Nows and Forevers

I found myself in court today, unexpectedly covering an appeals court case I’ve been following for the last several years. I had sandwiched the hearing in between another event I had to cover and a doctor’s appointment at noon.
Silly me.
Courts never work out the way you expect. I had set aside about an hour and a half before I had to leave.
I watched the clock, looked at the docket, stared at the action at the three-judge panel and the counsels’ table, and then back at the clock.
The discourse was civil. The discourse was reasoned. And it would take up all the time I had and more before the case I was interested in would come up.
When you’re a journalist, you mostly only care about single cases. Sometimes, that’s pretty simple, a bankruptcy hearing or a trial, either civil or criminal. Very early in my career, part of my job as cops reporter was to cover Monday morning arraignments, defendants (and stories) by the bucketfull. Thirty years later, I’m rarely in court anyway and it’s only for selected cases.
I don’t think I’ve been in court since before the pandemic.
The case I was interested in was fourth on the docket. No. 3 had no hearing scheduled. It wasn’t that easy. A later-down-the-docket jumped ahead and was going on when I walked in. It was fascinating, but not in the scope of what I could cover. Nor were the next two, appeals of administrative suspensions after suspected DUIs.
By this time, I was worried: Not only did I have a doctor’s appointment, I also had a deadline. I didn’t expect the case was going to take this long, and I wanted to write the story before the doctor’s appointment.
You can’t use a smartphone in court. So I had to leave the room a couple of times: once to talk to a source, once to email my editor to tell her how things had gone off the rails, and once to email and ask if the doctor’s appointment could become virtual.
It could. And I’m so glad.
That at least gave me another hour, which the court room used. The next case was the one I was interested, and that went on. Luckily, the proceedings went somewhat quickly and I was out in plenty of time to get to my virtual appointment. I couldn’t write the story immediately. At least I didn’t miss anything.
It isn’t that my time is any more important than anyone else’s. But to be a journalist, especially these days, is to have onrushing deadlines. Time is money, or at least visits and other metrics. Every moment that I’m not doing something is less time I have for other things.
I used some of the time productively. Even though I couldn’t use my iPhone or the computer, I could use pencil and paper and I did. I drafted a few pages of a long story I have due later this week. I tried to make lemonade.