Posts
Immediately after entering the facility, I felt as if I was involved in a cattle call. A dreary voice droned over a staticy sound system rambling off number after number. My number was soon called and I was lead down a long flight of stairs into the belly of the beast. They forced us to cluster together into squares that were taped onto the floor and reassign us to new numbers; before herding us on from there. While we waited in the bowels, I head various cries of how to get out of serving. One suggestion was to stare the judge in the eyes because they supposedly don't like the threat of an assertive juror. Crazy. Still another suggestion was to answer every question and disagree with anyone else's answers. Also crazy.
As we walked slowly from the dungeon to the correct courthouse, in a single file line, I was positioned in line behind a tree of a woman. Her legs were giant, thick, and seriously forested with hair. I walked, and starred at the legs which surely hadn't been shaved in years. Then the woman turned around and I received a giant shock. She shaves her face! If only this would have been enough to distract from the rest of things that were going on around me. It seemed that everywhere I looked there were homeless people. It occurred to me that they gathered around the courthouse to feed off the people on jury duty. Regardless, there was one happy homeless man who caught my attention because he had an mp3 player. I don't have an mp3 player! To the left of me there was a woman was rapidly having an angry conversation with herself. Obviously, she has a mental deficiency and requires the care of a mental health professional, yet she is lost on the streets, presumably because she has no family or government program to insure her well-being. Finally, there was one man who caused my stomach to sink to the very bottom of my feet. He was the owner of a gaping, oozing sore on the side of his face that looked to be infectious. I truly tried not to stare and I felt guilty for eating the breakfast I had packed. It is not as if I knew I would run into this situation, nor would there have been enough for all and then whom do you pick, but a part of me feels as if I should have anticipated this situation.
Let us skip ahead shall we. The man who was about to be on trial sat in front of me and demonstrated through his actions that he was soo guilty. Among other things, he kept his hand over his mouth; that is when he wasn't laughing and smiling. Come on bubba you are on trial for MURDER! To compound the whole situation his lawyer used his "interview time" to lead the jury away from first-degree murder to reckless behavior. He kept undermining his murder by suggesting whether you could really condemn someone who may not have intended murder, just recklessness and you know to cause bodily harm to her, but that's it. I argued that a certain level of recklessness implies intent. I guess that is why I was not picked to serve. A part of me is sad that I will not be further participating in my "civil duty" but the rest of me is worn out, remembers that I took the bus here and would like to get home before dark.
I jogged (in wedges) many blocks desperately trying to make the bus. I failed miserably. I noticed a large group of large men and decided to duck into a pizza parlor till the next bus pulled through. An hour+ later I was on my bus and headed south. Now my bus ride in was uneventful and quicker than I anticipated. That was not the case on the way home. My bus driver seemed to be playing a game with himself. This game consisted of him honking at EVERY bicycler and passer-by. Toot-toot! Toot-toot! I must have heard the horn 60 or so times; just shy of enough times to truly drive me to the brink of insanity, although I got a nice scenic view. Once I was home I took a very long shower and tried to let the memory of the day wash off me, and swirl away down the drain, but it stayed with me and so I am blogging about it. Enjoy.
