19 Dec 2003

I was in the Army, some sort of staff sergeant, and me and a bunch of other senior enlisted/junior officer guys had worked up a scam where we faked new identities as senior officers-- low ranking generals and the like. I don't remember who any of the other guys were except one, a little old guy we all started calling "Pappy". We got onto the senior staff of a top-level general and one of the first things he wanted to talk to us about was new sweeping changes in military benefits that Congress was trying to push through, severely curtailing them. I asked him what the benefits were and he told me-- I don't remember what they were, only that my impression was that these weren't benefits being curtailed, they were loopholes for gross fraud that were being closed so that guys like the general could no longer bilk taxpayers out of millions.

"Fortunately", the new law had been constitutionally challenged and was going to the Supreme Court, and the Court was on recess-- had been for quite some time, in fact, at least two months longer than it was supposed to, and nobody knew why. Until they chose to show back up, the law wouldn't go into effect, so we could continue to plunder... that is, "use" our benefits in the remaining time.

While we were having this meeting, I eventually noticed that someone had come into the room, an older woman in judge's robes. She was silently watching us. Everyone else slowly became aware of her as well and the meeting ground to a halt just about the point I realized the woman was Sandra Day O'Connor. The general leaned over and whispered something in his aide's ear, and the aide whispered something in Pappy's ear, and Pappy nodded sadly. "She's here for me," he said, and he got up from the table. He walked over to Justice O'Connor, who held up another judge's robe. "You have to come back to work," she said. He took the robe as though accepting the burden of Sisyphus. Then he waved sadly to all of us as they left.

I'm still not sure which of the other Justices he was.