Jury Duty

Monday my dd Rachel age 22 had Jury Duty. I have never done Jury Duty. My dd has never done Jury Duty and we had to go into the Big City which we do not do very often. I knew as soon as she got the paperwork that we were going to face this together. I would not leave her in the Big City by herself. She is not a very independent young woman and neither and I. We are both home bodies. Hardly ever going anywhere, but especially not into the city.

We were both very nervous and uptight for days before, but especially the day before and morning before she had Jury Duty. Since we only have one car, and dh goes to work so early, and gets off so early, we could not use the car to get into the city. So another thing we do not often do, actually have never done from this house, we had to take the bus into the Big City, another thing to be nervous about.

My dh and dd and I took time on Sunday to drive into the Big City to see where the bus stops would be for us to get off and to see where the courthouse was situated and to see what places were available for food within walking distance. That did give me a little peace of mind. I was able to sleep that night, but not as well as usual. DD and I were up plenty early and ready to go and then nervously waiting the time to go to the bus stop.

It was finally time to go. Then we waited, and waited, and waited for the bus to come. I was getting nervous that we would be late arriving and did not want to get in trouble. Well it finally came we got aboard and the bus was packed, standing room only!! Well first I had to figure out how to put the money in the machine and felt like a dork, with everyone watching me, and people behind us waiting to get on the bus. OK, that part finished. Two all day bus passes acquired.

Next problem, it was hard to see out the front or side of the bus because of all the people standing, and each block or so more people got on, so we are really packed now. I was not sure of the getting off part and was so nervous that I got us off 4 blocks to early!! We had to book it!! and I am overweight and do not walk much, I need to though, and so I could not walk fast. Well we made it, I was out of breath but only had to stop once. We were not late and got in line to go through the metal detectors. Then on the the Jury waiting room. Will I be allowed to stay with Rachel?? Got in another line to check in at a desk. Ask the man at the desk, "is she allowed to have me stay with her?" Answer, "Yes, but you can not go upstairs to the courtroom should she be called." Ok, we can live with that.

Ok, now booklet in hand, dd is reading about Jury Duty and what it entails, "very interesting", she says, "you should make the boys read this when you do American Government again." OK, sounds great. She loves history of any kind so this is right up her alley. Then many directions by a very nice and funny lady. For example, she said, "If you go upstairs and you see someone at the defendents table and it looks like Pookie,(room erupts with laughter) when you are called you have to tell the judge that you think you know Pookie, they callled him by a different name, but you think that may be Pookie. Or that you know Pookie's, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, etc. Tell the Judge because if you think it is Pookie than it probably is Pookie. You don't want to mess up the trial later by realizing it is Pookie and then having to disrupt the trial later to tell them." She cracked us up so much, in giving directions, that Rachel choked on her soda at one point.

This kind of thing went on and on, and people were called to go up and we still sat there. I had a snack from the vending machines, Rachel was to nervous to eat. We watched a little bit of Price is Right on the t.v. between having to turn it off for her to call more groups. She said we might be there until 5:00 pm and that we should be prepared to stay that long. It was only 9:30!! OH what a long day this was going to be.

But, reprieve, we were done and let go around 12:00. Rachel got her certificate of participation and does not have to do Jury Duty for 2 years. I know the ropes now and will not be nervous if we have to do this again with the other daughter or do it myself.

So, we got some lunch in town at a little take-out place that had two tables, the fried chicken I had was delicious, the pizza Rachel had was ok, but she wished she had gotten something else.

Then we went out to wait for the bus thinking it would not be crowded at this time of day and it was packed. Not as much as in the morning but still standing room only. A couple stops from the center of the city I got a seat and a stop or two later dd Rachel go a seat. We knew exactly where to get off, the corner of the street we live on, and so had no trouble with that.

All in all a very tiring day. But, we were home early and we did fine.

Debbie