A Matter of Perception

We’re back from a long weekend of visiting family and attending a fun and scrumptious barbecue reception for one of our youngest son’s classmates. Another purpose of the trip was to tackle the “stuff” in the basement of my mother-in-law’s farm home. She recently moved to be near her daughter, and several lifetimes of things were left behind. To keep us company, Max went into town to get our grandsons. He took them to breakfast at McDonald’s before heading out.

Here is what happened. There is a stretch of a couple of miles in the small farm town where the speed limit is 55 before increasing to 65. Max was chatting with the boys and kicked up his speed a half mile or so before it was “legal” and you guessed it. He got caught. The officer did a license check, chatted with Max, and told him to watch his speed. No warning. No ticket.

Here is what our five year old grandson told his parents that evening: “Papa Max got stopped for going 60 in a 40. The cops chased us all the way out of town from McDonald’s and wrote him a ticket!”

He made it sound like a high speed chase and that bringing out the guns might have been next. Papa Max has been practically elevated to outlaw status in the eyes of a certain five year old. The moral of this is you never know who’s watching what you do and how it might be construed. Hmmm.

As a writer, I like to “make up” my own scenarios when I see unusual events. I’m thinking this five year old might make a great writer. All I really know is that being with the grandsons made my weekend worth the trip, and traveling the road with an outlaw was pretty fun, too.