Court Date

Story Sent in by Eileen:

The way my date had been planned with Roland, we were supposed to go to a local petting zoo (that I hadn't visited since I was a little kid) and then do dinner.

Roland had other plans, though. While we met at the petting zoo and had a pretty good time there, when we were about ready to go to dinner, he said, "Could we make a pit stop before we eat?"

"Sure. Where?"

"Just follow me. I promise it won't take long."

I followed him to a police station. He parked his car, got out, and lit up a cigarette.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him.

He said, "I have some way overdue speeding tickets. They're probably going to arrest me. I guess I wanted you here for moral support."

I had no idea what to say other than, "Good luck."

He offered me a cigarette and I declined. He straightened out his clothes and strode into the station. I was back in my car and about to pull away when he ran out of the station waving his arms in my direction. He ran up to my car and said, "Good news! They're just fining me. Let me take care of this and then we can go to dinner."

Twenty minutes later, he emerged from the station and made for his car without even looking at me. Assuming we were still going to dinner, I followed him to a fast food place. I was expecting somewhere nicer for our date, but he cleared things up once we were out of our cars: "The fines were so high that this is all I can afford. Sorry."

I don't like fast food, but to humor him I went in and ordered a salad. In his defense, I guess, he paid for it. Still, he was in a pretty foul mood the whole time. I saw to it that it was our only date.