White Elephant
Interlude
5
by Lindabrit
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No copyright
infringement is intended by the author.
The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
The office still had that smell of newness, Jarrod Barkley looked round
appreciatively, it was all he had hoped it might be, a symbol of how fast his
star was rising in this city. He looked out of the big window at the San
Francisco skyline, he was widely spoken of now as one of, if not the top
attorney in the city and this new and expensively furnished office was a symbol
of that prestige. With a smile Jarrod's intense gaze swept the room, it was
equipped with every latest gadget and device, as befitted his status, the whole
place exuded modernity and efficiency, all except the old lantern on the
lawyer's massive new desk.
Jarrod smiled at the lantern, he had placed it on his desk as a good luck piece
when he had first qualified and out of habit he had brought it with him to this
new location. It was, he supposed, something of a white elephant in this
setting but he was fond of it, they had been together a good while. If his
grandfather who had given it to Jarrod was to be believed, the lantern came
originally from England, it was an old relic from the days of tin mining in
Cornwall and had been brought to the United States by ship in the very early
1700s.
Jarrod wondered if it was a mistake to keep the old lamp, perhaps it spoiled
the new office? No, he concluded, he liked it and he was going to keep it, he
had earned the right to please himself hadn't he? The handsome lawyer was a
dark haired man in his forties with extraordinarily blue and penetrating eyes.
He used the intensity of his gaze as a weapon in the courtroom sometimes and
there was no denying that he was a gifted cross-examiner. He was a purposeful
even driven man, working almost impossibly long hours and so conscientious that
he found even a small measure of delegation difficult.
Recently, his three talented lawyer nephews had again approached him about the
possibility of becoming his junior partners. He was fond of the three boys and
proud of them too, he knew it was his example that had led them all three into
the law, but even so he hesitated about the partnerships. He was used to being
pretty much a one man band and wasn't sure how well he could adjust to
entrusting any of his precious business to other lawyers.
Jarrod's eyes strayed to the photograph on the opposite side of his desk from
the lantern, it was a picture of his wife and their four beautiful children.
Jarrod's marriage was widely known to be extremely happy, indeed the successful
lawyer's whole life-style was deeply envied by everyone who knew him. Which
made it all the more puzzling that Sarah Barkley, Jarrod's wife had last night
presented her husband with an uncompromising ultimatum. Give your nephews their
partnership and ease back on your own workload, or risk losing me and the
children forever.
Her words had stunned Jarrod, so much so that he had been unable to use his
famed eloquence to persuade her out of her resolve. By the time he had
recovered his wits and was able to try and out- argue her, Sarah had hardened
her heart and would listen to no entreaties. He had wanted to stay and have it
out, but the office opening had been scheduled for today and there were
important people to be entertained. So, with a heavy heart, Jarrod had left the
house and come in to work, but Sarah's threat had overshadowed his whole day.
Jarrod glanced out of the window again, it was falling dusk now, but he could
not think of heading home yet, he had a ton of work to get through still. The
first clap of thunder was so sudden it made him jump with the shock of it and
almost as soon as it had sounded the first bolt of lightning split the sky.
With that flash of light, the whole world seemed to go dark and Jarrod sat
still, catching his breath as he tried to work out what had happened to him. He
could see nothing whatsoever and hear nothing except the continual raging of
the storm, it was for all the world as though a giant hand had cast his new
office into a deep cavern, far away from any source of light.
As the lawyer's wits returned he cast around him for any means of making a
light and his hands rested upon his white elephant, his old tin-miner's lamp.
He managed to open it's little aperture and light it and the long disused
lantern glowed steadily into life, a cheering and warm radiance, a comfort to
the lawyer in the thick enfolding darkness all around him. He sat quite still,
staring at the tiny beacon and slowly, imperceptibly a strange sense of well
being began to wash over him.
Jarrod saw nothing to do for the present but sit quietly and await
developments. The lamp was a comfort to him in his lonely vigil and he found
his gaze drawn to it again and again. With the enfolding and muffling darkness
it was as though all the hectic activity of his busy legal practice fell away
leaving him able to see with clarity through to the core of his present
dilemma.
Were Jarrod's eyes playing tricks? In the lantern's glow he seemed to see an
impression of a photograph his grandfather had once shown him, a picture of
another lawyer, a Barkley ancestor. One to whom very high office had been
offered, an offer he had refused. This man was eminent indeed, but he knew his
own mind and self, knew that he needed time in his life for other things and
the freedom to speak the truth as he saw it. Did this ancestor have something
to tell Jarrod?
The glow of the lantern rippled and changed, now it was his beloved wife Sarah
that Jarrod could see, yes and his kids too. What did it profit him, his eminence,
his fame, if he was never home to watch his family grow? The hairs on the back
of Jarrod's neck were standing up, what the hell was going on here?
The sound of the telephone ringing almost made Jarrod cry out, it was in such
sharp contrast to the all pervading silence. As he picked up the phone, the
electric lights came back on, flooding his office with light once again. He
held the receiver to his ear,
"hello?"
The lawyer smiled as he heard Sarah's anxious voice at the other end of the
line,
"No Honey I'm fine, don't worry. Yes I guess it was a power outage because
of the lightning."
He glanced outside, lights were coming back on all over the city now, he spoke
with quiet tenderness into the phone.
"Sarah, listen to me Darling, I'll give the traffic a half hour to clear
and then I'm heading home. I've thought about what you said and you are so
right. I'm going to give the boys their chance to work with me and I promise
you that you and the kids will see more of me from now on. Sarah, don't cry
Sweetheart, I promise you I mean what I say. What changed my mind? Well, I had
company in my darkness, my dear old lantern lit my vigil and lets just say that
I saw things more clearly in that light than in the neon, okay?"
With a smile, Jarrod blew out the flame of the lantern, caressing the shiny
patina of its metal surface and whispered,
"much obliged old friend!"
Thirty minutes later, he was headed out of the high rise building and home to
his wife and family. He had read the distinguished history of his namesake, the
first Jarrod Barkley, by all accounts a man with his priorities firmly in the
right place, this Jarrod Barkley, top of his law class at Berkeley 1998 had
resolved that from now on he and his ancestor were as one in knowing what the important
things in life were.