CSI:NY Part 10
Chapter Ten
"Mr. Messer, you are here so that we might ascertain if you are keeping your end of the bargain."
"Well, sirs, I think you are more likely to have a copy of my grades than I am, as they don't tell us until Friday. I'm working 3 or 4 nights a week as a waiter, and I haven't even gone out on the town other than Dim Sum a few times on Saturday mornings, one concert, and on New Year's Eve. Mr. Flack, you've spoken with your son and wife, one or both were with me for those outings. I haven't had contact with my family other than my mother when I took her out to dinner mid-December, and her cousin Helen, who allowed me to stay with her family for most of Winter Break, while the dorms were closed. Neither of them have as much as an unpaid speeding ticket."
The head of the panel nodded at his statement, turning to Don Sr.
"Donald, have anything to add?"
"Nah. Elly and Junior had nothing but good to say, but that wouldn’t give the whole picture."
"Well, I'm convinced you are in the clear, Daniel. Your GPA for last term was 3.67, no contact with troublesome people. From now on, since you're settled in school now, we'll only ask you to appear here if there is some issue on either side that needs to be dealt with. Dismissed."
"Thank you, sirs."
"So how'd it go?"
"Pretty well. It seems your dad is the voice of dissent. The head of the committee just looked through my grades, and I told him the only time I wasn't at work or school, I was with you and/or Ma. He also seemed OK with my seeing Mama and Cousin Helen. And unless there's some change necessary, I'll just get a letter or something."
"Sounds good to me. Ready for lunch? Ma made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and I got us some hot dogs and soda."
"Yum...but where to go? Lee moved back in last night, so we'd get questions if we went back to mine, and it's a bit cold out to sit in Wash Square."
"The student center should be open by now, it's close enough to the start of class."
Hitting himself in the forehead, Danny sputtered, "Duh, Danno! I'm used to everything being closed, it was kinda spooky for a few days there."
"Understandable. Now come on."
"So what are you taking this semester? I know you had to make some last minute changes ‘cause the registrar fell behind."
"Luckily that mock trial seminar wasn't full yet, and they didn't lose my slot in Spanish. There was some kinda problem with my proficiency test last year. I worked at a basketball day camp last summer, refurbished my Spanish, but now they say I have to take the class anyway. The other stuff's just to fill up points."
"Well, I've got a heavy semester, 3 lab classes, and guitar comp. Luckily, Biochem and Separations are meant to be taken concurrently, so the labs work off each other, and the TAs are friends so maybe I can combine the lab times a bit. Psychopharm, I'm a bit worried about, and if I get stuck in a group for comp, I'll be screwed."
"Yikes, any time for me?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind coming by the restaurant to pick me up."
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Danny's head was hurting like mad; he was never going to take three lab classes a semester again. Thankfully, it was 4:45 on Thursday, time for his once-weekly guitar composition class. Since this was the third class in the sequence, Professor Hetten wanted them to write and perform a short piece. Initially, it was supposed to be done with four groups of three, so the common forms were easier to accommodate, but there were 10 people actually in the class. Danny was the only non-humanities student in the class, so he ended up being left out.
"Danny, the assignment should be able to be scaled down to not be crazily hard for a single person. Instead of a 12-20 page score and 6 page commentary to be done as a group, do a 2-3 page composition and a 4 page paper."
"OK. That's doable. I was a bit worried, as I have a heavy load otherwise."
"Right. This seminar is going to take all of what you thought was free time. I have copies of primary documents from three criminal cases. You will divide into new groups for each case to act as the prosecution and defense. You'll have three weeks of prep, including writing briefs and plans for questioning. One person from each group will receive a sealed folder with information for testimony, extra details, the character of the witness, the personality of the defendant, etc. You will argue the case with a guest as judge at the end of those three weeks. Once a verdict is reached, we start the next case."
"Mr. Messer, you are here so that we might ascertain if you are keeping your end of the bargain."
"Well, sirs, I think you are more likely to have a copy of my grades than I am, as they don't tell us until Friday. I'm working 3 or 4 nights a week as a waiter, and I haven't even gone out on the town other than Dim Sum a few times on Saturday mornings, one concert, and on New Year's Eve. Mr. Flack, you've spoken with your son and wife, one or both were with me for those outings. I haven't had contact with my family other than my mother when I took her out to dinner mid-December, and her cousin Helen, who allowed me to stay with her family for most of Winter Break, while the dorms were closed. Neither of them have as much as an unpaid speeding ticket."
The head of the panel nodded at his statement, turning to Don Sr.
"Donald, have anything to add?"
"Nah. Elly and Junior had nothing but good to say, but that wouldn’t give the whole picture."
"Well, I'm convinced you are in the clear, Daniel. Your GPA for last term was 3.67, no contact with troublesome people. From now on, since you're settled in school now, we'll only ask you to appear here if there is some issue on either side that needs to be dealt with. Dismissed."
"Thank you, sirs."
"So how'd it go?"
"Pretty well. It seems your dad is the voice of dissent. The head of the committee just looked through my grades, and I told him the only time I wasn't at work or school, I was with you and/or Ma. He also seemed OK with my seeing Mama and Cousin Helen. And unless there's some change necessary, I'll just get a letter or something."
"Sounds good to me. Ready for lunch? Ma made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and I got us some hot dogs and soda."
"Yum...but where to go? Lee moved back in last night, so we'd get questions if we went back to mine, and it's a bit cold out to sit in Wash Square."
"The student center should be open by now, it's close enough to the start of class."
Hitting himself in the forehead, Danny sputtered, "Duh, Danno! I'm used to everything being closed, it was kinda spooky for a few days there."
"Understandable. Now come on."
"So what are you taking this semester? I know you had to make some last minute changes ‘cause the registrar fell behind."
"Luckily that mock trial seminar wasn't full yet, and they didn't lose my slot in Spanish. There was some kinda problem with my proficiency test last year. I worked at a basketball day camp last summer, refurbished my Spanish, but now they say I have to take the class anyway. The other stuff's just to fill up points."
"Well, I've got a heavy semester, 3 lab classes, and guitar comp. Luckily, Biochem and Separations are meant to be taken concurrently, so the labs work off each other, and the TAs are friends so maybe I can combine the lab times a bit. Psychopharm, I'm a bit worried about, and if I get stuck in a group for comp, I'll be screwed."
"Yikes, any time for me?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind coming by the restaurant to pick me up."
----------------------------------------
Danny's head was hurting like mad; he was never going to take three lab classes a semester again. Thankfully, it was 4:45 on Thursday, time for his once-weekly guitar composition class. Since this was the third class in the sequence, Professor Hetten wanted them to write and perform a short piece. Initially, it was supposed to be done with four groups of three, so the common forms were easier to accommodate, but there were 10 people actually in the class. Danny was the only non-humanities student in the class, so he ended up being left out.
"Danny, the assignment should be able to be scaled down to not be crazily hard for a single person. Instead of a 12-20 page score and 6 page commentary to be done as a group, do a 2-3 page composition and a 4 page paper."
"OK. That's doable. I was a bit worried, as I have a heavy load otherwise."
"Right. This seminar is going to take all of what you thought was free time. I have copies of primary documents from three criminal cases. You will divide into new groups for each case to act as the prosecution and defense. You'll have three weeks of prep, including writing briefs and plans for questioning. One person from each group will receive a sealed folder with information for testimony, extra details, the character of the witness, the personality of the defendant, etc. You will argue the case with a guest as judge at the end of those three weeks. Once a verdict is reached, we start the next case."