speeding

i'm not telling you where this happened, just that it did.

i was driving along thinking to myself that i might get a sandwich or something and i realized that i had somehow left my wallet at home.

and then about a half hour later i was coming into a town and i saw the speed limit 30 sign but i was turning left ad it surprised me a little to have that police car alla sudden pull out behind me.

so NOW i was thinking i had apparently missed a previous speed zone sign and that my wallet being at home in the front hall was suddenly going to be a liability, and not the kind of liability where you can't get a sandwich if you want one.

"good morning officer" i say, keeping my hands where she can see them.

she is young, like this might be her first job right out of college. she is teeny, maybe five feet tall. and there is not a speck of lint on her, not a hair out of place. she looks very businesslike, and yet kind.

she asks me if i am lost and at this point since i'm driving on google navigation i wonder if maybe she knows more about this road than i do and maybe i AM lost, so i say "i don't THINK i'm lost..." but clearly some doubt crosses my face.

she says "well, you slowed down and then sped up and then slowed down so i thought maybe you were lost. anyway, you were doing 40 in a 30."

and i said "really? i thought i hadn't got to the sign yet?" and she told me that i had missed a sign a little ways back and i'm like "oh, sorry"

and then she asks for my license and registration and i have to tell her that i had only a little while ago come to realize that i had left it in the pocket of my other coat at home.

and she said "well, this is awkward."

so she asked my full name and birthdate and stuff and she ran that with my plates and everything matched up with what information she had i guess and apparently she couldn't ticket me for speeding without also ticketing me for driving without my license and it was probably more of a headache than it was worth but also i got a sense that she felt the consequences for me were kind of disproportionate to 40 in a 30 so she let me go.