a neighbour of ours went and bought $100 of fireworks and called us saturday night for a little preview. 6 of us made our way to a park a little down the main street from our houses. we set off 6 fireworks. just a teaser.
as we were walking to the park, i was feeling like we were teenagers. before we could drink and go to bars we used to walk around the neighbourhood lots. drunk, but that's not the point.
they were planning on setting off the rest of the fireworks sunday night after getting back from downtown. we didn't go out with them and were surprised when, last night, we got a call asking us to come to the park again. they hadn't set them off sunday. we were in luck.
so off we went, like teenagers again, joking at our rebelliousness (i'm making up words). this time, there were more people and we had over 20 fireworks to set off.
and then the cops showed up.
a cop car flew down the main road with its spotlight aimed at us, screeched to a stop at the park and the cop ran over. i couldn't believe it. he asked us all for id and got nervous about my hands being in my pockets. because i had a gun. obviously. at least that's what a concerned citizen called the cops about - the loud gunshots coming from the park. the day after canada day. with strange bright lights in the sky immediately following the bangs.
"hands out of your pockets!"
"show me some ID!!"
way to be contradictory. of course i didn't have id on me. we walked to the park. so he took my name and date of birth and everyone's names and ids and went and sat in his car for a while, no doubt checking us out. he finally came back out, gave our ids back and told us that it was a $400 fine for setting off fireworks in the city. of course we denied having set off anything other than sparklers, but the call about the gunshots and the garbage can full of exploded fireworks was working against us. but then he told us to be on our way. we took our time leaving.
and that is how to feel young again. walk to a nearby park. do something borderline illegal. get the cops called on you. give cops attitude. laugh about it the whole way home.
i hope your canada day had more fireworks and less cranky police officers.
1 comment:
stories like this really leave me feeling divided.
On the one hand, the cops should have very definitely done exactly what they did: respond quickly under the assumption that there was a gunfight going down in the park. That was their only information, after all.
On the other hand, what are the chances that, given a group of average young adults on a holiday weekend, a garbage can full of fireworks packaging and reports of "loud gunshots", you have found anything other than people having fun? There should be no need to take everyone's names and run them through the computer. Just give them a warning and be on your way. This name-taking business is just one of the steps on the way to more feel-good security measures like no-fly lists.
And as for the person that reported the 'loud gunshots'... will they ever know what actually happened?
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