You may remember my trek to Abilene’s Municipal court in October. If so, ignore the current feeling of deja vu. I’m going back again and this time I meet the judge. I hope her name is Judy.

Here’s what happened.

Last semester, I was in an automobile accident with a CityLink bus. After some confusion with the ticket and a conversation with a powerful receptionist at the courthouse, I worked out a deal for a slap on the wrist and a defensive driving sentence.

Now fast forward to this semester.

Like any college student, defensive driving was not at the top of my to do list. When I called to find out when my deadline was, the court said they had no record of my offense. Praise God.

But I was still a little short of a miracle.

Turns out, the Mayberry court of Abilene bamboozled me again. They misspelled my name in the file system, and I’m actually past the defensive driving deadline.

This catches us up to speed for my breakfast date with the judge.

I arrived Thursday morning at 8 a.m. eager to tell the judge about the filing mishap that led to my lack of punctuality in completing my punishment. But I was deferred to the not-so-honorable, yet equally powerful receptionist again. Although I’m beginning to feel like I’m in the land of Oz and this wizard judge may be a figment of the judicial system’s imagination, I’m still whistling the Andy Griffith tune along a yellow-brick road.

The receptionist heard my story and left me standing behind the plexiglass while she spoke to the judge on my behalf. She returned and told me official deferral documents that would prevent the violation from being on my record should be in my mailbox by this time next week.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed.