Jury Duty: Day 3

It's official.

These 12 strangers I encountered on Monday, who initially averted eye contact with each other in our holding room, are my friends. My buddies. My compadres.

We eat lunch together, we take breaks together, we have figured out each others' family dynamics and job occupations, and are enjoying each others' company. We all have to be here, so we might as well make the best of it.

Everyone is friendly. But I would say my two "best friends" of the week are a girl who is close to my age and of course, my white noise buddy. I confessed today that it takes me a bit to warm up to people and feel comfortable around them. In addition, once I have developed a "relationship" with someone, it is hard for me to say good-bye. And I know that's what we'll all be doing on Friday. Sappy, I know. For crying out loud...it's just Jury Duty. But that's how I roll.

We got to hear from some more witnesses today. And let me tell you...if law terms and explanations aren't boring enough, enter "the deposition". If the witness can't be there in person, someone READS ALOUD their testimony. The last grueling hour of our day was spent listening to two lawyers READ ALOUD from a sheet of paper. They actually did better than I expected. The defense lawyer did really well and read his questions with the same enthusiasm as he asks his questions in real life.

I pondered hiring myself out as a deposition reader in court cases. I could probably pull it off rather well. I bet I could well up with real tears at the appropriate times to make the testimony more believable.

One of the questions my white noise buddy asked today was, "So, what's your favorite color?". Easy enough question.

"Well, I tell my kids it's purple. But it's really grey. I would never wear something purple so I don't consider it my true favorite color. But I do like to wear the color grey. However, my kids think someone's favorite color has to be in the rainbow so that's why I picked purple."

Yeah, he told me I was psycho. For real. He said purple has actually been proven to be the favorite color of psychotic people.

My new friends are starting to really feel bad for me that I won't get to deliberate with them at the end of all this. They have assured me they will call me or let me know everything that goes on in that room.

Even the security guards at the front of the courthouse are our little buddies. They are always very friendly, bidding us farewell when we leave for lunch and calling out, "See you in the morning" when we leave for the day. I hope I don't forget to take my necklace off one morning and set off the alarm again causing one of my newfound acquaintances to have to tackle me in the hallway. That would be awkward.