Don't spill the Curry!

It was a beautiful sunny day in Gainesville.  We were moving the MH from the house we had been staying at, back to the parking lot at the church.  Shayne was in the van just a little ahead of me and I was in the MH following her.  Before we left the house we had been staying at, Shayne had made a big beautiful pot of curry and we had put it on the bed in the MH so it wouldn’t slide around when we were driving.  I was driving as gingerly as I could when IT happened.  The light went yellow.  At first I thought I was close enough that I could run the yellow, then I realized there was a police car waiting to turn.  I knew if I ran the yellow I would probably be pulled over, I also knew if I slammed on my brakes to stop I would spill the curry all over our bed.  I did the only thing I could think of to do.  I hit my brakes hard.  Not hard enough to spill the curry, but also not hard enough to stop completely on time.  I managed to stop without spilling the curry, but I was about 5 feet past the cross-walk in the intersection.  I looked over to the police car and my heart sank.  His lights were on and he was motioning me to pull over.  So I did.  

As he approached the drivers side window of the MH I could see in the rearview that his hand was on his gun and he looked very serious.  Wow, I thought, here comes a big ticket for sure.  He directed me to step out of the MH and proceeded to explain the hazards of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs.  I wholeheartedly agreed with him, and told him so, but he wasn’t so sure that I wasn’t “under the influence”.  He threatened to call the Dog Squad to sniff out Me and the MH so I assured him that was fine with me and that he wouldn’t find anything except a big pot of curry on the bed.  I explained my dilemma of not wanting to brake too fast because of the risk of spilling my wife’s curry, and he explained the dangers of running yellow lights and stopping too slowly.  

The real fun began when they tried to run my license.  As instructed I removed my license from my wallet and passed it to another officer.  By now there were 3 police cars on the scene all with lights flashing.  The officer with my license looked it over, called in my information then turned to me and remarked, “Alberta, where’s that?  Is this a fake license”.  Then he preceded to try to stare me down.  I told him “Alberta is a province in Canada”, “Canada, is that that big country up north” he said. “Yes” I told him and then he received a message from dispatch concerning my license #.  Dispatch wasn’t able to find my license # in their data-base.  He told them it was Canadian, and they said it was going to take them a little while to get that information.  Oh man, this is going to take forever I thought to myself.  Then the first officer came back after inspecting the outside of the MH and the trailer, and overhearing I was from Canada asked me if I was an Oilers fan. No, thank-goodness I’m not an Oilers fan I said, then he began asking me questions about my family, our trip, where we were going, where we’d been and then he said it.  “Wow, 5 kids.  Your a busy guy.  There really must not be anything to do on all those cold winter nights in Canada”.  I know, original right.  

I explained that we were visiting our friends in Gainesville and that my friend was the Bishop of the local Anglican Church.  By that time I think he’d decided that I wasn’t a public menace and motioned to the officer with my license to just forget about running my license # and to let me go.  So I hopped in the MH and drove away.  No tickets, just a warning.  It’s nice to be able to be pulled over and not be afraid.  I remember in the days of my youth I made some decisions I’m not very proud of.  Every time I’d get pulled over by the police there would be fear.  Fear that they would catch us in illegal activities and the like.  I praise God for his saving grace and for the process of sanctification I’ve been on for the last 12 years and that now when the Police think I look suspicious and pull me over I don’t have to worry because I’m not doing anything wrong and have nothing to hide.

Thanks for Journeying with us.

The Schafer’s