5:03

Harry Stone wandered into his chambers pulling on his robe as he picked up the file for tonight's docket. It looked heavy, but then that was the way it was every Halloween. It was just something in the air that drove Manhattan nuts every time this time of the year rolled round. The eccentrics came out looking for life after death, the morally corrupt used the holiday rituals as an excuse to break the law and the intoxicated and decadent embraced the darkness to try and hide their dirty deeds. Among them, Judge Harry T. Stone brought his pet to work with him. While most people had dogs or cats or even a parrot, the honorable Manhattan magistrate brought his fruit bat named Tito to share the holiday with him. Amidst the hookers in masks and the felons hiding in costumes, working photographer and filmmaker Mac Robinson still indulged in his night job as a court clerk.

"Hey, Harry," Mac the court clerk came in grinning. "Ready for another night of ghosts and goblins and getting underpaid."

"Sure." Harry looks back. "I thought you said after last year you'd be calling in sick. I mean, after that funny business with the séance and the pea soup..."

"Did I say that?" Mac was obviously hiding something. "Well, let's just say I have my ace in the hole. Besides, it's Quon Lee's time of the month and I needed out!"

"Uh huh." Harry still wanted the other shoe to drop. "And..."

"And Judge Crutcher's in the hospital and we get to do his in addition to ours." Mac grinned trying to make the best of a bad situation. "In all, about 301, and it has to be done by midnight again."

"Are they crazy??" Harry glared back. "Why do they keep dumping everyone's case loads on us?"

"Because they know we can do it." Mac stood with a bit of a posture.

"We were racing last time when it was 297, but 301..." Harry continued, dropped to his sofa with his robe open to his Snoopy tie and rolled his eyes in disgust. "Well, it's only four more, but we will really have to book it. Thank god, we finally got a decent public defender to replace Mallory. Walters has the defense picked back up to when Christine ran it."

"Not any more." Mac was very blasé about the lack of personnel. "She requested a change of venue."

"What?!" Harry stood up with vengeance. "Why'd she leave?!!"

"I only asked her to lick my chest hairs!" The voice of Dan Fielding reacted in the presence of Roz walking him into Harry's chambers. She backed him into the room. "It's not like I asked her to hold my balls."

"Your honor," Roz looked up. "Mr. Sexual Harassment."

"You drove off another public defender!!" Harry grabbed his croquet mallet eager to hit Fielding with it. "What is with you, Fielding? Are you not happy unless everyone is angry at you?" He slid his mallet through his fingers like a pool cue into Dan's face.

"Is it my fault they're all unstable?" Dan winced in imaginary pain as Harry loomed over him with that mallet. He straightened his tie and turned solemn. "Once Christine left the assembly, we should have got her back in the public defender's office. She knew how I worked, but, no….. They had to make her a judge and then you had to marry her!" Dan looked to Harry upset. "Neither Mallory or Jennifer were decent replacements for her."

"Dan," Harry glared at him ready to knock him out. "You have sexually-harassed every public defender we've had since and before Christine. You only want Christine back because she wouldn't sue you."

"She earned my respect." Dan stated the obvious. "And the fact she was really built."

"We have a replacement coming up." Roz looked to Harry a bit annoyed to be going through Dan's list of failed conquests.

"I hope she's experienced." Harry fretted over the size of the docket.

"I hope she's built!" Dan grinned in private.

"I'm back!" A familiar voice poked its head in as everyone turned around. Immediately recognizing the short, skinny blonde with short hair, Harry, Mac and Roz hugged their lost friend as Dan lusted after her and mentally undressed her. Billie Young had been a temporary public defender Harry's second year on the bench, but only for a short time. Harry liked her, but then she was reassigned and his future wife came along and…

"Billie!" Harry hugged her. "What are you doing here? How's Queens? Are you staying?"

"Well, no," Billie Young's New York accent had a reverb on her voice as she answered the last question first. "They said you need help and when I recognized the name I volunteered! I also heard you married, Harry."

"Oh, yeah," Harry grinned and crossed his arms. "Christine Sullivan, your replacement. She's a judge now after serving in the state assembly."

"Yeah," Billie grinned uncontrollably as she hugged Mac, briefly recognized Roz and looked back to Harry. "I've heard stories of weirdness out of your court too, Harry. Are things still crazy here?"

"No, not really," Mac answered. "Things are almost normal."

"Back! Back, I say!!" Bailiff Bull Shannon screamed from the hallway with armor over his uniform. Wielding a sword and shield, he was fighting off something very big, reptilian and breathing fire as he forced the creature down the hallway.