Monday Drama

Aside from the loss of Sam's hamster Sunny, and welcoming his new guinea pig Shadow, there was other drama today.

Yes, I know. More drama.

Ian and I were in the midst of working on the house when the school called. Honestly, I feel as though I get a call from the school at least once a week. Julie forgot her lunch, Julie has a headache, Sam fell in the mud and needs new pants, etc. Today's call was that Julie was feeling sick and coughing and complaining of a sore throat, would I pick her up?

Sure. Off I went.

According to my friend Jen it was 5,623,109 degrees today, so I figured that rather than going out in the heat to pick up Sam an hour later, I brought him home at the same time. I thought that it would be fun to stop for ice cream on the way home. (Because I'm cool like that... I let my children ditch school for ice cream)

So there we were, the children eating their ice cream while I had a chicken sandwich for my lunch and then we saw him.

Drunk and/or High Guy.

He was dressed in grey sweat pants and a long sleeved black shirt, carrying a spring jacket. In 5,623,109 degree weather that's pretty unusual. But that wasn't what made our mouths drop open.

He began to wave his arms and gesticulate wildly at the cars driving past. Then he stepped onto the road causing cars to swerve to avoid hitting him or slam on their brakes to stop. He started walking down the lane waving for cars to go around him and as they did - slowly - he would pound on their windows and yell at them. I guess he got bored with that because he then started jumping into the other lane. Again with the swerving and screeching of brakes. A girl appeared who seemed to be with him and she tried to pull him off the road unsuccessfully. After shouting at each other for about 10 seconds she went stomping off, leaving him behind.

What to do, what to do. I figured I should probably call the police. I've only called them once before in my life and even though at one point I had the number memorized, I couldn't recall it just then. I was going to have to call 911. I once called 911 by accident and the scolding I got from the operator when she called back was enough to scar me for life.

"911... do you require Police, Fire or Ambulance?" the dispatcher asked.

"Ohh this is definitely going to be a police issue..." I replied. I told her that I was sitting at McDonald's and saw this guy walking into traffic and jumping in front of cars and I'm sorry that it wasn't an emergency NOW, however give it a few minutes and it could be.

I felt like I was in an episode of COPS. She had me describe him and drive through the parking lot to see what he was doing next. I told her that I would try to see, but I had children in the car with me and I didn't want him banging on my windows or worse, for them to see him get struck by a car. She said that they were then getting several calls from other people who had seen him.

Just as an aside, I have always been facinated with the response time for emergency vehicles. Sometimes in my dreams I will have to call 911 and they either put me on hold or the line is busy or tell me my emergency isn't an emergency. So in real life, whenever someone tells me about an accident or a situation, while my first thought should be is the person ok, my real thought is "I wonder how long it took for the police to arrive??" In this instance, they arrived in under three minutes. I found that to be most acceptable.

At one point I told the operator that sadly this was the most excitement I've had in awhile and that I felt like I was on COPS. She laughed and asked me to remain on the line to keep her informed as to what was happening next. (The operators in my dreams are very mean)

We saw a group of cyclists coming and I told her that it should be interesting what Buddy does with them, then I realized they were Bicycle Police. Yes... we have police that patrol on bikes... I always laughed and wondered what they could possibly do. Now I know... they arrest Drunk and/or High Guys.

Once I confirmed with the operator that they were OPP she thanked me for my assistance and I hung up. The children and I watched the remaining drama from the grocery store parking lot right across the street. In addition to the four bike police, three cruisers arrived. One officer patted him down and then cuffed him. The children's mouths were hanging open, ice cream forgotten. Suddenly, the girlfriend showed up! She was very dramatic, waving her arms and gesturing towards Drunk and/or High Guy. The officer was holding his jacket and the girl started tugging on it but he wouldn't let it go. More drama as Buddy called something to her and she called back, looking heartbroken... it was like a lame romance movie. Buddy got put in the back of the cruiser and we headed home.

The children felt so good having done something for society and possibly saved this guy from being run over. We had a great conversation about why people drink and get high.

All this and it's only Monday.