The  Policeman and the Dumdums

Another hot summer’s day in the middle of Nevada, we were driving home to Calif from Utah. We drove the old Country Squire Station wagon that Ford used to put out. The kind with the cool “wood” panels and the fold down children’s seats in the back. We had filled the car. My parents and one of my 3 siblings sat in the front seat. My grandmother, my Uncle and my youngest sister sat in the middle seat, and my brother and myself sat in the back. Between us all and on top of the car, was all our gear. Tied, roped, stuffed—any way we could get it to fit.

So as we were driving, we were startled by the sound of  a police siren. We looked out the window and realized that the police man was wanting us to pull over. We looked at each other , worried as to what we had done wrong! We looked at dad’s speedometer. HE hadn’t been going too crazy. But maybe that was it. Or maybe we had too much stuff in the car. IT was kind of hard to see out the back window.

WE just had to wait. We finally slowed down enough to pull over, and come to a stop. Then we waited what seemed like forever, for the police man to call on his mike, and finally get off his motorbike,  and slowly make his way towards my dad’s window.

My dad rolled his window down. Waiting nervously.

The policeman put his hand on the window and looked inside at all of us, parents, kids, grandmother, uncle.

“How many people do you have in there,” he said very seriously.

“uh, “ we had to stop and count.

“10” we told him nervously.

I began to wonder if we were going to get a ticket for having too many people in a car. The officer reached into his pocket, I thought to pull out his ticket book.

But when it came out of his pocket, he wasn’t holding his ticket book, or his phone, or even a notepad or pen. He was holding 10 Dum dums!

He smiled. “That’s fun to see such a large family having such a great trip.” He said.

I think my dad smiled and said thanks. But we were in such shock, the rest of us just watched with our chins on the floor as he wished us a good day, got back on his bike and sped off.

When we couldn’t see him anymore, we all took a deep breath of relief and laughter  that lasted for the next 10 miles!