How I found out that I had passed

At around five o'clock I realised my hands were gradually getting colder and colder. Despite my nerves, according to my colleagues, I looked very calm and collected. I also felt nauseous.

Just before 7pm, Chinese Sad Associate called me from Taipei (she's on a business trip there - poor thing).
"Do you have your ID number from the exams?" she asked.
"Why do I need that?" I asked.
"How else would you check your results?" she asked back.

I spent the next ten minutes wrestling with my curiosity. To get the results, I needed the ID number. To get the ID number, I needed to go home. Was it really worth the trouble? Afterall, all I had to do was wait until Friday and the passlist would be out there for all to see.

Then Chinese Sad Associate called.
"I've passed!" she screamed down the phone. That did it. I had to find out too. I ran out of the building - past my secretary who was typing my document - and grabbed a taxi. I was stuck in the Wednesday night traffic jam (horse racing in Happy Valley always causes congestion) when Chinese Sad Associate called again.
"You've passed!" she screamed down the phone.
"What are you saying? You don't have my ID number!" I shouted back in a strange panic.
"We applied together, so I figured your number was close to mine," she said, demonstrating the flash of genius I see in her at work, "and I was right. Your number is one digit away from mine. I also put down January 197X as your birth month and year and, you're there! You've passed! You've passed! We've both passed!"
"Oh my God, are you sure? I mean, what if there is another J-A out there who is born in January 197X?" I said. I was fairly screaming with nerves myself.
"J-A, just don't be such a dolt," she retorted back, "Who else could it be? It's you! You've passed! Call M.!"

At this point I was close to home anyway. I told the taxi driver I was getting out and ran the rest of the way home. When I went into the room where I keep my papers, I realised I couldn't remember where the ID slip was. I had to ransack the drawers of my desk to find that flimsy piece of paper that confirmed the number Chinese Sad Associate had checked was indeed my ID.

Chinese Sad Associate faxed over the web page announcing that 'the State Board of Law Examiners congratulates you on passing the New York State bar examination held on February 24-25, 2004'. I tried to log on myself to take a look but the server at work was too slow. But the paper is here in front of me now, so that'll do for me.

M. is very matter-of-fact about it. He said, "Congratulations! I'm on the bus."