Mom Was A Bit Of A Police Stalker
My mother was raised in a house of firefighters and had the world been a different place when she was deciding her path, she would have been a fire woman and I'll be the first to say a great one. The world wasn't ready for female firefighters so she held the position of spectator and member of the ladies artillery, I mean auxiliary.
I remember countless dinners that were interrupted by the squeal of the scanner, "Station 51, attention station 51...." and then Mom would shreak, "HARK!!!" I remember hearing Hark The Herald Angels Sing and I got ready to get into the car looking for a house fire. We'd listen to the dispatcher describe the ongoing horror and then if it was a possibility Mom would yell, "Let's go!!!" Even on hot dogs and beans night, we'd roll. Many a night we chased smoke - any idea how tiresome and fruitless that is? It's exhausting, "It jumped Rte 31." I don't think so Mom, but whatever, it beats moving the pile of rocks Dad has delivered to the house every other day. Sidebar; while Mobil was doing renovations and excavations down the road, Dad told them to dump truckloads of shale at our house so he could line the creek - I would get off the bus, gander towards the backyard and slump my shoulders if a new shipment of shale was waiting. We moved more rock than a chain gang. (I can't make this up)
One fine day Mom and I were leaving the PQM (Pennington Quality Market) when she proclaimed, "Look at this idiot!" Some sort of Nova or, no I'm pretty sure it was a Nova, went flying by, followed by a cruiser. Mom announced, "That's Frank! Hold on." (Frank being the police officer) I believe I was 14 or 15 a the time, my thought was, "Oh F$@*!" I would never say that in Mom's presence, she would have kicked my f*&#ing ass. We chased the cruiser, chasing the Nova, we were going fast, really really fast. I think I had a seat belt on but it was around that time when we were adapting to seat belts, if I didn't have it on, I was damn sure rooting furiously for it in between the seats.
"He's blown a tire!!" Now Mom was not only piloting her own version of Cops, she was doing color play by play as well. I just held on, surely my own mother wouldn't kill me in a chase. Mom?!
"His hood is up now! His hood is up and he's still driving!!" Oh dear god, we are going to die - Dad will never get my room cleaned out, it's a friggin' mess.
"He's crashed!" The Nova had crashed into someones front yard, I know who's, Sean McAuliffe's yard. I remember wondering if Sean aka Paco was home and if so was he watching this train wreck.
Now here's the best part, the driver of the Nova gets out and runs into the woods, Frank, pardon me, Officer Frank follows suit, my MOTHER gets out of the car and says, I shit you not, "I'm going in after Frank, there are flares in the trunk, light them!" I wish I could explain the blank expression on my face. I had nothing. You're doing what? And you want me to do what with what??? Off they went. I sat there for a moment and then popped the trunk. I got out and removed the flares and began reading the instructions. I was standing at the back of the car when another vehicle approached and asked if I needed help. I said, "My mother chased a cop and a bad guy into the woods, I'm lighting flares, but thank you!"
I managed to light the flares, neat concept really, about the time the three amigos emerged from the woods. Frank, sorry, Officer Frank, had the bad guy in handcuffs and Mom was strutting, John Wayne like, behind them. She yelled, "Chele! C'mere!! They're going to open the trunk!!" So what? I walked across the road and Mom whispered, "There may be a body in the trunk!" Why oh why would a 15 year old girl want to see a body???... why would the mother of a 15 year old girl want her to see a body?? .... these are questions I can't answer. They popped the trunk and there was a spare tire looking up quite pitifully. Mom was clearly disappointed. She made sure everything was set before we left the scene. Her final words? "I'm going to need more flares." *sigh*
Miss you Mom,
Love chele
I remember countless dinners that were interrupted by the squeal of the scanner, "Station 51, attention station 51...." and then Mom would shreak, "HARK!!!" I remember hearing Hark The Herald Angels Sing and I got ready to get into the car looking for a house fire. We'd listen to the dispatcher describe the ongoing horror and then if it was a possibility Mom would yell, "Let's go!!!" Even on hot dogs and beans night, we'd roll. Many a night we chased smoke - any idea how tiresome and fruitless that is? It's exhausting, "It jumped Rte 31." I don't think so Mom, but whatever, it beats moving the pile of rocks Dad has delivered to the house every other day. Sidebar; while Mobil was doing renovations and excavations down the road, Dad told them to dump truckloads of shale at our house so he could line the creek - I would get off the bus, gander towards the backyard and slump my shoulders if a new shipment of shale was waiting. We moved more rock than a chain gang. (I can't make this up)
One fine day Mom and I were leaving the PQM (Pennington Quality Market) when she proclaimed, "Look at this idiot!" Some sort of Nova or, no I'm pretty sure it was a Nova, went flying by, followed by a cruiser. Mom announced, "That's Frank! Hold on." (Frank being the police officer) I believe I was 14 or 15 a the time, my thought was, "Oh F$@*!" I would never say that in Mom's presence, she would have kicked my f*&#ing ass. We chased the cruiser, chasing the Nova, we were going fast, really really fast. I think I had a seat belt on but it was around that time when we were adapting to seat belts, if I didn't have it on, I was damn sure rooting furiously for it in between the seats.
"He's blown a tire!!" Now Mom was not only piloting her own version of Cops, she was doing color play by play as well. I just held on, surely my own mother wouldn't kill me in a chase. Mom?!
"His hood is up now! His hood is up and he's still driving!!" Oh dear god, we are going to die - Dad will never get my room cleaned out, it's a friggin' mess.
"He's crashed!" The Nova had crashed into someones front yard, I know who's, Sean McAuliffe's yard. I remember wondering if Sean aka Paco was home and if so was he watching this train wreck.
Now here's the best part, the driver of the Nova gets out and runs into the woods, Frank, pardon me, Officer Frank follows suit, my MOTHER gets out of the car and says, I shit you not, "I'm going in after Frank, there are flares in the trunk, light them!" I wish I could explain the blank expression on my face. I had nothing. You're doing what? And you want me to do what with what??? Off they went. I sat there for a moment and then popped the trunk. I got out and removed the flares and began reading the instructions. I was standing at the back of the car when another vehicle approached and asked if I needed help. I said, "My mother chased a cop and a bad guy into the woods, I'm lighting flares, but thank you!"
I managed to light the flares, neat concept really, about the time the three amigos emerged from the woods. Frank, sorry, Officer Frank, had the bad guy in handcuffs and Mom was strutting, John Wayne like, behind them. She yelled, "Chele! C'mere!! They're going to open the trunk!!" So what? I walked across the road and Mom whispered, "There may be a body in the trunk!" Why oh why would a 15 year old girl want to see a body???... why would the mother of a 15 year old girl want her to see a body?? .... these are questions I can't answer. They popped the trunk and there was a spare tire looking up quite pitifully. Mom was clearly disappointed. She made sure everything was set before we left the scene. Her final words? "I'm going to need more flares." *sigh*
Miss you Mom,
Love chele
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