On Housekeeping

I’m sitting in the mansion right now, looking down at a copy of The Big Sleep, which I should be reading for one of my classes. The maintenance crew has made it their job today to remove some of the spider webs from around the building. When I was a freshman, I used to walk out to the archway in the courtyard to look at the web the spiders created. I’m not sure if it was meditative or something, but I got really attached to watching them, and I hate to see their masterpieces destroyed. Yes, I guess I do get a sick sense of satisfaction when one of them falls on the maintenance guy with the long yellow broom. In his shriek there is justice.

Read Full Post »

Citizen Brutality

Chris and I were going to drop Matthew off at band practice, and then to Harry’s to grab a pizza. We took Chris’ Volvo. I’m not sure why, but it seemed like the easiest vehicle to remove from our parking arrangement. He drove us over to a three-way intersection at the end of the street at the same time as a single police cruiser. Chris flashed his lights quickly to let the officer pull out in front of us. After a long pause, the other vehicle flashed its lights to have us pass ahead.

“I’m not letting a cop get in back of me,” he said as the cruiser flashed his lights a second time.

“You have to,” I yelled pointing to the road.

Chris took my advice and proceeded down Martin Road. Forty seconds later, the dark street was quickly illuminated by blue police lights. His speedometer is broken so we have no idea how fast the car was going. We pulled over and waited for the interrogation to begin.

“License and registration,” he said with an indifferent face. Chris pulled his wallet out to show his license while I rummaged through the glove compartment for his registration. We handed the documents over and he handed his registration back saying, “This expired, I need to see your new one.” We spent a few more minutes searching through all of his papers until the officer finally told us, “you aren’t going to find any. I pulled you over because the registration for this car has expired.” Unfortunately, they had to write him a ticket as well as having the car towed.

The Volvo had to be towed to a Manchog garage, thus leaving me with a very unsettling call to my parents. I asked them for a ride back to the house. Seeing as we were on the next street over, I didn’t find any problem with this. I guess on instinct, the officer felt that it was necessary to call for backup. When we were stopped, only one police cruiser was behind us. A sergeant’s car appeared behind the officer’s.

Both of my parents arrived and started questioning the officers. Up until this point, the situation was really low-key. Chris was driving an unregistered vehicle, and he didn’t know. My father said some pretty rude things like, “You only pulled him over because he had a Rhode Island plate.” This made the officer really discontent with the situation. After the tow, my dad was on the phone trying to get a second opinion from my cousin in the Northbridge Police Department.

The officer reminded me of myself trying to ring out a customer with an item they need, but without the funds to pay. They’ll scream and kick and ask me to call the manager. It becomes my fault and the item becomes reweighed countless times—anything to make it fit in with their budget.

People doing their job should not be an outlet for aggression. Nobody is above the law. Or rather, they shouldn’t be.

My fortune cookie told me spring is coming.

Read Full Post »