Good Police Work

At that time our town didn't offer much in the line of organized entertainment for young kids, so we entertained ourselves in ways that would have dire consequences today.

It was Halloween and we were outgrowing the trick or treat aspect of small town fun. My friend and I were cruising around in his 1950 Ford convertible looking for just anything which would entertain us for the evening.

We considered doing a lot of stuff, like soaping windows, the toilet paper decorating trick, and more, but nothing quite was on the level that would please us.

Smashing a ton of pumpkins in the village square was certainly something that would receive a lot of attention and put us high on the list of legends.

The task of collecting enough pumpkins to make a spectacular scene in the center of town was something that would have been a bit overwhelming. We were starting to think of less spectacular capers.

As we drove around we bounced ideas off each other and quickly dismissed each in the order of physical involvement.

It was starting to get late and we did want to have something spectacular to talk about for the rest of the year. It was then that we both saw it at the same time and the car came to an abrupt stop.

There, piled all around a telephone pole, in front of a local business was the answer to our dreams, Hundreds of pumpkins of every size. Our prayers had been answered. I think I heard angels singing. We couldn't wait to get started.

We knew the local policeman on duty that night would probably be making his rounds at some point while we were relieving that phone pole of its decoration, but we took the chance.

The car was parked in a dimly lit location, not far from the highly coveted pumpkins and the mission was underway.

We made trip after trip until we just couldn't put another pumpkin into the car and still allow room enough for us to ride. There were a lot of pumpkins. We probably should have made two trips, but having just enough sense to take on the task in the first place explains the poor judgment.

It was time to make our way into town, search around for the officer on duty then, "do the deed ". Oh, it was going to be wonderful.

The car was just full of pumpkins and of course I opted to sit on top of the pile, putting my feet on the windshield to brace my self. Things were good so far.

. The car groaned a bit but slowly built up speed and we were on our way.

The excitement was building and we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves for accomplishing the first leg of the mission, undetected. Life was good!

Right in the middle of our euphoric moment, it happened. Inches from our bumper was, "You know who", not only flashing his lights, but giving that siren a work out. He had been just waiting for something like this to make his evening interesting. We didn't disappoint him!

We pulled over to the side of the road and waited for him. "Herb", was his name. He collected his stuff, got out of the car and did the slow walk to our car.

In a totally professional voice that would drain the excitement out of a "Mardi Gras" celebration, he said: Where are you going with the pumpkins "Boys"?

Like I said earlier, clear judgment wasn't our strong suit at this point in our lives. We kind of figured that Herb wouldn't come down too hard on us and answered in that cocky voice: "What Pumpkins "?

Well to make a long story short, Herb did his best to be the hard guy, but suggested that we put all of the pumpkins back where we got them.

Seeing it for what it was and what it could be, we took off like a shot and quickly emptied the car of our hard fought for cargo.

Now it was time to face the music and see just what Herb had in store for his freshly caught criminals, that his superior police work had allowed him to capture.

Herb talked endlessly about the, what ifs and whatevers, which we could only imagine wouldn't be good.

Finally Herb was approaching the bottom line, finally! I'm sure that his delivery was intentional and he was hoping that it would put the fear of God into us with his eloquently crafted speech. Well, it worked.

Our punishment was about to be delivered to us and our bravado and cockiness was waning.

As he spoke he realized that he had our attention and found us to be quite agreeable to his suggestions and alternatives.

As we were driving home , free from any long term consequences, only the promise to clean up our act and just find something less spectacular to entertain ourselves. We started to get it!

We figured that Herb opted to watch us from the beginning of it all and let us fill the car. Then as planned, he'd confront us, then, make us put them all back. All while maintaining a stern professional look. Not bad, I might add!

Even today he is someone that I obviously respect and admire for seeing a situation for what it was and taking the time to deal with it. We were lucky enough to be on a different playing field than is often available today.

These were during the times when the real punishment came from home and anything else was an extra.

Knowing, that Herb had given us a big break this time, put us on the owing end of things. It did make a difference.

The most amazing thing of it all was, we never heard of it again. It was in the past, as quick as that.

Now, there were other times when we tested Herbs' stamina, purely for our own entertainment, but, the bottom line was always the same, Herb knew where we lived!