From the Rejection Pile #5
The last chapter from the book proposal over twenty publishers rejected
Chapter Eight: The State Calls Joe Senser
Q: Please try the best you can to listen specifically to my question…
A: (interrupting) I’m sorry…
Q: …because it will go a lot easier if you can actually answer the question that I ask you.
A: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.
Q: I’m not upset. So my question to you was, when did you put the Mercedes in the garage?
* * * *
I’ve always considered jury trials to be circuses—with me the ringleader. Or maybe they were plays and I was the director. Either way, I was in charge of putting on a show for an audience of twelve strangers who presumably knew nothing about the case or the law. Early on, I learned the hard way that witnesses would disappear, or even worse, show up and lie. In the best-case scenarios, I’d have ample time and opportunity to prepare each and every one of my witnesses—ironing out the kinks. Because trials were rarely scheduled sooner than six months after the crime occurred, time wasn’t on my side.
