A Quick Return Visit to 106

Just got back from a quick trip to the downtown courthouse. I had made a little gift for a few of the reporters who had befriended me (Beth, Dominick, Ciaran, Steven) and the family & their legal counsel, just as a sort of "Thank You," for how kind and supportive they all were to me, so I went down to deliver them. I'd recently learned how to use the rolled hem foot on my serger, and that's what I've been working on the last several days in between going back to work, housekeeping and posting on the Court TV Spector Forum. I've been making fine linen handkerchiefs and name embroidering them for gifts.

As I was walking up the street from the budget parking lot, this edgy nervousness came over my stomach as the courthouse came into view. I dreaded going back into this building. I stopped in the cafeteria first to get a drink and write out little note cards to go with the gifts. That didn't help. I still felt nervous. Up on the 9th floor, the hallway was virtually empty. There were a few police officers in casual clothes chatting it up with two attorneys. Finally 106 starts to empty, and one of the first people out the door is this one individual who I first met at the Blake trial. They have posted on another forum that they "do not care" for Sprocket and was one of the people in deep conversation with my other set of detractors when I had returned back to court on August 21st. I avoid looking at this person, and wait for my friends to emerge.

The first one I see was Fawn, who was surrounded by several friends I did not recognize. I waved her over so that I could give the bag of gifts to her and her mother. She greeted me warmly, and told me it was so great to see me back there. A bit later, Mrs. Clarkson came over to where I was standing with Dominick, Ciaran & Steven. She said she didn't see me at first, and then leaned in to touch me cheek to cheek, and thank me for the gifts I brought.

I got Mick Brown to autograph a copy of his book for me. Steven and Ciaran of course asked if I was going to stay for the afternoon session. "No," was my reply. Miram Hernandez was hovering around while the guys opened their gifts, wanting to see what the gifts were, and asked to feel the linen. Dominick and I were supposed to have lunch but the deadline for the November issue got unexpectedly moved up a day, and he had to spend lunch with his editor, fact checking and going over the final draft. So, we've rescheduled lunch for another time.

On my way up to the 18th floor to where Sandi Gibbon's office is ~ she has some amazing artist sketches on her walls from the Manson trial, that she covered as a reporter~ Alan Jackson and Pat Dixon were in the elevator with me. They also greeted me warmly, and Mr. Jackson asked if I was going to stay for the afternoon session. I gave a half smile, and rolled my eyes, telling him not likely.

My last stop was the CTV tent in the parking lot to see Beth. Harriet Ryan was there, along with another CTV producer I got to meet. We chatted a bit about the defense closing arguments, and talked "off the record" as to how long the jury might be out, as well as what the verdict might be. After we said our goodbyes, I headed back down Broadway to where I parked my car. Mr. Sprocket, hearing that I was still in downtown, tried to send me off on an errand to Koreatown, to pick up some specialty sesame pastries he had tracked down. I told him he was out of luck because I was exhausted from the heat and headed home. Besides, I was not going into an area of town I'd never been to before to find a little hole in the wall bakery. He'd have to stop by and pick those up, himself.