Jury Duty...........

Yesterday I received a summons to appear on our county's Grand Jury. The timing sucks, because it is the week we return to school for pre-planning. Ordinarily that wouldn't be so bad, since we do very little actual PLANNING during that week at our school. But this year we will be in a new building. A building which won't even have electricity until the week before that. Needless to say, we will have a bit of unpacking to do.

I have never served on a jury before. One of my friends said I could probably get out of it, but I feel terrible doing that. It's not like I'm a brain surgeon or a firefighter or convenience store owner. Surely they can do without me for a week. Or two. Or three. Or however the heck long it takes for a Grand Jury to do its business.

I did get called for jury duty once, but I had just remarried and moved out of that county. I knew I didn't have to go, but it was early in my teaching career, and I would have done ANYTHING to get away from middle schoolers for a day. So I informed the lady who was in charge of substitutes that I had been called for my civic duty, and she said she would procure a substitute.

Karma is a you-know-what.

The Sunday night before I was to appear in court, it snowed.

School was closed.

Court was not.

The only heat we had in that old farmhouse we lived in at that time (previous wifetime) was space heaters. And overnight we ran out of propane fuel. Did I mention there was snow on the ground?

I had to get up in a freezing cold house, take a shower, and drive to a county in which I no longer lived to show up for a jury duty I didn't have to do. While my co-workers were sleeping in.

Karma is a you-know-what.

This is in the days before cell phones, and I realized pretty soon after leaving home that I would never make it to court on time. I stopped at a convenience store (thank goodness HE wasn't called for jury duty) to call the courthouse from a pay phone. Does anyone remember pay phones? I didn't want to be held in contempt of court for being late.

The very first question they asked was, "Is there anyone present who no longer lives in this county?"

I raised my hand, they gave me my $18 check (or whatever it was), and I went back home.

Wiser but not necessarily smarter.