Old friends, new problems

So, it was a rather interesting day for me.

I slept a couple hours, and got a call from an old friend of mine. We stopped talking to each other for several reasons, but those aren't important right now. We've made up. He called to me ask if I wanted to go play a poker tournament with him. I agreed, and he came to pick me up.

We played in the tourney, and both failed. So, on the way back, we decided that we wanted to shoot craps instead of play poker. The closest place is Snoqualmie Casino, just off of I 90. We drove at about 105 mph on the way up there, and had some fun shooting craps. We didn't do very well, but that's ok. We had fun.

On the way home, traffic was terrible. We got to Mercer Island, and cars were at almost a stand-still. So, in his slightly inebriated wisdom, my friend takes the next exit, cuts about a 1/4 mile of the worst traffic from in front of us, and speeds past a cop before we get back to the on-ramp.

He is not amused.

"Dude, I hope he's not pulling me over.... Shit, he is. I'm going to jail."

"Man, it can't be that ba......"

He interrupts me..."Seriously, I'm going to jail, dude."

Turns out, he sped past another car at 45 mph, when the speed limit was 30. Also, he has a suspended license, no insurance, registration isn't in his name, the tabs are expired as of LAST June, and he is on deferred prosecution for his SECOND DUI.

It doesn't take the cop any longer than having a second officer come back him up to arrest my buddy, and put him in the car.

I'm calmly still sitting in the passenger seat, rolling a cigarette. I haven't done anything wrong. I have no warrants, I wasn't driving, and I'm not drunk.

The second officer walks up to my window, and asks how I am doing today. "Extra Medium", I tell him. He asks me to step out of the car and talk with him. A very small part of me thinks that I'm going to jail with my buddy, but I easily stifle his tiny stupid voice.

"Sir, you don't have any weapons on you, do you?"

I always carry a pocket knife with me, so I say yes. He asks if he can hang on to it while we talk. I tell him that's perfectly acceptable, and slowly hand him my knife. The second officer explains that my buddy is going to jail, and they can't release his car to me because I don't have a valid license. I tell him that it's not a problem. I have a bus pass, and there's a stop about a 1/4 mile up the road.

He seems taken aback by my candor, and how easily I'm taking this information. I mean, my friend is being arrested, I have to take a bus home from Mercer Island and I have to walk.

I think it's because a lot of things don't really faze me anymore.

So, the officer gives me back my knife, and I walk to the bus stop. I don't even stop to say goodbye to my friend, as he is engaged in conversation with the first officer. I walk the quarter mile to the bus stop, and wait about 20 minutes for a bus to get there.

I catch the bus without any problems, and on the way to downtown, I get a phone call. From my buddy. The cops let him use his phone to make a few calls, and organize someone coming to get his car. He called me to apologize for him getting arrested, and for me having to take the bus home.

"Dude," I explain, "I take the bus every day. Don't be sorry for me that you got arrested. Be sorry for you. We're cool. I'll see you when you get out."