Jail Chronicles, Chapter 2

For a minute I considered not going. Hell, several times I considered not going. But I knew not going would just make the situation worse. It would compound the problem and double the stress I was already living with. Maybe the knot in my gut was just the money issue.

I got to the courthouse that morning with plenty of time to spare. From the look of things, I was the first person there. I checked the morning docket list posted outside the courtroom. H….Ha…..He…..He….Hu….. uh wait, what? No Hood. I looked again, not there. I read the entire morning docket, no Hood. I checked the afternoon docket. Not there either. I’m not on the docket at all.

I won’t lie. For a minute or two, or even five, I thought “Awesome!! I’m not on the docket! I can leave!” and I almost did. But I thought “I’d better ask someone. What if they missed my name when they typed up the list and I *am* supposed to be here and my name shows up on the judge’s docket. If I missed this court date there would be a warrant issued on the spot. Better to avoid a warrant.

I went to the clerk’s office to check in. “Excuse me, can you help me? I have a court date today and my name does not appear on the docket.” She looked in her computer. She looked on the docket. She asked for my name. She asked again. She went and checked at someone else’s desk. The more she looked, the bigger the knot in my stomach grew. I knew that this was not going to end well. But really, what could I do?

The deputy comes into her office, and me, in a state of denial and pure hopefulness, convince myself that he’s here for an entirely different reason. He’s one of thoseI deputies. You know the ones. The young, the proud, the I-can’t-crack-a-smile-because-I-take-my-job-way-too-seriously kind. He has traded in his sense of humor and his smile for a badge and a gun. Turns out I was too late. A warrant had been issued for my arrest the day before.. Their computer system said my court date was the day before. My papers said today. “Do you have the papers with you?” they asked.

No. Foolishly, I trusted them and the system to do it’s job. “I believed in the competency of your office to keep the dates right. I won’t be making that mistake ever again. “

For once I was trying to do the right thing, do the responsible thing, follow the stupid rules and it bites me in the ass.

And it took a HUGE bite of my ass.