-Watch Out....the Cops are Coming!

I've never really been pulled over before; I'm a pretty cautious driver. Today I am going to share one of those moments when the cops probably should have been around....but weren't!

Way back before I was married, Thomas and I were friends.  One night a bunch of us were at my friend C's house.  He lived way out in the country.  I left his house to go with someone else and pick something up.  When we got back, he had left because of an emergency, and my purse was locked up in his house.  (Why didn't you take your purse with you Tracie?  I have no idea)  Thomas offers to drive my car and me home (since my license was locked up with my purse!) so I wrote a note to C, and we left.  Forty-five minutes later, as I was walking in my house, I got a call from C saying that he was home and if I wanted to come pick up my purse, I could, but he had an important job interview in the morning, so I needed to come right away.  Thomas and I left and started the long drive back!

It is now about 11:30pm on a Sunday night.  We are driving down the long, dark, two-lane, country road on the way to C's house.....when there is this banging noise.  First thought-we are being shot!  Realization-My tire just busted.   No big deal.  I am a prepared woman, there is a spare in the trunk and I even have Thomas to help me change it.  We will be on our way in no time.......WRONG!  See, I hadn't owned this car for very long, and the jack (which was in the trunk when I bought it) had never been used by me until this point.  When I went to pull it out of it's little holding spot....it wouldn't budge.  Seriously, I think that thing was welded in there, because we could not get it out!  No problem, I'll just use my cell phone and call for help......wait a minute....my cell phone........is in my purse......at C's house.

*semi-important sidenote, for some reason that I don't clearly remember, Thomas didn't have any shoes with him......this part of the story is a little vague to me.  I do remember that I was wearing flip flops

We realized that we had no other choice, it was time to start walking........and we walked and we walked and we walked......in the dark.  Past a few dark houses.....some with large barking dogs.  There was one house that looked as if it had been pulled straight out of a Scooby Doo cartoon, complete with a large gate, eerie lights, and thick fog.  (we ran past that one)  About halfway there, Thomas informed me that he now had a hole in his foot (ouch!)  

*I should tell you that this walk was the moment that Thomas informed me that he was in love with me.  A major life changing moment took place on this long hike to C's house, but that is not the story that I am here to tell today.

Finally, after walking about a mile, we arrived at C's house.  It was dark, and I felt bad because I knew that he had gone to bed to get ready for the interview in the morning, but we had no other choice than to wake him up (this is the first time the cops could have been called, because he was mad enough to kill me)  I got my purse.  Apologized profusely to C and found that he did not own a jack, or even know how to change a tire....helpful.  I called another friend, R, who agreed to come help, and then C gave us a ride back to my car.  (just to let you know, he did get that job)

We waited in the car for the thirty minutes that it took for R to arrive.  He couldn't get my welded-in jack out either, but he brought his own.  We changed my tire, and he was off.  Bye R.


I start to drive, got about half a mile and then there was a loud banging noise......nope, not a gunshot......my spare.....just got a flat.  Yep.  That's right.

I was happy that this time I had my cell phone, so I could call my roadside assistance people (I would have called R, since he was near, but he didn't have a cell phone).  They told me that they would send out a tow truck to take me and my car home.  An hour and a half later......a grumpy man with a flat bed tow truck arrives.  He gets the car situated and looks at us, "I don't like my cab full of people, only one of you can ride with me."  What?  He is seriously just going to leave one of us deserted in the country?  I told him no way, the roadside assistance people said that he would take the car and us home, and that is what he had to do.  His response, "fine, you can ride up front with me and he can sit in the back in your car"  Um......no way was I going to spend forty-five minutes in the truck alone with this guy.  Not about to happen.  He wouldn't budge.  No way was he going to allow Thomas to ride with him.

So, that is how Thomas and I ended up riding in my car on the back of the tow truck...........flying down the freeway at 65 miles per hour.  Darting in and out of traffic.  Everytime he swerved, we swerved....and let me just tell you, the car sits on the truck, and it is attached, but not that well...........it moves around up there....a lot!!   It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life!  There is no way that it is legal for someone to ride in the car that is being towed down the freeway.  No way.  With my desire to get home outweighing my desire for safety (hey, I had to be at work in about three hours) we ducked down when we saw a police car and prayed that we didn't hit it when our car came flying off of the back of the truck as we swerved around it.  Thankfully we stayed attached long enough to make it to my house......and didn't get taken to jail (or to a psychiatric facility-which is probably where we belonged when we agreed to ride in that thing!)

If you want to hear more stories about cars and cops, give SupahMommy a visit!