Eileen Rendahl, Balancing in High Heels

Balancing in High Heels By Eileen Rendahl

Though they were going through a tough period attorney Alissa Lindley is stunned when her husband Thomas informs her he needs her to sign the divorce papers because he must do the right thing by Bethany who is carrying his child. Already frustrated by a non-cooperating fax machine, an irate Alissa tosses the gadget. She is fired and forced to attend an anger management seminar.

Needing to pick up the pieces, Alissa opens her own practice and volunteers to serve as a pro bono public defender in the San Jose area. The clerk of the court assigns her to defend Sheila the stripper head of a vigilante exotic dance troupe avenging the wrongs done to the downtrodden. As Detective E.J. Rodriguez who arrested Sheila investigates other reports of vandalism probably instigated by the avenging dancers, he and Alissa are attracted to one another, but both understand the maxim about sleeping with the enemy.

Alissa and to a lesser degree the support cast seem lost in today's society and struggle to find where they fit; thus the audience receives a focused look at being oneself whatever that might be. The relationship between E.J. and Alissa is well drawn, but also adds to the overall feel of a lost soul seeking satisfaction in a disposable society.

Harriet Klausner