AHMM, July-August 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors

Author:Dell Magazine Authors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dell Magazines

Fiction: INDEPENDENCE DAY by R. T. Lawton

"Talk about ironic,” muttered Beaumont.

Yarnell, who was more concerned about catching the bartender's eye for another drink and hadn't really been paying close attention to the conversation, suddenly realized he had no idea what Beaumont was talking about. “What's ironic?"

"After all them lottery tickets I bought and didn't win anything, here my number comes up in the state drawing."

"You won the state lottery?"

"You could say that,” replied Beaumont, “but I doubt they pay more than fifty bucks a day, plus mileage and meals."

"What kind of lottery pays mileage and meals? Last I heard, the pool was up to sixty million dollars, if you had all six numbers, that is."

"I'm talking about my name being drawn for jury duty next week in criminal court,” said Beaumont. “That's the only lottery I've ever won in my entire life."

"Oh,” said Yarnell, “well, you ought to be able to get out of that pretty easy. All you got to do is say you know the defendant or one of the cops and it would be tough for you to render an unbiased verdict."

"Can't do that."

Yarnell waved a twenty at the bartender. Seemed like it took money to get the attention of most people these days.

"Sure you can. Just last year, my street psychiatrist, Lester Formlick, told the judge that if the prosecutor thought he had enough evidence to bring the case to trial, then that was good enough for Lester as a juror to find the guilty party guilty. Judge cut Lester loose that same morning and made sure he wasn't on any more jury panels for that session."

"Lester got off for the whole six-month session?"

"That's what he told me. And, you can do it too."

Beaumont shook his head. “Wouldn't feel right to duck out when my country calls on me to do my civic duty. Let's face it, Yarnell, democracy depends upon the assistance of its citizens, otherwise we wouldn't have all these rights we do now."

Yarnell dropped his hand with the twenty in it down to the table and turned fully back into the conversation.

"Beaumont, you and I are burglars. We steal from the rich and give to the poor, but we aren't exactly Robin Hood types because the poor we give to is you and me, so society doesn't necessarily look at us as examples of good citizens. Next time someone from our government comes calling, it'll probably be to read us our rights."

"That's what I mean,” replied Beaumont, “think about it. If we lived in some dictatorship and the police thought we was criminals, they wouldn't even bother to give us a fair trial. They'd just kick the front door and haul us off to the gulags to do hard labor for the rest of our lives."

Yarnell had to contemplate that word for a while. He wasn't sure what one of them things was. “Gulag?"

"Yeah, you know, like a penitentiary run by some dictator who needs a place to imprison people he don't like."

"Oh, a prison.

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