From Rockville to Stockton Chapter 4
Rockville, Ca - "The days are winding down to when I'll be in Stockton," Danny Matthews was thinking to himself. He was excited but of course he was nervous as well. And really who wouldn't be? He had just finished law school at the prestigious Harvard Law School. And now he was going to begin his internship with a lawyer who was probably one of the most respected lawyers in California.
"Danny, get washed up for supper it's almost ready," said his mother to him as he was coming inside from doing some outside chores that needed to be done.
"Yes Ma," he said smiling as he was a hungry college graduate for sure.
As mother and son sat down to eat their supper Libby Matthews just smiled to see the joyous expression on her son's face.
"You sure are looking forward to your internship in Stockton aren't you son," she asked with a twinkle in her eye.
The young boy shook his head yes as he was taking a drink of milk. Then he wiped his mouth with his napkin.
"Yes, Ma I am. I have heard this lawyer is the best lawyer in this state, goodness maybe in the whole wide world," he said with such excitement.
"Well, I'm sure he is wonderful at what he does, of course, don't forget Danny I'm sure he has made his fair share of mistakes - he's just a man after all."
Danny looked at her bewildered.
"Oh Ma, I know he's just a man, it's just that it seems he is so important in this state. I can't remember ever being around anyone with such importance as this lawyer seems to have."
As they finished their supper his mother stood up to clear the table, then leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead and brushed her hand through his hair. With his mother behind him he had an even bigger smile on his face.
The reason for his sneaky smile was that when he was in search of a law firm to do his internship for the last few months, he came across a few news articles of Jarrod Barkley from Stockon, California. He read a few articles without seeing a picture and what he read really impressed him. However, the name didn't bring anything back to his memory, that is until he saw a picture of the lawyer in the local newspaper when he was in town one afternoon. The article was about Jarrod winning a very high-profile case in San Francisco.
Thankfully his mother was not with him when he saw the picture.
"DAKOTA!" Danny shouted, and others around him just stared at him wondering what in the world was wrong with him.
He was so embarrassed he hung his head and walked away, but he was so excited to see the face of the man who he hadn't seen since he was a boy. He knew that this Jarrod Barkley was a good man.
"No, Jarrod Barkley is a great man, and my mother thinks so as well," he said gleefully.
Danny even felt like that maybe, just maybe, his mother was starting to fall in love with the man. Even though it was uncertain if Danny's father was alive or dead, because at that time he had been gone for two years without a word from him at all. He was a mining engineer and was away.
When Danny saw the newspaper and finally put a face to a name, that's when he decided who he wanted to intern for, but first, he knew he had to contact Harvard and then send a letter to Jarrod inquiring if he could in fact intern for him. He knew that if he did get the internship, he would find out from the university. He didn't necessarily think he would hear from Jarrod himself, although he secretly hoped he would.
In his letter to Jarrod, he said very little about himself, but he for some reason didn't want to say too much because he wanted to surprise him. He hoped that Jarrod would be as thrilled to see him as Danny himself was thrilled at the opportunity to see Jarrod again. Then it hit him
"What if Mr. Barkley doesn't remember me?" he thought, but not out loud this time.
"Well Ma always says not to borrow trouble or worry, so I'll try not to!"
Then the letter from Harvard came two months before his internship was to begin. They had heard from Jarrod, and he expressed how excited he was to be a mentor to the young man and that he was looking forward "Helping him enter the wonderful career of law!" That is a quote from Jarrod himself in his letter to Harvard.
Danny would not tell her who he was going to intern for partly because he knew he had forgotten where Jarrod had said he lived once his memory returned after suffering from Amnesia, because of an accident caused by Danny also he did not want to get his mother's hopes up about how things would work out with the internship and them personally as well. And Danny wasn't sure if Jarrod would remember him or his mother at all, since it had been years. So, he didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until he was sure things would work out. He was almost sure of one thing and that was that his mother would be so thrilled to see "Dakota"
