There is so much going on in the world that I thought I would report on a couple of little known stories that will not enrich your lives or perspectives on iota.

First – the jury is out. Here is the background: when you live in the District of Columbia, you are obligated to appear at Superior Court for possible jury selection once every two years. If you are chosen for a trial, you serve the duration of the trial. If not, you go home the day you were called, and are not required to appear for another two years. All of this was disrupted by the pandemic, as jury trials were not held in the District for an extended period of time, but things are now back to normal. (As an aside, once you hit 75, you can opt out of jury service, but that is frowned upon …. by me, at least.)

I have dutifully shown up whenever called. I have been on jury panel after jury panel, but never been selected to serve on a jury. While I have done my duty, I have also wasted a lot of time. And for several years, I had not received a summons.

Several weeks ago, I received a jury summons for 8 a.m. (that is very early for me, you know) on Monday, April 10. I dutifully registered and filled out the questionnaire. I could not imagine many calls for juries on Easter Monday and assumed, I would report for duty, take a seat in the large waiting room, sit there for 5 or 6 hours and be told I could collect my $30 jury fee (or whatever it is now) and go home.

But no! Yesterday, the court emailed me and told me that I wasn’t needed at all. I could sleep late. No, I would not get my $30. And yes, I have now accomplished my required jury service until April 10, 2025.

Second – the dreams. A very busy night, last night.

First, I was asked to travel to an unusual and dangerous land, hard to get into, at the behest of an American journalist (or scholar or something) who was on a long term assignment there. I was excited to go. I went and presented my ID at the gate of this forbidden land and given a visitor’s ID. I went to the office of the man who had summoned me (it was right at the border) and he told me he didn’t need me after all, that I could go on back home. I wanted to see something of the country. I asked if it was forbidden to walk around. He said that it should not be a problem. I saw that my ID said that I was allowed in from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and it was already after noon. He told me just not to get caught. I knew I had until the end of the day to get back to the airport.

It was a fascinating town. Interesting street and architecture. I remember parks and sculptures. An abandoned soccer stadium (why was it abandoned with such tall grass growing) right in the middle of the city, and the most amazing high rise slums I had ever seen – buildings that were blocks long, maybe 20 stories high, yellow in color, balconies with hanging laundry at every level. Out of place in this otherwise peaceful looking land. I took a lot of pictures.

Finally, the other dream. We were staying somewhere – me, Edie, and our three children, two of whom were young, and one a young adult. We had to leave the next day, and I didn’t know how we were ever going to get everything packed in time and, even if we did, I did not know how I would fit it into our two cars (a big car and a VW bug), or why we even had two cars there. To make the packing easier, I threw out a lot of the kids toys. I knew they would be mad, but what choice did I have?

Our adult daughter was living in an apartment. She told me she needed one more piece of furniture and what she thought it would cost, which seemed a bit high to me. But the next thing I knew, she was coming back from the furniture store with her other father, or father-in-law, and told me they had just bought furniture. She showed me the store receipt. Many items and they cost a fortune.

I then learned that my daughter owned the building her apartment was in, that she was going to rehab it (if she could figure out how to get power into the building for heat) and there were eight condominiums. And that she was going to own three (including the one she lived in), her two sisters were going to own two each, and her other father, or father-in-law, was going to own the 8th. They would all be rented out, and it would guarantee them income for life.

I asked how she had come to own this building, and her other father, or father in law, yelled at me and told me I was suggesting that he was doing something illicit (which I was). I assured him I wasn’t. But he was furious.

I decided to go back to packing. I told Edie I didn’t know how any of this would fit, and told her I had thrown out the toys (she was not happy with me). I also told her that, although I knew we were all supposed to go to the Adirondacks for a a week, I didn’t see how we could do it, and we should just go home. That didn’t go over well, either.

I decided to put gas in the large car, which was parked right out front. I got in, but no one wanted to let me drive out of the parking space. Big trucks kept hemming me in. I decided just to gun the engine and did, roaring out to the street, as trucks were honking and honking. I took a right turn to where it looked like I could get gas, but all I saw were electric charging stations, one both sides on and on, down into a big dark tunnel with no end in sight.

That’s it…..

Whew.