hadn’t been so hard on them. But then again, they fell afoul of his rules, so they really didn’t have much of a reason to feel aggrieved.

After, it’s his court, and his rules, he thought to himself as he walked toward the stairs. If you don’t like trouble, you just comply. It’s as simple as that…

Lifting his head briefly, he noticed a figure on the balcony of the ground floor. A different kind of figure.

It wasn’t the elderly figure wrapped in kaba and slit. It was a much younger figure. A shorter, and cuter, figure.

He glanced at her. She was on the phone, oblivious to his entry.

He inhaled and exhaled as he took in her appearance. An absolute cutie stood on Madam Loverance’s balcony. All five foot four of her petite frame was sweet to the sight, with her twisted braids running all the way down to her hips.

“Wow!” Elias whispered to himself. He already knew who that was. He knew Madam Loverance’s daughter frequently came around, but this was the first time seeing her. And what a fine work of art she was!

It took a few seconds for him to snap out of his reverie. Shaking his head, he realized she had ended her call and was waving to him. He quickly waved back.

“Hi, good evening!” she called cheerfully. “You’re Elias, right?”

Of course she’d know him. Her mother had bashed him before her numerous times; now she could put a face to the so-called ‘arrogant’ guy.

“Yeah. Elias Damenera.”

“Nice. I’m Akyaa Aubynn. Madam Loverance’s daughter. Funny how I’ve been coming around here for so long, yet we’ve never met. Well, first time for everything, right?”

She seemed to be quite the chatty kind of girl. Also, Elias couldn’t help but notice how beautifully perfect her teeth looked. All straight, with a pretty little diastema that complimented her pretty face.

He nodded. “Yeah. I guess it’s because I leave so early and all, and your schedule and all. But yeah, nice to meet you.”

“Sure, sure. Same here. Now that we’ve met, I’m sure we’ll be meeting a lot more. Especially now that I’m gonna be here for a while.”

“Oh, really?” Elias asked, trying his best not to let his excitement show forth.

“Yeah. The old lady has been nagging me to stay longer with her, so I’ve agreed to stay another few months.”

“Oh, nice, nice. Yeah, I guess we’ll be meeting a lot more, then. Uh, is she home, by the way?”

Akyaa shook her head. “She just stepped out to buy something.”

“Oh, okay. Well, uh, man’s had a long day at work, so I’m going to rest. So I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

“Sure! See you later.”

As Elias waved and walked away, there was only one word to describe how he felt.

Smitten.

He never would have imagined Madam Loverance’s daughter would be such a beautiful person. And to know that she’d be hanging around for a while.

Maybe he was finally going to get himself a friend to come home to. Someone to make staying in Horez House a little more pleasant.

Well, a little insight into the judge’s life. Seems like a pretty strict type. And is this the start of something new in Elias’ life?