Un-Inspected
Posted on August 9, 2004 at 9:19 am | No Comments
Coming down from a somehow relaxing yet simultaneously productive weekend… feel like I’m finally back to ‘normal’, whatever the hell that is. My to-do list is seriously shorter, the figurative weight on my brain a bit lighter, feel like I can slow down and damn well deserve it.
In this mindframe I drove to work this morning, sunny skies over Boston, low humidity, a fresh start to a short work week (Vermont vacation imminent!). I hop on the Mass Pike for the one-exit trip to the Back Bay, join the processional through the EZ-Pass lane, where I notice a lone standing policeman staring at each car as it passes by. Guessing he’s watching for too-fast fast-laners, I figure I’m in the clear…
… until I hear him yell “Pull over!” as he points right at me. My heart crashes into my adam’s apple. Aw crap!
I ease over to the side of the pike entrance, turn down WEEI, mind racing as the approaching cop gets larger in my rearview. Why do I get so damn nervous even when I know I’ve done nothing wrong? ‘Cuz maybe I have?
“License and registration please.” Aw jeez… do I have my license? Whew, it’s here in my pocket. Registration? Uh oh. The one in the glove box is expired. Wait, I had a new one, didn’t I? Oh, I put it in my backpack to remember to put it in the glovebox. Grab my bag out of the backseat, and as I do, I accidentally bump on the windshield wipers and turn on my brights. What a freak. I empty my backpack into the passenger seat and find the registration.
“So, do you know why I stopped you?”
“No, I don’t…”
“Your car inspection is expired.”
I look to the sticker on my windshield and it’s got a big “7” on it. July. What month is it again? Oh, right…
… and it’s deja-vu all over again. One year ago I got pulled over not a half mile from this tollbooth for a late inspection, thankfully given a warning, just as I was this morning. And I was as clueless then as I was today. You’d think I’d learn a lesson. Maybe next year?
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