Friday, December 7, 2007

The Outlaw In Me

Since I've been asked by a couple of people to share this story I will. The last few days have been a bad time to be a Nebraskan with the mall tragedy so I will do my best to lighten things up with a story of my antics told in my normal juvenille fashion.

I may have mentioned that I settled into some dark times after my divorce. Dark Emotionally. Dark Financially. You see, the Ex left to move back to England in Nov of 2000 once our divorce was final. Not only did he skip out on his financial obligations to his kids, I got to be the one to tell them that Daddy moved. Yeah, that was a happy happy day. So, here I was, 28 years old with 2 kids and NO child support. Zip. Nada. Nil. To say that my paycheck was having difficulties stretching to cover all the bills and feed us is an understatement. I was juggling my finances and something was sure to fall.

However, during all that, it was important to me that the kids weren't totally aware of what kind of financial mess we were in. Keeping their schedule and trying to add in some treats once in a while was very important to me. So, one warm summer night, I decide that Shaggy and I need Blizzards. Off we go. On the way back, I was driving slightly over the speed limit. Ok so it was more than slightly but in my defense, I didn't realize that the speed limit had dropped from 45 to 35mph (not even 20' down the road) and I was going 53. So our asshole friendly neighborhood policeman gave me a whopping $100 ticket.

Now, here is where the story gets interesting and I get ashamed. I didn't have the money to pay the ticket but instead of going to court and pleading my case, I ignored it thinking I'll pay it as soon as I have some extra money. Months passed. Still no extra money (ie: child support) and I get a letter in the mail saying if I didn't pay it, my license would be suspended. Again, I chose the ostrich method of dealing with this.

Then, I'm on my way home after picking up the girl child from daycare. She had had a field trip that day to someplace and had a wonderful new toy - a Whoopee Cushion - and was driving me crazy. I turn down my street and see a Sheriff's car in my driveway. Thinking to myself - oh shit, now what? I decide I'll drive past the house, turn around and come back and he'll be gone. One. Small. Problem. Shaggy is out front talking to him and as I start to drive by, shaking my head vigorously so he won't say anything, I see his little arm go up and then a finger come out. Pointing right at me. I see his mouth moving. I see the Sheriff's head swivel. What do I do? I keep driving. Desperate to get to a street where I can turn and hide. The whole time, Kelly's happily farting away with her Whoopee Cushion. I turn the corner, glance in the rearview, and see the Sheriff's car in hot pursuit. I see the lights go on and I know I'm busted.

So, the end result of the story is, the Sheriff was at my house to confiscate my license which had been suspended for non payment. If I had pulled in the driveway, he would have taken it and not busted me for driving on a suspended license. My $100 speeding ticket turned into:

$100 speeding ticket
$100 tow and impound charges
$50 license reinstatement fee
$50 driving on a suspended license charge
Humiliation of Explaining to the Sheriff of why I ran while daughter farts away on Whoopee Cushion - PRICELESS!

5 comments:

Sasha said...

FINALLY!!!! What a story! You are such an outlaw! Thanks for sharing and making me smile!

Smoochiefrog said...

OMG! You crazy woman you!

Lamp Tramp said...

Loved your story. Bless you and yours.

clemsongirlandthecoach said...

um, yeah...

Deb said...

LOL... you would have looked hot in a prison leotard. Uh... wait... JUMPSUIT! Yeah, a jumpsuit.