Sabotage

I got a really awkward look today at work. It was one of those looks that makes you check to see if your fly is open, or comb your hand across your head to see if someone put something in your hair. It was riddled with uncertainty and laced with disappointment and anger. It was a pretty powerful look.

And for the longest time, I couldn't figure out why the attorney had singled me out as the recipient of his burning gaze. I've been fairly productive this week- which is to say that I have completed all of the menial tasks that I have received and still managed to do atleast two crossword puzzles each day. I've been happy and excited too- I'm going to visit Madison this weekend for the first time in more than a year. And I've been looking pretty sharp- finally decided to shave and wear some of the shirts that I got for my birthday. Completely undeserving of awkward attention.

But then it hit me.

I left my book in plain view on my desk and the attorney had spotted it. This may not seem out of the ordinary, but in this place it is far from it...

Keep in mind that I work at a law firm that specializes in construction law. This means whenever there are disputes between developers, owners, contractors, subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers, our firm arrives on the scene to rake in some profit. And while many other sectors of the economy have slowed down, construction law has not- almost everyone is defaulting on their contracts or somehow offending the parties they are working for.

So when the attorney spotted the shiny cover of "The Monkey Wrench Gang" on my desk, he probably was taken aback.

For those of you unfamiliar with Edward Abbey and his most famous book, it basically tells the story of 4 unlikely partners who drive around the American West destroying roads, bridges, and construction equipment. The characters, like Abbey, are notoriously resentful of excessive development (or really any development for that matter) and band together with bolt cutters, wrenches, gas cans, and chainsaws to upend construction efforts. On the first page of the book, Abbey offers a brief definition of sabotage: "n. [Fr.< sabot, wooden shoe + -AGE: from damage done to machinery by sabots].

Might as well be reading the Communist Manifesto in Joseph McCarthy's office.

-Dave