Andie smiled and shrugged wistfully."Why not?"
The judge's clerk came in, a woman with black glasses and a pinched, officious face, like an old-time schoolmarm."All rise for Judge Miriam Seiderman."
Everyone pushed themselves out of their seats.
"So, Rosella, you want to know how to geton this thing?" Andie leaned over and whispered to her neighbor as an attractive woman of around fifty, with touches of gray in her hair, entered the courtroom and stepped up to the bench.
"Sure."
"Just watch." Andie nudged her."Whatever I do, do the opposite."
Chapter 3
JUDGE SEIDERMAN STARTED OUT by asking each of them a few questions. Name and address. What you did for a living. Whether you were single or married, and if you were, if you had kids. Highest level of education. What newspapers and magazines you read. If anyone in your family ever worked for the government or for the police.
Andie glanced at the clock. This was going to take hours.
A few of them got excused immediately. One woman announced she was a lawyer. The judge asked her to come up to the side of the bench. They chatted a few seconds, and she let her go. Another man complained that he'd just served on a jury up in Westchester. He'd only finished up last week. He got a pink slip, too.
Some other guy who was actually half cute announced he was a crime novelist. In fact, another woman in the jury pool held up his book. She was reading it! After he finished up, Andie heard him snicker,"I don't have a prayer of ending up on this thing."
Then, Judge Seiderman nodded Andie's way.
"Andie DeGrasse," Andie replied."I live at 855 West One eighty-third Street, in the Bronx. I'm an actress."
A few people looked back at her. They always did."Well, I try to be," she said, qualifying."Mostly I do proofreading forThe Westsider. It's a community newspaper in upper Manhattan. And regarding the other question, Iwas, Your Honor, for five years."