Mike Humfreville - 7-28-2005 at 04:34 PM
Bad Habits, Part 6
He found the police station on one of the main streets, well away from the tourist area, parked a distance away to avoid license plate ID in the event
of unforeseen circumstances. Before he left the car he took another hit or two, just for fortification, he told himself. The walk to the station
took him a few minutes along a secondary street in the center of the town. The curbs served only to separate the street grime from the empty lot
grime. Everywhere was filth. The world is filth he thought. A truck had emptied a load of trash in the lot adjacent to the street. Two children
were sitting, picking through the rubbish for anything remotely edible. One found a discarded ice cream wrapper, who knows how old, and began licking
the sweet, sticky goo.
He approached the police station, entered and found a person behind a counter that was otherwise unoccupied in helping others. He told her we wanted
to file a report. She directed him to the Sergeant in charge. The Sergeant offered him a chair beside his desk, pulled out a pencil and a blank
report form. ?Tell me what happened,? he said.
?I was doing the speed limit south of Ensenada and was pulled over. The officer asked me to pay him a bribe. I refused and he hit me and took all
the money in my wallet. Then I came here.?
?Do you have a ticket?? The officer asked. He did not.
?Do you understand that I have no way to trace this problem?? The officer said. ?Do you have a badge or license plate identification?? He did not.
?You are welcome to file a report sir, but without any further information there is little that can be done.?
He left the police station disgusted, returned down the disgusting streets toward his disgusting car. It was noon of a disgusting day. He drove back
to his caf? and ordered a double, sat drinking and watching the gawking tourists. ?Good thing I keep little cash in my wallet,? he thought,
?Otherwise that cop?d have it all.? He ordered another drink, sat lazily gazing down Lopez Mateos.
?Check this guy out honey,? one of the Hawaiian-shirted tourists said to his wife, nodding toward the drunk seated in the caf?. ?How could you spend
your life like that?? he asked her. ?He probably asks that same question about us,? she thought but kept to herself. ?We?re no winners either.?
During the afternoon he polished off several more doubles. With a languid sun dropping into the faded western harbor behind grey military and tourist
ships he struggled to his feet and wandered back to the hotel. He turned on the television, found the English channels and tried to focus on an
uninteresting non-descript movie. He found himself irritated as he was focusing more on the Spanish subtitles than he was on the movie itself.
?I?m going back to the bay tomorrow,? he thought. ?At least I don?t have to get up early.?
There was no reason to worry. He was asleep on the couch before nine, spent the night there.
bajaruby - 7-29-2005 at 09:07 AM
Oh, man, that's not enough....MORE MORE MORE.......please?
Thanks
Mike
Baja Bernie - 7-29-2005 at 04:32 PM
Really hope you get around to ending this story on a happier note.
None of us needs to see a fellow gringo drowning like this guy.
Mike Humfreville - 7-29-2005 at 05:03 PM
Thanks Rubi.
Bernie, I don't have a clue how it will end, but how could all the bad stuff that's happening everywhere in this story result in good? Hope you
figured out by now that the cop wasn't the crook in the earlier post. Our "hero" was trying to avoid arrest. But, regardless, there are always good
and bad on both sides.
Keep reading...
Mike