veggieguy12
The Captain
Back in summer 2001, on a Sunday afternoon, I was walking on I-4 in Orlando, no gear or anything because I lived in town but had no car. (I had gotten a ride from the south, Kissimmee, up the FL Turnpike and dropped where it meets I-4.) I was going the few miles to get to downtown to meet some people.
Well, maybe I was half-heartedly hitching, maybe I just thought I'd walk. In any case, a car pulls over a good ways ahead of me. Then a cop pulls up behind me. I meet the cop, the civilian car drives away, and the cop says "They stop for you?"
"Ah, I dunno. Maybe."
Cop says, "Yeah, I think I scared 'em away." I give him one of those raised-eyebrows looks, like "Well?..."
He says "You know, it's illegal to hitchhike on the interstate. You have an I.D.?"
"Well, I'm not hitching, just walking into downtown, to Lake Lucerne.", passing my driver's license to him.
"Well you can't walk it up here.", suggesting I go down to the grid of surface-streets. He calls in my details, and we wait 50 seconds for the response from the operator that I'm warrantless.
"How about you give me a lift," I say, without a real investment in the proposal, because I never would have bet it would go anywhere. Five-second pause from the cop: he's considering.
"You have any weapons?", almost perfunctory; he didn't ask to search me or have me prove it by emptying my pockets.
"Naw, I got a pen."
"You'd have to sit in the back."
"Yeah!, that's fine!" I'm grinning now, the long shot is gonna pay off!
"Awright," he says, walking me to the rear of the car and opening the door for me.
On the 10-minute drive over to his station, the police radio is squawking a bunch of dispatches. It's enough to avoid an awkward silence in which we might attempt small talk.
He pulls up to the station, stopping on the down-ramp to the underground garage.
And as he opens the back door and I step out, he says, "Now you can't tell anybody about this."
AWESOME.
Well, maybe I was half-heartedly hitching, maybe I just thought I'd walk. In any case, a car pulls over a good ways ahead of me. Then a cop pulls up behind me. I meet the cop, the civilian car drives away, and the cop says "They stop for you?"
"Ah, I dunno. Maybe."
Cop says, "Yeah, I think I scared 'em away." I give him one of those raised-eyebrows looks, like "Well?..."
He says "You know, it's illegal to hitchhike on the interstate. You have an I.D.?"
"Well, I'm not hitching, just walking into downtown, to Lake Lucerne.", passing my driver's license to him.
"Well you can't walk it up here.", suggesting I go down to the grid of surface-streets. He calls in my details, and we wait 50 seconds for the response from the operator that I'm warrantless.
"How about you give me a lift," I say, without a real investment in the proposal, because I never would have bet it would go anywhere. Five-second pause from the cop: he's considering.
"You have any weapons?", almost perfunctory; he didn't ask to search me or have me prove it by emptying my pockets.
"Naw, I got a pen."
"You'd have to sit in the back."
"Yeah!, that's fine!" I'm grinning now, the long shot is gonna pay off!
"Awright," he says, walking me to the rear of the car and opening the door for me.
On the 10-minute drive over to his station, the police radio is squawking a bunch of dispatches. It's enough to avoid an awkward silence in which we might attempt small talk.
He pulls up to the station, stopping on the down-ramp to the underground garage.
And as he opens the back door and I step out, he says, "Now you can't tell anybody about this."
AWESOME.