Something To Laugh About: October 19, 2006

In the morning, Officer Marshall called my house and left a message saying “Say, Mr. Marx, this is Officer Marshall with the FWPD I just wanted to speak with you for a moment about the situation at your home. I need to get some more information from you. Could you call me back at 427-xxxx?

That’s really unbelievable. This idiot laughs at me, tells me I am the problem here, and refuses to allow me to speak with a real police officer to convey my information. Then the next day he calls back as if nothing ever happened. I kind of suspected he was simply trying to goad me into saying or doing something stupid at that point, and I almost certainly would have if I had answered the phone that day, so I decided to cool off before I called back.

In the early afternoon, I was standing along the side of my house talking with a neighbor when Officer Rice pulled up. He was just checking on the situation and letting me know that they (FWPD) would be heavily patrolling the area for a while. As we were talking, an unmarked police car pulled along side Officer Rice. As these two cops were parked right at the main intersection of cracktown, something really comical occurred.

A car pulled out of Suttenfield (heading the wrong direction) and sped north on Warsaw. Officer Rice’s jaw dropped open and he just looked at me and said “Yeah, I better check on this.” Officer Rice and the other vehicle had this car stopped before it was a block away, and they were quickly joined by several other police vehicles.

Apparently, this guy had stopped to buy some drugs just down the block. When he got his fix, he grabbed the money back out of the dealer’s hand and sped away. It was just coincidence that two police officers happened to be parked right where he came out and they were even conveniently facing in the right direction. But that’s not the really funny part.

Soon there were dozens of officers on the scene, barely a half block away from my house, and the corners here filled very quickly with curious people. On the southwest corner, in front of my house, there were only three people; myself, Carl (a drug dealer) and Vern (an elderly, retired gentleman). As we were standing there watching, a short, fat, Hispanic lady walked past and I really didn’t even pay much attention to her at first. Suddenly, Vern jumped back and shouted “What? No, get away from me,” in response to something this lady had apparently said to him.

I then watched in bemusement as this lady tugged at Carl’s arm and asked “You got something?” She offered him the money in her hand and Carl just looked at me and Vern as though he really couldn’t believe what she was doing. Carl just pointed towards the massive group of police officers and stepped away from her. She actually looked at me for a minute, but walked away without saying anything more. This lady then stepped across the street and appeared to be making inquiries to the people standing there. Eventually, one of these guys walked down the block with her to (presumably) conduct their drug transaction.

After the disbelief over what we witnessed wore off, Vern, Carl and I all three busted out laughing at the same time. Vern said she had asked him first, and that was why he jumped back and shouted at her. Vern had a gold necklace around his neck that day and I pointed to it and said “You know Carl, he does look like a player with that gold around his neck. This humorous break in the tense atmosphere provided an opportunity for Carl and I to talk. That conversation will be the subject of my next post.


NEXT POST: Negotiating With The Enemy