“You are not still issuing me a ticket for speeding, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
“What is this then?” I asked as I stared at the ticket.
“I couldn’t help but notice your car’s inspection expired.”Was there a gleam in his eye? What is wrong with this man?
“No, it didn’t!” I stormed over to my vehicle, and he was in hot pursuit of me. I pointed at my windshield. “See? It says ‘valid until August 18’, which is today! I have an appointment at the mechanic scheduled at eight o’clock in the morning.”
He tapped his finger against his watch and grinned. “I’m sorry. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but August 18 ended over three hours ago.”
4
“Are you okay?”Sydney Clayton, my colleague and friend, popped her head into my office a second after I dropped my oversized messenger bag on the floor next to my desk.
“Yeah,” I grunted as I rubbed my face. “Just dandy.” I walked over to my window and opened the blinds. Instantly, the sunlight irritated my exhausted eyes.
“I was starting to worry about you. I would have thought for sure you’d have gotten here at least an hour ago. It’s not like you to be late, especially when we are in the midst of such a huge project.” Sydney was the company’s CFO and our boss’s right hand.
I glanced at my watch and saw it was after eight. I let out a slow, deep breath. “I know. Trust me. Being tardy today was the last thing I wanted. But I had a rough night.”
She sat down in one of my guest chairs and flipped her shoulder-length, dark hair to the side. “Oh no. What happened?”
I sat behind my desk and pulled out my laptop from my bag. I connected it to the docking station and opened up my emails. I was relieved when I saw there weren’t too many new ones, then I remembered it was Sunday. I faced my friend. “For starters, I had an altercation with the police last night.”
“What?” She let out a little gasp. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I frowned. “Except I’m royally pissed off.”
“What happened?”
Just remembering caused a fresh coat of anger to wash over me. “I was practically home and tucked into my comfy bed when I got pulled over. At first, I thought about joking with the cop.” I snickered. “How funny would it have been if I held my arms out, crossed my hands at my wrists, and asked him to arrest me so I could avoid another marathon day here?”
“Very.” She smiled “Although, I know you live for the adrenaline rush of a turbo-charged, super-stressful day in the office.”
“True,” I grumbled. There was no denying I was a workaholic, stress-junkie. I often complained about my intense workload and the pressure I was under, but then on the rare slow day, or the times when everything went without a hitch, I found myself bored. It was pathetic, but my job was my life.
“Seriously, Waverly”—Sydney looked petrified—“please tell me you didn’t try to be funny.”
I shook my head. Deciding to keep my cheerleading jump to myself, I said, “I was on my very best behavior! The cop, on the other hand, was a royal jerk! The dude had a real Napoleon complex going on, even though he was over six feet tall. He blew everything out of proportion. The entire experience was insane. I kept looking behind my shoulder for a hidden camera.”
“Do I even want to know how fast you were going?” Sydney asked as she reached for the jar of M&Ms on my desk. I never ate candy, but she had a major chocolate addiction I liked to feed.
“You’ll never believe me.”
“Try me.”
“Okay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I rolled my eyes. I held up my hands and pointed into the air. “Wait for it… I was going a whoppingeightmiles over the limit.”
“What?” She jerked back in her chair. “No way! Stop joking.”
“If only I were. I am dead serious.”
She scrunched up her face. “I always thought there was some wiggle room. Who can drive the exact limit, all the time?”
“Certainly not me. It makes no sense!” I waved my hand in the air. “At first, I was pretty calm. I gave the police officer the benefit of the doubt. I kind of understood his point of view. It was late, and I was the only car on the road. I’m sure he probably wanted to make sure I was clean and sober, and not fleeing a heinous crime. He should have been able to determine I was an upstanding citizen in record time, but no! He took his interrogation to the next level.” I started to tick off on my fingers: “First, he had me parade down Bradley Boulevard in a straight line. Then, knowing he couldn’t in good conscience issue me a speeding ticket, he gave me one for having an expired inspection!”
“Well, if it was expired—”
