Rumspringa

Chapter 14: Questioning

Emily, Eli and I all piled into Eli's truck and headed out towards our future home. This was the first time that Emily or I had been to the lot since they had began work on it. He's told me a little bit about it, but I wasn't sure what to expect. All of my adult life, I have lived in apartments. Never did I think I'd ever live in an actual house, let alone actually own one.

   We pulled up onto the lot and parked. I looked up with huge eyes. I was absolutely amazed at the work they had done. A three story, two bedroom bath house was in the works. The foundation was up and most of the siding done. There was still a lot of work to go, but it had come a long way. I knew this had to cost more than we had, but I didn't care. It was amazing.

   "Wow. You guys really have gotten a lot done." Emily ventured off to look around more. I just stood there in amazement.

   "So, what do you think?" Eli stood and put his arm around me as we looked at our future home. I was speechless.

   "Wow." I finally worked up the courage to get those words out at the very least. "I love it." I was able to say after a brief pause.

   "Let me show you around." We walked up toward the house. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the woodworking was near perfect. We spent a few more minutes looking around before we decided to head back.

   Halfway back, we seen blue lights in the rear view mirror. Not a good sign. We pull over and shit the car off.

   "Good afternoon" the officer walked up to the window.

   "Howdy sir." As far as I am aware, this is the first time that Eli has ever been pulled over.

   "Do you know why I pulled you over?" This was a typical question for a traffic stop, I've been stopped a few times myself.

   "No I don't." Eli was vey calm, unlike me. Anytime I get pulled over, I get half scared to death.

   "You have a taillight out. May I see your license, registration and proof of insurance?" The officer looked through the window at the two of us. He smiled as he waited for the paperwork. It didn't occur to me until just now that I never showed him how to properly register a car. I don't even know if he did it or not. Shockingly enough, Eli handed over all of the paperwork. "I'll be right back sir." He took the paperwork and returned to his car.

   "You did get this thing registered, right?" I wanted to double check to make sure.

   "Of course. My old neighbor, Jeff showed me how. He made sure I did it right." I was hoping everything came back properly. After what seemed like forever, the officer finally returned.

   "Eli Lehman?" The officer asked as he handed the papers back to us.

   "Yes sir. Is there a problem?" He got a weird look on his face at this point. This wasn't looking good.

   "Well," he paused for a second as he was thinking. When an officer has to think, that usually means that something is wrong. "When we ran your name, you have a warrant for your arrest?" We all stared at the cop.

   "May I ask what for?" A confusing look came across Eli as he just sat there, motionless. They had to have made a mistake.

   "Identity theft." The cop looked at him with a weird looking face. Even the officer didn't believe it. He looked as surprised as we were.

   "I think you made a mistake. See I got everything verified from the government office place about a year ago, when I first came to the modern world. They told me I was ready to go." Even when he pleaded his case, he didn't as much as raise his voice. I was convinced that he mastered emotional control of his body.