On Monday and Tuesday, Archie got the same recording. He had now escaped jury duty for three days, Monday through Wednesday. Only two days to go.

Wednesday afternoon, his friend Gil called, asking Archie if he wanted to play golf the next morning. Archie said he was on jury duty that week. Gil said, “Well, no problem! It’s already Wednesday. You’ve made it! There’s no way that they’re going to call you to jury duty this late in the week.” Archie couldn’t believe that Gil had said that. Archie knocked several times on his wooden bookcase, saying that he hoped that Gil was right.

At 5:05 that evening, still worried that Gil had jinxed him, Archie dialed the 800 number. Sure enough, the recording told him to call back Thursday between noon and 12:30, instead of the usual 5 p.m. Damn that Gil, Archie thought.

Thursday, he anxiously called at 12:28. The recording told him that his jury service was finished! All he had to do was mail in the affidavit that had come in the white envelope. Archie put the affidavit into an envelope, put a 41-cent first class stamp on the envelope, and drove to the post office. Whistling as he dropped the envelope into the mailbox, he happily washed his hands once again of the “privilege” of doing jury service.