After a couple of slips of the mind, I ended up in municipal court for the first time this morning, trying to dismiss a ticket for having expired plates. [I’m such a dirty, dirty criminal.] In doing so, I got to be with people that I normally don’t have exposure to. [But methinks with two or three drinks in me, I really should.]
At 7:30 in the morning a line of people stretched out from the door of the court, which would open at eight, lazily wrapped itself around the ramp, and stretched out a bit further down the street. I took my spot in the queue.
There was this strange sense of camaraderie through the line; the Man was getting us all down. We were all in the same boat. Floating questions with the same hum of, “What are you in for?” ate up time. After some chatting, two men a couple people behind me discovered that the same cop gave them a ticket for the same thing on the same day. The overweight man with the stubble and the John Deere hat proclaimed to the hapless 20-something prep, “This gotsa to be a conspiracy. Dontcha think?”
[Also witnessed, an honest-to-goodness arrest. With handcuffs! A young Latina, a moment away from fake tears, muttered to her mother that it wasn’t her, while the weather-burnt mother cocked her head and denied paying her bail. Nice.]
I think whatever vibe of gallant criminal camaraderie and its ensuing thoughts and behaviors caught up with me as I sat in the previews for the movie 1408. Bear with me, here’s a conspiracy theory.
Posted by firewings 
