LarrBeard
10-09-2019, 11:22 AM
Busted! – A Ham’s ’48 Yarn
Fall is good Jeep weather. It’s not so hot that you want some real air conditioning and it’s not so cold that it’s punishing. In the truck you can roll down the window for fresh air and turn on the heater (that came out of the Station Wagon with the dead goat in the back seat) and have just the right temperature.
On Monday I had a bunch of errands to run; a doctor’s appointment, run to the post office, go see the eyeglass place about getting a lens replaced – so I decided to take the ’48 out for a run about town. There I was, putting down the road (how do you decide if you’re going up or down the road?) and as I passed the Community Church, one of New Haven’s finest was sitting in the parking lot; either waiting for a speeder or eating a doughnut. As I passed the church, the blue lights came on and the policeman pulled out behind me.
I figured he had gotten a call for something important, so I pulled ‘way over to the right side of the lane to give him room to get by. He came up behind me and gave a “whoop—whoop” on the siren. About this time I realized he wanted me!
AW POOH!
I gave him a wave to let him know I had seen him and a little ways down the road I pulled off into a strip mall. I kept real still with my hands in plain sight while he walked up to me.
When he came up to the truck, I slowly rolled down the window. He asked “Mr. Beard, do you know why I stopped you?” – the typical cop question. (About now, had I not been thinking about a hundred miles an hour, I should have had an inkling that this wasn’t just a traffic stop – he already knew my name when he walked up to the truck.)
Then, I looked at the officer’s name tag and I realized that he was one of the five kids who had grown up as next door neighbors before the truck went into its 30+ year hibernation. He had known the truck in its second lifetime when the kids had to swerve around it to ride their Big Wheels in the street. (The officer had once tied his youngest brother up to the swing set and then gone off down the street to play with another kid.)
I honestly replied, “I have no idea why you stopped me”.
He answered. “I just wanted to see the truck. Mom and Dad saw it at the Festival Car Show and told me about how nice it looks now. This was the first time I’ve seen it around”. So, we had to do a tour of the truck, talk about all the brothers and sister, how are Mom and Dad doing – the usual social stuff.
As we got ready to go about our business, the officer said, “Oh, by the way Mr. Beard – you should watch your speed. You were doing 38 in a 35 zone”.
BUSTED!
Fall is good Jeep weather. It’s not so hot that you want some real air conditioning and it’s not so cold that it’s punishing. In the truck you can roll down the window for fresh air and turn on the heater (that came out of the Station Wagon with the dead goat in the back seat) and have just the right temperature.
On Monday I had a bunch of errands to run; a doctor’s appointment, run to the post office, go see the eyeglass place about getting a lens replaced – so I decided to take the ’48 out for a run about town. There I was, putting down the road (how do you decide if you’re going up or down the road?) and as I passed the Community Church, one of New Haven’s finest was sitting in the parking lot; either waiting for a speeder or eating a doughnut. As I passed the church, the blue lights came on and the policeman pulled out behind me.
I figured he had gotten a call for something important, so I pulled ‘way over to the right side of the lane to give him room to get by. He came up behind me and gave a “whoop—whoop” on the siren. About this time I realized he wanted me!
AW POOH!
I gave him a wave to let him know I had seen him and a little ways down the road I pulled off into a strip mall. I kept real still with my hands in plain sight while he walked up to me.
When he came up to the truck, I slowly rolled down the window. He asked “Mr. Beard, do you know why I stopped you?” – the typical cop question. (About now, had I not been thinking about a hundred miles an hour, I should have had an inkling that this wasn’t just a traffic stop – he already knew my name when he walked up to the truck.)
Then, I looked at the officer’s name tag and I realized that he was one of the five kids who had grown up as next door neighbors before the truck went into its 30+ year hibernation. He had known the truck in its second lifetime when the kids had to swerve around it to ride their Big Wheels in the street. (The officer had once tied his youngest brother up to the swing set and then gone off down the street to play with another kid.)
I honestly replied, “I have no idea why you stopped me”.
He answered. “I just wanted to see the truck. Mom and Dad saw it at the Festival Car Show and told me about how nice it looks now. This was the first time I’ve seen it around”. So, we had to do a tour of the truck, talk about all the brothers and sister, how are Mom and Dad doing – the usual social stuff.
As we got ready to go about our business, the officer said, “Oh, by the way Mr. Beard – you should watch your speed. You were doing 38 in a 35 zone”.
BUSTED!