A Pleasant Event in "Criminal Opera"

A happy evening in “Criminal Opera (coming very soon):”

“David Garvey smoothly opened the door of Elyse’s cab as it pulled up
in front of the il Vagabondo Italian restaurant on East 62nd Street in
Manhattan. He reached ahead to open the venue’s front door before
an approaching waiter could open it for them.
“Thanks for coming, Elyse. I hope you’ll like it as much as I do. It
has a bocce court, which is often fun to watch during dinner. As they
walked through the main dining room, David pointed out another
unusual feature – unlike many restaurants, the kitchen here is in the
middle of the main dining room, where diners can watch a variety
of meals being prepared, Once they reached the table David had
selected in advance near the bocce court, he pulled out a comfortable
green upholstered chair for Elyse at an ascetically arranged table for
two.
“How was your day, Elyse?” David asked, looking into her eyes
as a waiter approached to take drink orders. “What would you like to
drink?”
“I’ll have a dry white wine, Pinot Gris. I saw they have it when I
was looking at their website. What looks good to you?”
“My present favorite is Voodoo Ranger, an Imperial IPA. Don’t
know if they serve it here. But, if not, I’ll just have the most tart IPA
available – no big deal.”
“About my day, it’s the new normal, being on senior status, fewer
cases on the regular rotation but more of the ‘look what just came up,
can you help’ variety?” she answered thoughtfully “I had one case I
can tell you about, which reached a result that some would consider
humorous. Then I was recently assigned a serious case involving
child trafficking but I cannot share any details because it involves
non-governmental organizations and some famous people. Did you
ever serve in a court position?”
“Probably not what you would consider a ‘real court position’
but I did participate in Article 15 proceedings, non-judicial
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Les Misérables punishments on my last boat, what a real judge might consider
informal. Punishments ranged from keeping the offender on the boat
until we left port (he couldn’t even get off the boat to do his laundry)
to permanently sending the offender elsewhere so we could continue
with our ordinary business. We called it ‘shit-canning him to surface
craft (forfeit submarine wage benefit).’ The woman leading our
current project seems to think I might make a good magistrate for the
purpose of imposing Nuremberg punishments. Elyse, may I ask you
about something that has percolated through my brain the last couple
of days and nights?”
“Sure, David, go ahead,” Elyse replied, putting her hand over
David’s.
It runs through my mind when I’m asleep as well as when I’m
awake, music from ‘Les Misérables:’”
“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!”