Dream or Nightmare

Chapter III

Andover, New Jersey

On the Side of the Road

Chapter III

            There was a knock on my window. The sound vibrated throughout the car, but I was deaf to it, my ears only listening to the music of that girl’s laughter, my eyes only seeing visions of her, my sense of smell only inhaling the fragrance of her.

            Another knock on the window pulled me out of my trance. I looked to my left and saw a police officer.

            “License and registration, please,” the officer said, looking very dead and sleepy in his uniform. I handed over the necessary items and he went to his car. When he came back, which was thirty, stinkin’, minutes later, he looked at me oddly.

            “So, your eighteen? Young to be your own legal guardian,” he said suspiciously as he looked over the door dividing us.

            “Yes, I’m eighteen, sir,” Auntie Jenny always taught me to use my manners to get out of a ticket.

            He raised an eyebrow, “Well, can you get out of the car, I need you to take a DUI test.”

            I stared at him shocked, did he just say what I though he said? I have never had a sip of alcohol in my whole life. Why would this crazy old man think I was drunk right after school ended?

            “If, I may ask, why do you think I’m drunk?” I asked, trying to keep the confusion out of my voice.

            All he said was, “You were staring out of the window, looking at nothing, even after I knocked on your window –which was 5 times. And you just pulled over to the corner out of no where, even though it was a green light.” Damn it, I’m wasting my time here, taking a stupid DUI test, when I could be at home: watching TV, reading, anything, but getting my ass in jail.

            I followed him to NewtonHigh School’s parking lot with my car; I got outside and awaited my next instructions in vivid anger.

            “Ok, can you lift up on leg and count to ten, like so, ‘One one-thousand, Two one-thousand, Three one-thousand, etc… Got it?” the policeman said in a bored tone, he was a slim guy, lean and tall. He looked me over in an uninterested manner.

I swear my eye twitched at him. I looked at the scenery near me: the trees that cast shadows across the grass, the sky with fluffy, white, puffs of clouds that looked like pillows, and the black pavement that stretched everywhere. I felt a lot calmer, but still plenty irritated at the officer.

            “Yes. I. Can. Do. That.” I said trying very hard to keep my tone civil.

            “Good. Well, chop, chop.” He said while smirking. I imagined a pair of devil horns sprouting out of his head.

            I lifted my left leg up and started counting, “One one-thousand…” and out of the corner of my eye I saw that damn girl again. She was wearing the same outfit earlier –ripped skinny jeans, T-Shirt, and a pair of gray converse sneakers. She sat on the hood of my car, clearly in the policeman’s line of vision. Why isn’t the cop screaming at that girl? Don’t tell me he’s blind, too… And to my horror she creeped up behind the cop, and pushed him to the pavement. Oh Shit, I’m dead now!

            “You! What did you do!” The officer yelled, frustrated. His cheeks turned red from anger and embarrassment.

            “I didn’t do anything!” I retorted lifting both of my hands up: the universal symbol of surrender.