Driving With A Buzz
Cecil County, MD
Summer 2015
I really pay attention to drinking and driving. I am so careful. I know I can not drink any more than 2 pints (32ozs) and drive. I count my beers. When I go to a bar and order a flight of beers, I do the math. I don't drink more than 32 ozs.
But tonight, over the course of a long evening, I have three bottles of beers, 36 ozs of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. When I popped open that last beer, I though of my limit but I dismissed it. I was fine. These extra 4 ozs were not going to make a big different. And so I drank that last beer and I felt a slight buzz, not a big buzz, but a small, noticeable buzz.
I am on a back road, heading home and there is very little traffic, a few large trucks but not much more than that. Suddenly, there are cop lights, flashing in my rear-view lights. There is a fucking cop behind me and he is after me. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. I want to get right out of my car and kick me in the ass. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.
I pull over and gather my documents. I find my license, my owner's car and insurance card. I am fucked and I only have myself to blame. I fucking did this to myself. FUCK. I fucking hate myself. FUCK.
The cop approaches my car and I do everything I can not to appear defensive.
"Good evening, madame. Is everything OK with you tonight?" I think he is surprised to find an old woman out on the road, this late at night.
"Yes," I respond quietly.
"You are driving close to the white line and I wanted to make sure everything was OK."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice I was doing that. I'll pay more attention to that."
"OK", he says, "have a nice night". And he walks away, never asking my name, never checking my ID, never asking me if I had been drinking. And earlier this week, Sandra Block had been stopped somewhere else in the USA and was arrested and handcuffed and later committed suicide and she had just not used her turn signal.
There are a lot of injustices in this world.
Cecil County, MD
Summer 2015
I really pay attention to drinking and driving. I am so careful. I know I can not drink any more than 2 pints (32ozs) and drive. I count my beers. When I go to a bar and order a flight of beers, I do the math. I don't drink more than 32 ozs.
But tonight, over the course of a long evening, I have three bottles of beers, 36 ozs of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. When I popped open that last beer, I though of my limit but I dismissed it. I was fine. These extra 4 ozs were not going to make a big different. And so I drank that last beer and I felt a slight buzz, not a big buzz, but a small, noticeable buzz.
I am on a back road, heading home and there is very little traffic, a few large trucks but not much more than that. Suddenly, there are cop lights, flashing in my rear-view lights. There is a fucking cop behind me and he is after me. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. I want to get right out of my car and kick me in the ass. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.
I pull over and gather my documents. I find my license, my owner's car and insurance card. I am fucked and I only have myself to blame. I fucking did this to myself. FUCK. I fucking hate myself. FUCK.
The cop approaches my car and I do everything I can not to appear defensive.
"Good evening, madame. Is everything OK with you tonight?" I think he is surprised to find an old woman out on the road, this late at night.
"Yes," I respond quietly.
"You are driving close to the white line and I wanted to make sure everything was OK."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice I was doing that. I'll pay more attention to that."
"OK", he says, "have a nice night". And he walks away, never asking my name, never checking my ID, never asking me if I had been drinking. And earlier this week, Sandra Block had been stopped somewhere else in the USA and was arrested and handcuffed and later committed suicide and she had just not used her turn signal.
There are a lot of injustices in this world.
No comments:
Post a Comment