Peaches vs Apricots

First off, I'm not a fan of apricots.  Not sure why.  I'd prefer peaches, any day.

The dreaded Tuesday (Jury Summons) came and went.  It was a long, tiring day.  I tried really hard to go to bed at a decent hour, considering I was going to have to get up at the butt crack.  Set my alarm for 4:15am, the hour I'm usually heading to bed, not getting up.  I tried hard to get to sleep, but it just wasn't going to happen.  Got out of bed at 11ish and stayed up for about 30 minutes.  Headed back to try again.  Gave up about 3:15am, turned off the alarm and just figured I'd be a zombie all day.

Not knowing what the traffic might be, we left the house about 6:40am.  It was a bit foggy.  Traffic was smooth sailing and we arrived at the Jury Plaza with plenty of time to spare.  The summons indicated free wi-fi, but I opted not to take my laptop so I wasn't forced to keep up with it.  Good thing I didn't.  First rattle out of the box, they called 65 numbers, which included me.  Sixty five, holy cow!

Out of 65, they were going to choose 12.  I crossed my fingers I wouldn't be one of them, since it would have taken the rest of the week.  Getting up and getting ready one day was bad enough.  I did NOT want to have to do it again, any time soon.

The judge was a talker.  She talked to us for about 45 minutes.  Then, the prosecutor, who looked like a baby, talked to us for about 30 minutes and they let us eat lunch.  Had to walk a couple of blocks.  Good thing I wore fairly comfortable shoes.  After lunch, the defense attorney talked to us.  He was a buttery smooth talking, Tyler Perry type.  He used an analogy about peaches and apricots.  Said his grandmother used to make the best peach cobbler.  One day, his grandmother didn't have enough peaches, so she added some apricots.  Needless to say, he didn't like apricots in his peach cobbler and asked his grandmother not to do that again.  He then proceeded to explain that he wanted peaches in the jury box.  Out of the 65 of us, only 12 would be peaches.

Prior to selecting the 12 peaches jurors, we were asked questions, some individually, and gauged by our responses.  At one point, he asked if anyone would be bothered by the defendant not testifying.  Well, of course I had to raise my hand and state that if someone was being accused of something (aggravated assault with a deadly weapon) I felt like they should darn well be willing to speak on their own behalf.  He asked me, if they didn't, could I still do my duty as a juror?  I said, yes.  He pointed to the jury box and said, that would make you a peach.  I said, whoa, can I change my mind, I don't want to be a peach!

After all the allotted time was used and questions answered, jury selection was announced and I was NOT chosen.

For just this once, I'll settle for apricot, even if I think peaches are better!

I'd like to thank my dear, sweet hubby, for driving me downtown and suffering through it with me.  He's a peach!

PS:  Guess who has jury duty on Wednesday (today) at 1:30pm?  Yep... hubby.  Got his notice right after mine.  His is local.  I would have gladly traded him.