I was driving north, singing with the car radio and wearing my new funky red & white printed giraffe pattern sunglasses. It had been a pretty good weekend, resulting in the Monday morning commute being a lot less somber than it could have been.  The cooler, crisper air at night has made for comfortable sleeping, with a hint of Autumn in the air.  The sun was shining and I felt ready to face the week.  I got into the groove of the flow of traffic and headed towards the bridge. Life was good.

Suddenly I see a large black Chevy SUV in the southbound lane, seemingly out of control. It went barreling into the grass depression in the center median, made a big dip, a wobbly U-turn and swerved onto the pavement of the northbound lane, almost hitting another car in the process.  By now I could see it in my rear view mirror and I was determined to stay as far away from this maniac as possible.  Really, where is a cop when you need one?

Behind me, so it seems.  He turned his flashing red and blue lights on.  I moved over to let him pass.  But it is me that he is after.  Me? I pull over.  Bummer.

He’s a tall, thin, somber guy with a prominent Adam’s apple and a wispy moustache.  As I handed him my information, I said “Sorry.  I was just singing.”  You know how it is, sometimes when you are singing in the car, your foot goes down a little more and you go a little faster with the music? But even with that, I know I was not going that fast.  I wondered if he had pulled the wrong person over….but I wasn’t going to say anything else.

Well, he did not smile at all. Very bad sign. As he walked back to his car to run my information through his computer, I realized I was still wearing my giraffe sunglasses.  I had thought they were rather cool when I put them on, but glancing in the rear view mirror to watch him, I caught my reflection….in this situation I suddenly morphed into looking more like a wacko. Funny how that can happen. I quickly pulled them off, alas, a bit too late.

He handed me my ticket. It was for a lot faster than I thought I was going – a lot faster than I ever go on that particular road, every single day.  In my car there are only a few lines between each ten-mile increment. It’s almost impossible to accurately gauge your speed on that dial, but I know what my usual speed is, and I know it is never this….. except that I had been singing….

He recommended I show up for traffic court….. guess I’m going.  It certainly changed the feel of the morning. Not the best way to start the week, not at all…..