Hazel's Hitchhiker

33: Problem Officer?

Joey

We were actually getting pulled over. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that we would get pulled over by a cop during this trip. But here we were with flashing lights behind us. Damn those cops.

"Why the hell are we getting pulled over?" asked Hazel in a panicked tone.

"I have no idea. Hell, I was only going five miles over the speed limit."

Analyzing why we were getting pulled was pointless. The only thing we could do was actually comply. And without another thought, the car was pulled over to the side of the road. Without hesitation, I had everything ready to go to show to the cop. My heart began racing to hope this would all go by smoothly.

"Remember to act calm," instructed Hazel. "Act normal and don't give them any reason to suspect you. If they ask you about the beer, we'll just say it's mine."

At that point, all I wanted was for Hazel to shut up. I couldn't focus if she was telling me what to do. The law was on the line at that very moment. With my window rolled down, the cop made his way to our car.

"Good day officer," I began. "What seems to be the problem?"

The cop was a short but thin man who had that stereotypical police mustache. Sunflowers were in his mouth being chewed and spit out unto the ground.

"Caught ya speeding. Ya were Going fifty-five in a fifty-mile zone. We take the speed limit very seriously out here in Sheep City."

"I do apologize officer for my speeding. I didn't mean to. Sometimes we just end up going a little faster than we expected." At this point, my mouth probably needed to shut up and let the officer do his thing.

"Yeah, I'm sure ya will." Another sunflower shell was spit unto the ground next to our car. "Anyways, I'm going to need to see ya license, proof of insurance, and registration."

In a brief second all of that was handed to him and he began carefully looking at all of it. What felt like an eternity caused me to lick my lips in what felt like a million times. My body just sat there trying to breathe. It was obvious that Hazel was also trying to keep calm.

"Is ya name really McKiss?" asked the cop who held out my driver's license.

"Yes sir, that's my name. Blame my parents for that one."

With no response, the cop continued to put his eyes on my license with my sight on Hazel who looked a little pissed and annoyed.

"You have a fake driver's license?" she quietly mouthed putting her palm over her forehead.

"If you're going to have a fake ID, you also need to have a fake license."

Yeah, Hazel hated that response and I could see why. My own self even hated that response. Damn it, why did I get a fake license? It made sense at the time when I did it. A real license would contradict a fake ID and cause a lot of questions. That was something I didn't want to have to deal with. Hell, even Phillip agreed with that idea and encouraged me to go along with that plan. Maybe listening to him was a bad idea. Phillip wasn't always the brightest and made a lot of stupid choices."

"Copy, this is Officer Dowell," spoke the cop on his radio. It was hard to understand what was being said on the other side of the radio. "Yeah, we got McKiss."

Another moment later, all my documents were handed over to me. Officer Dowell caught notice of the Bud Light sitting in the cupholder.

"Are ya a drinker McKiss? You haven't been drinking today, have ya?"

"No officer," interrupted Hazel. "This is actually my beer. I have a bit of an alcohol problem." With no time wasted, she grabbed the beer and took the tiniest sip that had ever been known to man. One could argue that it wasn't really even a sip which is what I was questioning.

What the hell was Hazel doing? I know she said earlier that she would claim that it was her beer, but it dawned on me at that moment how much of a bad idea that was. The cop would obviously ask to see her ID or license and come to realize that she was underage. We would most certainly be in trouble. Interestingly enough, that was not how things played out. Dowell didn't care if she was underage.

"Sir, I'm going to ask ya to step out of the vehicle."

Step out of the vehicle? Why? Hazel is the one that should be stepping out of the car. She was the one that claimed the beer was hers. Shouldn't she be getting the test? Why didn't the cop care if she was underage? However, I was relieved that she wouldn't be getting in trouble with the law. And without any more arguing, my body stepped out of the vehicle and waited for more instruction.

"Place your hands on the vehicle boy."

And that's just what I did. Following orders, Dowell patted me down and found nothing on me which resulted in another order to sit on the ground with my hands being handcuffed while the officer went back to his car to talk on the radio. Hazel sat in the car with her eyes closed. It looked like she wanted to cry, but was doing everything she could do to not do so. Stay strong girl. Stay strong. We'll make it to Austin. Damn, what if we didn't make it to Austin? I would lose my scholarship. My basketball career would be over just like that. I was the one that should be crying if that was the case. About a long minute later, Powell relaxingly stepped out of his car and placed me in the back of the police car. Yes, I was being arrested. He didn't even bother to read me my rights.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to comment and vote!

Is Joey in serious trouble?

Is it all over for Joey?

Will anyone make it Austin?