Famed human rights attorney declines UFO land claims case at 5,278 words

Good morning from East Aurora!

I'm delighted to share today's excerpt which is loosely based on real life events.

Welcome to the EsNoWriMo multiverse.

Enjoy

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Immediately, Mason Winfield’s face popped into view on my screen. He had a friendly smile, grey/blue statement glasses and a shock of light brown hair looking rather windswept atop his head. He had on a light blue jean jacket with a fully zipped dark grey puffer jacket underneath. It appeared that he was cultivating an “offbeat academic” look.

“Good morning from East Aurora!” He shouted through the video chat.

He appeared to be in a bustling hotel lobby bar. I could see that he was not wearing headphones, and I could hear the background noise of the bar. This seemed to be a less-than-private paranormal consultation.

“Good morning, Mason!” I replied as cheerfully as I could muster.

He lowered his voice slightly. “You would not believe it, but the Jocelyn Desmond is here. Right behind me, at the bar,” he whispered, loudly.

“Famed human-rights attorney, and lawyer of the year Jocelyn Desmond?” I asked, unable to hide my excitement.

“The very one,” Mason replied with a sharp nod of his head.

“How exciting! I hope you got her autograph.”

“Unfortunately not,” Mason told me, a note of sadness creeping into his voice. “I asked her if she could help me with a land claims case I’ve been working on. She declined.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Jocelyn Desmond that I’ve read about,” I said, wondering if my legal hero was not anything like I hoped her to be.

“It’s a bit of a complicated case. There is a UFO bat cave in Lake Ontario. I had wanted Jocelyn and her firm to help and represent the UFOs against the Ontario Government. When I told her a bit about the help that the UFOs needed, she didn’t think that there is any case for any lawyer to take on since the Ontario Government is not trying to take any land away. But my argument is that just because they are not trying to take it away yet does not mean that they won’t,” Mason told me, his voice intense. “I have it under good authority by folks highly placed within the Government that the next stage of their plan for Ontario Place is expanding the island to the area directly above the UFO’s underwater bat cave. Just to make room for a convenience store from which they can sell $1 beer!” His voice rising to a shriek.

I decided it best to turn the conversation to a new topic. I could still see the blurry figure sitting at the bar who Mason had identified as Jocelyn. Just as I started to speak, I saw her raise what appeared to be a glass of scotch and heard her yell what sounded like “Speakcheesy!” in a very high-pitched voice before taking a slow sip.