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| | Funny how great minds run with a single thought--like Mr. Hat, I too was called for jury duty this last week, and had to plead age and infirmity and general cussedness to get out of it. I usually want to fulfill my civic duty, but lately I’ve been out of the mood, and since my oncologist had to write them a note last year saying I couldn’t perform, it didn’t seem to me they should have sent me another postcard this year, but they did.
Has anyone else noticed that in an age when EVERYTHING about us gets put onto a computer screen for the whole world to view, somehow, we still can’t get the word across about things about ourselves that we really want people to have at their fingertips, so we don’t have to keep saying the same things over and over again? Anyway, the trial I’d have been mixed up in would have been one where they predict it’s going to take two weeks just to select the jurors, and then the trial begins. The fellow who’s being tried wants to act as his own lawyer, so everybody’s going to have to hear more than they ever wanted to think about, about him, his innocence, and so forth. I don’t quite understand this part, because he’s already been convicted of the crimes--four murders and two child molestations--but somehow this is a whole trial, just for the sentencing. It will involve the possibility of the death penalty. Well, this has been a year when we who think we know something about the judicial and political systems we live with, have had some surprises, isn’t it.
If I’d felt better, I’d have done just exactly what Hat said was a frowned-upon ploy for prospective jurors. When they asked me about the death penalty, I’d have said it was too good for him. I suppose it would have been more dramatic just to leap across the pew and grab him by the throat, but understatement is more my style. Anyway, I’ll be following the trial with interest, and be grateful for every word and detail that does not appear on the evening news. I wish the little girl who survived didn’t ever have to think of or see that man again.
But--where the trial is concerned, I’ll be feeling guilt, too. As P.G. Wodehouse once wrote about Bertie Wooster, on finding that his former fiance Honoria Glossop had become engaged to someone else, he felt a strange mixture of emotions, something like being chased by a tiger, and seeing it stop and eat your best friend instead.
The doctor has advised me to sign up for the Hospice program, since none of the treatment I’m taking now seems to be building up any white cells or platelets or anything, so I’ll be doing that next week. A very nice lady has already come for a visit with me and my DDs. She put my mind at rest about two aspects of the Hospice program here. I ‘ll be allowed to drive while I’m on it, although I probably won’t be gadding around much anyway. And it’s still possible to have a moderate number of blood transfusions when they seem to be called for. I don’t know how this will work out, but at least there doesn’t seem to be any rule against the two things I wondered about.
I found the Hospice people very kind and caring when they helped with my husband’s illness, and these are the same people, so I’m expecting it will be as good an experience as possible. From time to time, if anything interesting comes up, I’ll report on it. I know not every Hospice program is the same. In Boise, there is no “place” called a Hospice, where one goes away from home to live. I was surprised to hear this, since I know a woman who works at one of those, but evidently it’s run by a different program. I’ll be in my own home. That’s all I know. With no immunity, anything can happen, and it might happen rather quickly. On the other hand, with my really disgustingly healthy and sturdy body, I could sit around here for years with nothing happening (If I accidentally say something like that in front of a medical person, they look panicky because they’re afraid I don’t understand what’s happening. It’s okay. I do. I just tend to exaggerate sometimes). It could wind up just like having babies--everyone waiting for me to produce something, and me reading a book. Well, probably not, but that picture intrudes itself on my mind. I hate to disappoint people, but oh well.
In the meantime, I'm getting to see a lot of family, and I love that. DS and DDIL are coming from Missoula next weekend. I hope it's quit snowing over there by the time they hit the road!
It's kind of nice here today. Sure was cold this morning, though. Hope you all are feeling Springy! | | | Posted 4/26/2008 4:52 PM - 4 comments
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Marie
