Jury Duty

I'm sitting in the jury assembly room of the city Municipal Court. No wonder people hate a jury summons. We were to be here at 9:00 a.m.,it's now 10:55 and we haven't done anything but sign in, get sworn in, and play iPhone scrabble while the people who are too important to be here tell it to the judge.
It's a long drive down here and a long walk from the jurors' parking lot. I hope it doesn't rain. They always pump you full of how grateful they are for your service...highest form of political participation and all that. Probably truer now than ever since your vote doesn't count anymore since the Supremes sold our electoral process to the corporate greedy bastards.
Mrs. Manci from the neighborhood is here, but the rest of these citizens are unfamiliar. People don't dress to go anywhere any more,do they? Jeans, sneakers, sandals, housewives who look dressed for housework. There isn't a man in the room with a coat and tie.
What we all have is a cell phone or a tablet computer. Keeps the natives from getting restless about wasting a couple of hours you aren't going to get back.
Now my stomach is beginning to growl. By the time we get to a courtroom, I may not be able to hear evidence.
I have come down with Tyler's cold.Yesterday I thought I was having allergy problems, but overnight, it went full-blown. That's what I get for sleeping with him!
After a vending machine lunch of Sun Chips and Dr. Pepper with peanut M&M's for "tuh-ssert", I finally got impaneled on the third call. We hustled on over to Courtroom 12 for voir dire. Lawyers love school teachers, there were two of us chosen for the main event. Our case involved a speeding ticket, not too thrilling but municipal court is a guaranteed one day episode, so present your case Mr. Prosecutor. The State was not as cute or as good a litigator as the Defense, but the main problem was he just couldn't overcome all the doubt the Defense cast in the minds of the six peers in the jury box. We heard the case in an hour, were in the jury room for a half hour before returning our not guilty verdict and we were free to go.
The big advantage to Parking Lot H was that when you pull out of the exit, you are heading onto the freeway entrance ramp in 75 yards. I was home in a heartbeat. Civic duty done again.