Jury Duty

This is really bad timing. I got jury duty for today. I have thirteen days till launch and the authorities decided that right now would be a good time for me to take a day away from my work and come on downtown and see if they could install me for another few days (or weeks) to decide someone’s fate.

I had jury duty a few years ago and sat for a two-day trial. After it was over, I was in bed for as long recovering. Chronic fatiguers can’t do that kind of sustained upright, concentrated type of thing—in other words, we can’t sit up that long. Let alone engage and focus more than a couple of hours without some cost. Last juror summons that came for me, I had a doctor’s note to excuse me, but I guess they lost that from my file. And I’ve been too busy to even really deal with it. I guess I was hoping I’ll get there and within an hour or so they'll excuse me. Jason had that luck a few months ago. But I should know that chances are maybe fifty-fifty at best for that.
 
Spencer had jury duty a while back, and the first day he came home and mentioned just a couple of things, because he couldn’t talk about it. But I knew that day they were starting jury selection for a high-profile case that just happened to be a trial for a person my sister knew, had been close to, and had been devastated about when the truth and the indictment came to light. I said to Spencer, “You know why you can’t be on this jury, right?” He had no clue what I was talking about. And since I could tell him anything (it’s against the rules to talk about the case) and he couldn’t remember, it became a daily, “Have you figured this out yet?” with me egging him onward to remember, remember. But he couldn’t. But I just knew it would come to him and then he’d realize why he couldn’t be a part of it. Five days later, when he was going in for the final jury selection, I said, “Should I call the judge and tell him why you can’t?” Hello Judge Smith, this is Spencer’s mama. He can’t be on your jury…. So I just waited. Spencer came home that day and said in the final stages, they’d excused him. A deep sigh from me. Because I knew as soon as he’d heard the case, he’d remember. So I spilled it all, now that we could talk.
 
He had no idea what I was talking about. Somehow he’d missed the drama when he was away at school. He had never heard of the defendant, or that my sister knew him and was devastated by the betrayal of his crimes.
 
Long ago, my other sister Cyndi was on a jury for a murder trial. The defense said the dead girlfriend accidentally ran into the knife. Six or seven times.
 
So I’m on my way downtown. The first big question will be do I find parking. They have one lot with 93 spaces with free parking. I want one of those spots. Jason got about number 92 when he went, having left well before but slowed by traffic and others like me wanting one of the free ones across the street from the courthouse. I’m going to wrap this up and go get ready so I can get there. Even if I’m the first person there, like Molly was when she had jury duty a couple of months ago. She left in the dark and then went to get coffee. I think they've got their sights on our family or something the way they keep calling my family members to come on down. (That's what we get for voting.) Gotta run. I’ll let you know what happens. Let’s hope they don’t need me and I can come right back and get to work. I have a book to launch!