I feel like I am going to write a big test. That same old feeling. Do I know everything? If not, do I really know anything? Man, I hate this situation.

All the way down to the courthouse, I rehearse what I am going to say to the judge. In the summer of 2007, we sold our home unexpectedly quickly..We didn't know what to do. Our real estate agent said she had a friend with a second home. In the home was an apartment he would be glad to rent to us...etc.etc...We gave him a check for $1000 as a damage deposit. It was put into his company's operating account, not their escrow account. The company has since closed and the check cashed and spent...We have asked Bert repeatedly to pay us back and he won't...According to statutes ---and ---he should have to take responsibility for our loss even though he was not directly responsible for the misappropriation...And according to statutes----and--- we should not have to pay him even for the slight damages to his property...

I go over and over my statement, my legal case. How much will this judge know about real estate law? Let me read the statutes again. Do I understand this one completely? Another call to the lawyer-friend who is prepping us....Help! What? For sure?

I am early, of course, so I sit in the car and eat my sandwich, rehearsing and rehearsing...Time to go in and track down the proper courtroom...Chat with this person and then with that person...Hey, what are they all doing here? You mean they all have one o'clock appointments, too? So this will be a "public", communal setting? Great! Now I am more nervous than ever.

There is Bert. He again tries to justify his behavior. I nod politely, but don't encourage the excuses. He looks older, stressed. Guess life has not been kind to real estate agents...

Time to go in. All rise . court is in session...Judge Zimmerman dismisses many cases which have been settled by mediation since they were filed...And we are the first ones actually called up to testify.

The judge, by typical procedure, will ask me to make my statement first, then Bert will get to respond. I have to be ready to rebut his justifications for not paying us...here we go...

But the judge just reads my initial deposition out loud. He turns to Bert and ask, Did you take her damage deposit for $1000?....Yes, Sir....Have you returned it? ....No, Sir...Then you have to give it back to her...Turning to me, Here is your judgment against him,...And Bert begins to speak, to share with the judge all the reasons he is not really responsible for the payment....Un-huh....Un-huh...All right. Here is your judgment. Case closed - within sixty seconds!

Now, that is my kind of judge! Quick justice, and I did not have to defend myself at all. He did it for me! How wonderful to see Bert's self-justifications utterly disregarded...

A taste of that final tribunal where all is made well...

And thanks to the Mediator who will be there for me!