The Older Man

I worked the on-call shift for hospice, which was 5 pm till 8 am. The majority of the calls were to attend patient’s deaths, which consisted of – pronouncing the patient, supporting the family members, contacting the funeral home, and remaining with the family till the body snatchers arrive.

After attending a death one hundred fifty miles away at 11 pm, the nursing supervisor called and told me there was another death two hundred miles away I had to attend. I hopped back into my new Toyota and off I went.

The speed limit was 70 most of the way, but half way to my destination was a small town where the speed limit dropped to 45. It was after midnight as I cruised along at 80, listening to my music, daydreaming, and wondering when I would get home. The one lane road turned to two, sitting in the median was a state trooper, and I passed him going 80 in a 45 mile per hour zone.

Looking in the rearview mirror, I saw his lights go on, and head in my direction. Coming to a light, I applied the brakes, stopped, and looked at the road sign, which proclaimed Cowboy Way. Yippee ki yay, I was a cowboy who was about to go to the poky.

I turned right, pulled to the side of the road, and the cruiser followed. He turned on the spotlight, sized up the situation, got out of the car, put on his smoky hat, walked slowly to my door, and when he arrived asked how fast was I going. I told him around sixty and smiling he said more like 80. He asked where I was going as I handed him my license and registration.

Looking up, I replied to attend a death. Confusion spread over his face as the excuse ball could not find a slot to drop in. He asked me to repeat my answer, but this did not help the excuse ball, which kept spinning. I replied; I work for hospice, and gave him the number of the nursing supervisor who could verify my story.

He returned to his car, checked the license and registration, and then made a call. Returning to my car, he handed back the license and registration, a hand written warning and said slow down the dead person is not going anywhere.

I would love to hear about your speeding ticket experiences. Share one with me.