A Cop Story

One day a couple of my friends and I were very, very bored. We were waiting in front of the $1.50 movie theater (formerly $1.00 movie). So we decided to kill some time. We had just recently purchased some kites from a local dollar store, so we took them out and after some finagling (I'm so sure that I spelled that wrong), we got them put together and a little more finagling (again, spelled incorrectly) we got them up into the air. And to be completely honest, and give up any cool points that I might have possilbly havae lying around, I have to say that it was quite fun. I mean, getting them up there and moving them around and fighting the wind. Mary Poppins was right: Flying kites rock! Now it was a pretty good number of people out that night, being that it was the weekend and we were at a movie theater, and we had amassed a bit of a crowd. So, the people were watching our three or four kites perform acts of derring-do and we were all having a blast. Then, out of nowhere, this policeman pulls up near us. We look, but we're not paying any attention, so we just keep on having a good time. It wasn't out of place for a cop to show up at this movie theater when there was a big crowd, just for crowd control and making sure no kids got out of hand. I should probably mention at this point that my friends and I were probably in our later teens at the time. Maybe between 16 and 18. So anyway, there we are, having a ball and this cop gets out of his car and starts walking towards us. He stands on this hill that's near us and beckons us over. Since I'm the oldest, and unofficially the spokesperson, I walk over to him.

"Uh, yeah, I'm going to have to ask you to put those away."

I look around, thinking that perhaps he has mistaken our frivolities for some sort of heinous activity with weapons or at least something naughty involved.

I turn back to him, "Um, well, officer, my friends and I are just having a little fun before the movie."

At this point he gets a little po'd and demands that we put our kites away before we hurt someone. Now, I'd like to draw your attention to that last sentence. Put our kites away before we hurt someone? I was shocked, completely shocked. Wouldn't you be? There were people selling drugs, individuals killing others, babies being left in dumpsters and kids getting raped, and this guy, had taken taxpayer time and money, to tell a couple of teenagers to stop flying kites? Noow, those of you who think, maybe there was a reason. Maybe there were people around or maybe you were around power lines. Well, I can tell you right now that none of this was true, there was no one around and we were very careful not to send the kites up around any power lines. This was sometime after 9/11 and I remember thinking, Osama Bin Laden is out there somewhere and this cop has just cited me for kite flying. I was fuming, but I'm a good citizen so I told my friends of the situation and we put up our kites. The crowd that had formed (at a safe distance) booed and hissed a little, but soon dispersed. Now, I love the police. They do the stuff that I would never do and don't get paid well for it. They put their lives on the one every single day for the wellbeing of me and others like me, and there would be nothing that I could do to make it up to them. But, c'mon that was just ridiculous.*

*This is how the story appeared in my mind, names and events might have been changed because I kinda forgot them. But the general jist is true. Well, I remember there being kites.