Courthouse Coffee

Today I had jury duty. As the old ladies used to say when I was a little girl, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." I didn't get chosen. My boss was really happy about that when I called her and told her.

There was a coffee cart right outside the jury lounge, and on our first break I got a cup. There was a sign that said, "Cash only" and I rarely have cash. But I had some quarters in my wallet, so I thought that would be perfect. The man who ran the coffee cart was blind, and I handed off the seven quarters to him, and they scattered everywhere. On his cash register keyboard, and down on the floor beside him. There he is, not able to see, feeling around for the quarters. Lots of people behind me, and the chatting that had been going on stopped. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Or a quarter. Or seven. Awkward; right? I said, "I am so sorry. That was a bad handoff." He said, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" and laughed. I said, "Yeah. I just wanted to mess with you." And we both laughed. And so did the people behind me in line. I offered to pick them up for him, and told me not to worry about it.

The coffee was very good, by the way; for courthouse coffee, that is. Much better than I expected.

Susan