You Have to Wait

It was second nature to hurriedly remove  my foot from the accelerator when blue  lights flashed in my rear-view mirror. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as  I looked at my speedometer to see that my speed was good. Having a heavy foot was always a problem for me. But I wondered, " If I'm not speeding, why am I being stopped? 

When the officer reached my window my drivers license and insurance card were in my hand. I knew the drill, or at least I thought I did, until he said, "Step out of the vehicle and put your hands above your head." Now I'm a little bewildered. 

As I stepped outside and put my hands on the top of the car the officer told me I was being arrested for driving on a suspended license. (Too many speeding tickets that were not paid) After trying, to no avail, to convince him otherwise he handcuffed me. 

As the police officer started to put me in his car he pointed to Phil and said, "He can drive your car and follow us to the station." I said, "He can't drive. He's blind." So then he pointed toward Rachel and said, "Then she can." And I informed him that she was only fourteen. So the three of us rode to the Sheriffs Department in the back seat of the patrol car and my car was impounded. 

After arriving at the Benton County Sheriffs Office Phil and Rachel were instructed to sit in the front reception area while  I was locked in the holding cell. They allowed me to call a bail bondsman who informed me that he would be there in a few hours. 

After sitting for a while in unbelief at my dilemma  I told an officer that I needed to go to the restroom. She said , "You will have to wait."  So I waited... After an hour or so I again asked to go to the restroom and was told, "You will have to wait." So I waited.... Several times throughout the night in reply to my request to use the restroom I was told, "You will have to wait."  So I waited.... When the bail bondsman arrived I was about to burst because "I had waited".... 

 It was around 4 or 5 AM when the bondsman arrived and made my bail. Breathing a sigh of relief I walked to the reception area where Phil and Rachel were sitting. You can imagine my distress when asking,  "Where's the restroom? I'm about to burst!" to hear,  "You will have to wait. It's locked."

My bladder was about to reach it's limits after sitting in the cell and "waiting" all night. So when hearing "You will have to wait" again,  I resolutely walked to the reception desk and told the lady, "I need the key to the restroom." She said, "You will have to wait. We don't have the key."

My bladder wasn't the only thing about to reach it's limit. My frustration was quickly following suit. It would be foolhardy to  go outside. They might arrest me. So I started opening doors. Things were getting desperate. To my relief, behind "door three" was the answer to my dilemma, a mop bucket. 

It did my heart good to leave that Sheriffs office that morning for three reasons. Number one is simply that I prefer the right side of the law. Number two is that a jail cell is not that comfortable, especially when they make you "wait".   And number three, my favorite,  is that a janitor would be mopping their floors in a few hours using the mop bucket that I had contributed to.