Jury Duty

Yeah, it's been a year now since I last did my civic duty blah blah blah blah. This time around was much more interesting than the few previous times I've been to jury duty. You see, I was late. Much later than I had ever been.

I had prepared the day on Monday night. I got everything ready, got the cell phone charged and ready, all alarm clocks ready and clothing chosen. I had been awakened by my mom leaving the house at 5:45am, so I figured that the alarm was going to go off in 15 more minutes. I put my head back on the pillow.

I opened my eyes and thought to myself that the room seemed much brighter than 15 minutes later. A glance at my clock showed it was 8:20am. A second glance at the jury duty paper showed I was supposed to arrive at court at 8:30. The typical drive to the courthouse from my house is 15 minutes. I am late.

After throwing around some bedding, throwing on some clothing and grabbing things that I thought I needed, I jumped into the car and tore off down the road. After clearing my neighborhood, I reached for the cell phone, wondering why I didn't hear it go off (it acts as a second alarm clock) and figured out that the cell phone I picked up was the cell phone I washed back in January.

Luckily there was a BMW flying down the Border Highway faster than I was, I figured I would speed with this twit, and let him take the speeding ticket if there was a cop. Remarkably, there were no cops out on patrol. The Bimmer and myself were running at just 85mph the entire time. The Bimmer turned to US-54, I continued on the Border Highway.

I get to the courthouse, and they are still accepting people into the garage. I am in luck. Then, as the car in front of me gets waved in, the traffic cop waves me away saying that the lot is now full. DAMNIT! All that speeding for being one car too late. I find a parking spot behind the courthouse, lock the car, pay the parking meter and run to the jury room. I had made it into my seat by 8:48am.

After having my name called for a juror panel, we sat and waited in the jury room for an hour when the bailiff comes out and lets us all know that our services aren't needed. Heading back to the car, I have this feeling come over me, it feels like the day is strange. It could be that I am not at work at 10am, or it could be I was late to wake up, but it was a strange day, to say the least.