Murder, he wrote

So, funny thing happened last week. Yes, I started a new job, but on my second day there, a guy comes up to me and starts chatting while scribbling on a piece of paper. I'm still not familiar with everyone in my office yet, so I figured it was simply one of my co-workers swinging by to meet me. Then he stop writing, looks up at me and says, "Oh, you're being give a summons for jury duty right now, in case you didn't know."

I must have sat at my desk with my jaw hanging open for about 30 seconds before I managed to speak.

"How the hell did you manage to find me?" I asked. "I just started here yesterday. Nobody knows I'm here."

The guy grinned. "Well, you're still in the system as being employed with your old employer. So I went in there looking for you. I was told you didn't work there anymore, but some guy said you were working in the offices across the parking lot. He pointed me over here."

So to whoever it was at my old office who pointed the guy from the sheriff's office over to me...thanks. Thanks a lot. Granted, they probably would have found me eventually. Although I have no idea how. He didn't even know my home address.

Me getting jury duty is just slightly shocking. It was the wonder of the office once word got around. There have been people living in Nunavut for decades and never received a summons. I get one on the second day of my new job. Brilliant. As it's been explained to me, they tend to only have Inuit serve on the juries involving Inuit. Non-Inuit tend to get called for jury duty only if there is a non-Inuit case involved.

As it stands, there is a big whopper of a case coming up in the next few weeks. That would be the Chris Bishop trial; he's accused of murdering three men. The trial was supposed to be in Cambridge Bay, but they got a change of venue. I knew that, but I'm still kind of floored that I've been entered into the jury selection pool.

Now it could be something else. I haven't called the court house or anything, but this does seem to be the most likely case that I'm being called for.

This will be weird for me. I've been called for jury duty before, but always got excused almost immediately when I pointed out I was a journalist. They want nothing to do with journalists being on a jury, which I think is unfortunate. God forbid you have an intelligent person used to taking in a bunch of facts and coming to conclusions and who does that for a living on a jury. Anyway...

But this time, I don't think I really have any reason. Normally I'd love to be on a jury. I think it would be a fascinating experience. However, the timing could be better than just after I started a new job and I'm still trying to make a positive impression. Disappearing for a few weeks to sit on a jury will not help.

So we'll see. Perhaps I'll be involved in a murder trial. That would be deeply surreal.

Last Five
1. Scattered and small - Amelia Curran*
2. Lake fever - The Tragically Hip
3. Breakdown - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4. Jesse James (live) - Bruce Springsteen
5. Blowing bubbles - The Pursuit of Happiness