As promised, my narritive

Courtney Council
English 111-21
Jon Thomas
June 2, 2005

Oops!

I was in a wonderful mood. I had just spent three days in my favorite place. Boone, North Carolina. I love Boone, the warmness of the quaint town and the local people, the harsh winters with tons of snow and the delightful summers. I was helping my brother, Corey, a broad fellow that is 6 feet 4 inches tall and the biggest goof ball you’ve ever met and his girlfriend, Amber who is short and sweet and kind but can put you in your place in a second, move into their new apartments for college.
For three days, I was engulfed in the “college life.” I experienced all that Boone had to offer me, including the famous Mel’s Diner at 4 am with my brother and all of his drunken, rowdy friends. Corey and I actually got along for the first time in what seemed like our whole lives, we’ve never gotten along before because we’ve never had anything in common, but Boone (and college) helped to close the gap between the two of us. I was away from the stress of my senior year in high school and all the drama that comes along with it. Like the stupid fights between girls and the talking behind each other’s backs.
On August 15, 2004 the final day of my ‘mini-break’, I went with Amber shopping at the local mall and met a bunch of her sorority sisters. I had no idea people could be so welcoming. I wasn’t sure if it was the genuine nature of these nice people, or the fact that they had all been drinking for three days straight, attempting to get it all out of their systems before classes started the next week.
After saying goodbye to everyone, I packed my little knapsack and hugged Corey and Amber. It was about 2 pm on Sunday and I needed to get home because I had school the next day. I wasn’t really looking forward to the drive from Boone to Mount Airy.
I got settled behind the seat of my 1996 tan Nissan Maxima, and started my trek home. As I was headed out of town, I watched all of the college kids hanging out in the quad and playing Frisbee. I didn’t really want to return home. I wanted to stay in the nice, pretty scenery and stay with the nice, friendly people.
Once I got out on the highway (US 421), I turned my stereo up relatively loud, and put in my favorite Something Corporate CD. I was just driving down the mountain, checking out the beautiful scenery on a bright, sunny day.
While singing along to my favorite music, and starring out of my car windows, I became too preoccupied with my surroundings to pay attention to a little thing called the speed limit. Just as I was passing into the Wilkesboro city limits I took notice that the speed limit changed from 55 miles per hour to 35 miles per hour. As I saw the new speed limit sign, my attention also shifted towards my own speedometer. I was only cruising at a comfortable 70 miles per hour. Just as I looked up to my rear-view mirror, I caught sight of the most dreaded thing a person could imagine, a state trooper.
As soon as I saw the trooper’s car, I knew I was in for a ticket. I watched as the officer in the black and gray car turned on his lights, and proceeded to follow me onto the shoulder of the high way.
I started freaking out. I had never been pulled over before. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to handle this? How was I supposed to tell my parents? I just knew my dad would love this news. He was against my little trip to Boone in the first place because I had never gone by myself before, and I hadn’t had my license a whole year yet. Now, I’d never get to go back.
As the officer approached my car, the tears approached my eyes. And exactly when he knocked on my window, I erupted. My hands shook, my eyes cried. I was partly really upset, and I was partly trying to see if the officer would take pity on a young girl on her first trip out of town. Well, that definitely didn’t happen.
As the officer approached the side of my car, intimidation set in. He was walking tall with his crisp, gray uniform on, his big black shiny shoes, his black Ray Banns, and his hat. He reminded me of Corey because he was tall and chubby, only this guy was neither funny nor goofy like my brother. I pressed the window button to my left and as the window slowly vanished, I was now face to face with the officer whose name plate read ‘Mike.’
“Miss, do you know how fast you were going?” the officer pressed.
“No, officer,” I said, under my tears, “I don’t know exactly how fast I was going.”
I still wasn’t sure about how to handle this.
“Well, you were going a bit too fast for the limit, miss. You’ve just entered Wilkesboro, and the speed limit changed to 35 miles per hour,” Mike said, “and ma’am, did you have your seatbelt buckled?”
‘Ohh no!’ I thought to myself, ‘I was probably in a rush to get on the road and forgot my seatbelt.’
“No officer, I guess I forgot my seatbelt this time, but I promise I always wear it. I was just in a hurry to get back home, sir,” I was still shaking a bit and I didn’t know if I could possibly talk my way out of this.
“Well, miss, I need to see your license and registration,” Mike said.
“Ohh, ok, yes sir,” I figured it would be better just to do what the officer said. I reached over to my glove box, and pulled out the papers that my father kept in the owner’s manual.
“Actually, I don’t know what my registration is, officer,” I sniffled, “my dad just said that it was in here, somewhere.” And I held the manual out for the officer to see.
“Its okay, miss, just give me your license, please,” Mike said.
“Okay, it will take me a minute, it’s in my purse.” I reached back into my backseat and grabbed my purse. Then, I emptied the contents out onto my passenger seat and began pilfering through the notes and papers until I came upon my small wallet.
“Here, sir,” I said as I passed him my wallet, unfolded so that my license showed.
“Well, could you please take it out of the wallet for me, miss?”
“Ohh, yes, officer, of course.”
The officer told me to wait in my car and that he would be back in a minute or so. Well, one minute turned into five, and five into what seemed like fifteen. I starred down at my cell phone. I knew that I would have to call my parents when the business was done with the trooper. I looked back in my mirror and saw the officer working away in his car.
As I checked my blotchy, red face in my visor mirror, the officer approached my window again. And again, I pressed the window button and the window slowly rolled down, revealing my fate.
Officer Mike had a small pad in his left hand, and a stern look on his face. Then he explained how he was going to issue the ticket.
“Now, Miss Council, I’m going to give you a ticket for speeding, but I’m going to forget about the seatbelt violation because you say you wear it all the time. Now, I’m going to explain how you can go about paying off the ticket. You can just pay the ticket and not show up in court, or you can show up in court and try to get the ticket reduced or thrown out.”
While he was talking I wasn’t really listening to him; I was trying to figure out how I was going to place the call to my parents.
Finally, Mike handed me the pink paper and my license back. He told me that I could now be on my way, and to have a safe drive from here on out. He acted so cool about it.
I was still kind of freaked out by the whole experience, so I sat in my car for a minute to calm myself down. I looked up once, and saw that the trooper was still sitting in his car, waiting for me to pull out. As I pulled off the shoulder of highway 421, so did the trooper. He followed me and continued to do so almost until I got to Interstate 77, the next leg of my journey.
When I finally lost the trooper, I decided to get the phone call to my parents over with. I dialed my home number and placed the phone to my ear. As each of the rings passed, I was dying a little more inside. Finally, after the fourth ring, I heard my answering machine. Crap, my parents weren’t home. I couldn’t leave a message saying what had happened, that would be far worse than just telling them and I wouldn’t know what to expect when I got back home.
I called the next person that came to my mind. My brother. As I found his name in my phone, I was just waiting to hear what he would say to me. After pressing the “send” button, I heard his voicemail pick up. Perfect. Just when I needed to talk to him, he had his phone off. So, I called Amber’s phone. I knew that she never turned her cell phone off.
Just as I was about to give up hope on Amber picking up her phone, she answered in a rushed voice. I guess she knew something had to happen to me, or else I wouldn’t be calling her.
Suddenly, I started crying again. Amber couldn’t understand a word I was saying. She passed the phone to Corey and after a few minutes of my blubbering, they figured out what I was trying to say. Then, I heard my brother laughing. How could he be laughing? I was terrified, and he was laughing at me!
He explained his laughter to me. He told me that he had had quite a few tickets and so had my father. “He’s not going to kill you, Courtney, he’s had, like, 20 himself. He’s just going to be mad for a little while. It’s no big deal, I promise.”
How could he say this to me? It was a big deal. My dad was going to murder me in the town square when I got home. As I hung up with my brother, he told me just to call home and tell my parents, so that they would have a little time to cool off before I got home.
Okay, this was it; I was going to call my parents back again. I dialed the number again, and waited to hear someone pick up.
“Hello?” I heard my mother pick up the phone.
“Hey mom….” I wasn’t sure what to do, and I knew I just needed to get my news out.
“Courtney, what’s wrong?” my mother said. Whoa, how could she do that? How did she know that something was up?
“Um, hi, mom. Listen, don’t freak out,” I know now that’s not what you need to tell your mom for her not to freak out, “I got a speeding ticket on my way home.”
Silence, this wasn’t good.
“Well, a speeding ticket, huh? How fast were you going?”
“Um…pretty fast, mom”
“How fast is ‘pretty fast’?”
“70 in a 35…but the speed changed right before Wilkesboro, and I didn’t realize it and I’m really sorry.” I spat out, just trying to get my story out before she cut me off.
“Well, that is pretty fast,” mom replied.
Uh oh, I was just waiting to hear my father say something.
More silence.
“Well, you’re okay, right?”
“Yes, mom, I’m fine.”
“Okay, where are you? Are you close to home?”
By this time, I had gotten on I-77 and was just waiting for my exit while talking to my mother.
“I’m on 77, mom, and I’m about 45 minutes away..”
“Okay, well, just make sure that you drive safely, and we’ll see you when you get home.” And then she hung up.
Now, this wasn’t what I expected, at all. She was calm, my dad hadn’t shouted. What was going on? It didn’t seem like she was going to be angry when I got home. So, I drove the next 45 minutes until my exit, and then made my way home, still expecting the worst.
As I pulled into my driveway, my mom came out to welcome me home and help me get some boxes out of my car that I brought home from my brother’s apartment.
“Is dad mad?” I asked.
“No, he’s just lying on the couch, watching t.v.”
“Okay…is he going to get mad?” I waited anxiously for her answer.
“No, he’ll be fine. He was more worried about you being okay, than the ticket. We thought you had gotten into a wreck, the way you sounded on the phone.”
Apparently, I was still quite upset when I placed the call home. But, they both acted like it was no big deal. My dad even admitted having a bunch of tickets.
When I got home and was finally calmed down by seeing that my parents really were okay with the whole thing, I realized that I freaked out for nothing. My brother laughed at me, because I probably would have laughed at me, too, if I had seen myself. I learned that the sun was going to rise the next day, and I would be just fine if I just learned to chill out a bit.