We made the trip for cookie
ingredients. To be more specific, we wanted to make gingerbread cookies. We
were on our way back from Kroger. Mandy was driving safely at the speed limit.
What she wasn’t doing was wearing her seat belt. She never does. Every time I
go in the car anywhere with her, she tells me I shouldn’t wear mine either. She
says seatbelts are useless and that people can be hurt by them. She is silly,
but I still like her.
Suddenly, Mandy grabbed at the
seatbelt, which was buckled behind her, and pulled it across her chest. She hissed,
“We’re gonna be pulled over! I know it, ‘cause that cop just pulled up close
behind me and now he’s backing off.” Once again, I was thrown by her logic, but
I looked in the rear view mirror and a second later the cop car’s lights brightened
and started to spin. Mandy pulled the car to the side of the road and we
waited.
“How are you girls doing tonight?”
He seemed friendly enough, but I had no idea why he had pulled us over. Mandy’s
answer was a nervous mumble. I couldn’t believe she was so nervous – we weren’t
doing anything wrong.
“Where are you headed tonight?”
“Home”, Mandy answered. “We just
left Kroger’s.”
“And what exactly were you making
this trip for?” He still wasn’t going to mention what we did wrong? I was now
very confused.
“We’re going to make gingerbread
cookies?” Mandy’s answer was more like a question than a statement.
“Do you know that your plate light
is out?” Finally, that’s what this was about. It seemed just like something
that would happen, because Mandy didn’t pay much attention to her car.
Mandy apologetically assured him
that she had no idea. He asked for our licenses. She presented hers, but
unfortunately, I had left mine at home. He told me he could run mine if I knew
my social security number. So I told it to him and he disappeared for a few
moments. During this interval I made fun of Mandy’s nervous behavior. Even now
that she knew it was nothing serious, she was a nervous wreck. She told me she
can’t help it because she doesn’t like cops. I don’t understand why because she’s
never got into any trouble with the law.
Finally, the cop returned. He
handed Mandy her license and looked straight at me with a very serious
expression on his face.
“Are you aware of any outstanding
warrants for your arrest?”
“No?” Hadn’t he just looked up my
record? I was pretty confused by the question. My answer seemed to satisfy him,
because he let us off with a warning.
We drove away, and I was certainly
glad the ordeal was over. I turned to Mandy and expressed my relief. She looked
over at me with a funny expression on her face.
“It was just our plate light?” she
said. “What a jerk to pull us over for that. I’ve known it didn’t work for
nearly a year. Why does it even matter?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Mandy
was mad at the cop because she failed
to fix the light for a year? It was just another classic case of Mandy’s quirky
flaws. But that’s okay, because it’s the crazy things she does that makes her
my best friend.
I bet she fixed the light after this happened.
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