Stopped by the Blue Lights of Hadley

So I’m tooling down Route 47, and it is a lovely day, about 83 or so….farm fields rolling by, coffee in the cup holder, en route to the bank. Around a corner… COP!…I brake, a little too obviously, and he tools past me. Down a ways, I think I’m clear, then he turns around, and speedily catches up to me…flicks on the blues. Damn!

I notice when he finally emerges from the cruiser, that his name is Boyden. I catch from his nameplate just that last name, as he gingerly approaches my vehicle. He was trained to believe that great danger can come forth from that pulled over passenger, so he makes a slight arc as he comes up. He doesn’t take off his sunglasses. I proffer the two documents, my papers, as it were. “Do you know why I stopped you?” he asked nicely. “I dunno, was I speeding, officer?” I reply. I remember that you should always call troopers and officers by their titles. They like that.

He goes back to the car. lights cheerfully blue, his headlights flashing in my side rearview. I get a cell phone call from Kate. Surreptitiously, I speak to her, and get off, and he comes back to the car. “You take it easy, ok?” Thanks! Officer! Smile! On my way…