I work with teens and my shift starts early everyday. I am usually
driving to work around 6:30 a.m. Because of my work schedule I am rather tired
during the week and do not usually stay out late. Which is why I tend
not to go to a venue on a Thursday evening when I know the band won't start playing until 10.
But I was very excited about
this band. I had heard them in San Francisco a year before. A band with a Balkan gypsy music edge, I had watched their posts on Facebook talking about
performances in New York, Los Angeles, France. Much to my surprise one
day a post appeared in my newsfeed about a show in Sebastopol.
Really? I didn't even have to drive to Berkeley or the city? I was
stoked. The only drawback was that it would be a Thursday
evening. I would just have to bite the bullet and know that on Friday I
would be exhausted.
I tried to take a
nap that afternoon but it did not work. So I was already sleepy
when I got to Hop Monk around nine o'clock and of course there was no
music playing. I sat outside for a minute waiting for a friend but
received a text from her she wasn't yet on her way. I went back
to my car. I read a few texts to keep me occupied but my eyes were tired.
Unfortunately
that morning I had woken up even before my alarm even went off. It had been
a long day. I leaned the seat back in my car a little bit and closed
my eyes. Maybe if I rested for a few minutes I could get a second
wind. I was parked close enough that I would hear the music when
it began.
Because I had been up early it wasn't a huge surprise that I fell asleep. Not for
long, however, because I woke up probably 20 minutes later due to a
beaming light shining through the window. I
realized it was a cop. Rolling down the window I said, "Yes?"
The officer
was on his bike. (Serioulsy.) He asked me if I had been sleeping and I
replied, "Sort of. I'm just waiting for someone who hasn't gotten here
yet." I was disoriented but it wasn't for any reason they were
suspecting. I was disoriented because I wasn't used to having someone shine a bright light in my face.
Then he asked for my i.d. which I gave to him. A police car pulled up and the second cop (also on a bike) walked over to it.
They ran my driver's license number. Cop on a Bike #1 asked me how
much I'd had to drink. I almost started laughing. "I haven't even been
inside yet. I'm waiting for someone," I repeated.
He shined his light in the back seat of my car, illuminating my pile of notebooks and a Whole Foods bag.
I yawned twice which I guess wasn't the thing to do. Not because I had been drinking but because I had been awake since five a.m.. (For the fourth day in a row.)
He
asked me again how much alcohol I had consumed. "None," I reiterated. I
thought they were going to make me get out of the car and walk a
straight line.
Cop on a Bike #2 brought my license back. "She's all clear."
#1 said, "Are you aware it is against the law to sleep in your car in Sebastopol?"
Actually I was not aware of that. But please - it wasn't as if I had passed out in the back seat, nor was it four in the morning. It was 9:45 in the evening! I tried to muster my polite voice and said I wasn't aware of that particular city ordinance but now I knew.
The squad car pulled away and the two cops got back on their bikes. Evidently this had been a three man deal.
I picked up my cell phone and texted my sister: You know how we joke that Sebastopol police don't have much to do?
Favorite sighting of the week:
I pulled up behind a Honda Pilot. Above the "4 WD" was another plaque that said "Namaste." (Just to be clear - not a bumper sticker, a silver plaque.)
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