COURTROOMS

I had planned on posting a bit about my list on do's and don'ts in writing today, but Marta handled that quite well, thank you M :) so I won't even try to bring up a better list.

Instead, I am going to discuss courtrooms and how they can make great fodder for writing. Do you write mystery? Getting a little short of ideas?

Now, I know most all of us do not want to be in a courtroom for any reason, but if you should find occasion, do it. You will be glad you did. There are a million great mystery stories meandering in that place!

The courtroom I sat in today was quite possibly a former school. It was built in the 1950's (or earlier?) and there were tell-tale signs of its history.

The bathroom was entirely tiled in pink tile. The chrome in the stalls was so aged it had rusted and speckled. Even the tissue roller was antique! I do know that I haven't seen tile shaped and colored such as this since I was a child in grade school. It sort of had that chalk and industrial cleaner smell to it too.

The courtroom itself was entirely wood. Light highly polished oak benches, like in church, wooden rails, wooden jury box, etc. The floor was the old-fashioned linoleum such as what you find in aged restaurants. Very "fifties deco" if you will.

The goings on in the courtroom was interesting too, to say the least. The lawyer of the custody case being heard first was having car trouble and having to stop every little ways to let it cool off or something. Apparently she was holding up the cases to be heard today, and because of that, my reason for being there went into bump mode and we were sent away, to be rescheduled.

I almost hated to leave.

The custody hearing could have been great stuff for a book to come. I guess I will have to wait until the next time to glean more goodies. Once I do, you can bet I will be back to share!