Significant Moments: That Moment In The Library

It was years later that memory knew what he was remembering; years after that night when . . .
William Faulkner, Light in August (Chapter 7).
. . . that moment in the library . . .
Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams.
. . . came back to him.
William Faulkner, Light in August (Chapter 7).

Back in 1985 I worked with a fellow named Charles (Chas) Green. He had a law degree and subsequently joined the army as a member of the JAG Corps.

One day Chas said to me: "Someday you're going to screw the wrong person, and they're going to find your body floating, face down, with a knife in your back, in the Potomac."

Oddly enough, at that very time in 1985 one of the law clerks at the firm where we worked was Glenn A. Fine, Esq., now Inspector General of the United States. Chas and I worked in the second floor library. Mr. Fine's office was on the second floor, near the bathroom. Mr. Fine used to check into reference materials in the library from time to time.

One day, while Glenn Fine was in the library, I said to Chas, "I have a brilliant legal mind." I happened to notice the expression on Glenn Fine's face -- it could be described as a withering sneer.

It was years later that memory knew what I was remembering; years after that day when that moment in the library came back to me.