Jury Duty. Jury Duty was awful for business. Today, Charles Friedley’s shop would be closed, and he would earn barely enough from the compensation the local court gave him to pay for the next shipment of the sunday paper. He had gotten out of his last jury duty in 1919, because the clerk was a personal friend of his. A week prior to this calling, he said,

“Charley, I’m sorry, but I can’t stop it this time. I have to put you on the bench. You had the longest period between callings- six years- and a full nine between attendances. You’re going to have to show up. ” He shook his head, looking sad.
“Don’t worry, Al. It ain't the end of the world.” Charles laughed, And the clerk had smiled.
Inwardly, Charles was kicking himself. It wasn’t fair to his …show more content…
Almost.
As luck would have it, the one person in this room that wasn’t an honest, God-fearing christian was me. All of those faces, standing higher than mine, looking down on me in pity. It was kind of the worst-kept secret in town that I was on the fence about the whole religion thing. It wasn’t obvious that people hated my guts because of it, but you could see it in their upturned noses. Their elbows and knees on the street as I passed them by. Then, the judge tells some of them to sit, and about four or five to leave, and all of a sudden, there are only 12 of us left.
Then, the lawyer walked up to us and whistled a single, descending note, and looked at us.
“You sure picked the wrong case to show up to. Welcome to The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes.”
Bong-bing bing bong. My doorbell. It could be the mail. It could always be the mail. At 10:30 P.M. Right. As I opened the door, I inwardly groaned. A sharply dressed 20-year-old looked at me from the other side of my