He was dog-tired but had to put the final touches on the brief that he was preparing for tomorrow's case. He was working as a law clerk for the prestigious law firm Smyth, Lloyd and Thompson LLC. The law firm was considered renowned because three city councilmen came out of it, two senators, one former mayor and the current governor had been affiliated with it at one time or another. Jacob knew that if he did well here there was a good chance that they would hire him on as a paralegal. If he stayed the course working hard, he could eventually be brought in as an associate. If he made it to that level, he would be proud of his accomplishment. That was a lot for a boy from the poor neighborhood of the west side ghetto of Chicago.
Abruptly his eyes came across a piece of mail that was addressed to him. He eyed the mail suspiciously as he noted that it was from the circuit court division. Picking up the letter, he took the letter opener and slid it between the folds of the envelope slicing it open. Once the envelope was opened, Jacob removed the neatly typed and folded paper out and read.
"Child support…" He quietly said under his breath. Already it was showing him more than two years in arrears owing a little over two thousand dollars. They were demanding him to complete the paperwork regarding his work and health benefits.
His face tightened as he continued reading the paper showing the due dates of each month and amount collected: $0.00.
"Mm, eighty dollars a month…" He mumbled under his breath. Marla hadn't been pushing the issue or even seeking to take him back in court. He pulled out his calculator and did his own calculations.
"One thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars plus interest… A little over two thousand dollars… I guess I can send the boy that." He reasoned. As long as she wasn't pushing the issue and there hadn't been a subpoena to appear in court for a support modification; he figured he would go ahead and start paying the eighty dollars a month in child support. He put his calculator out and then pulled out his personal checkbook. When he and Louise had gotten married, they had decided that they would share one checking account for paying household and family bills together; but they would each maintain a separate account for taking care of personal incidentals and debt that they had incurred before marriage. Jacob reasoned that this debt of child support definitely belonged into this category.