Circus

The circus was in town.

I get a call. A man has a civil question.

Fired from the circus. He is drunk and his teeth are green and rotting where they touch.

"I want my stuff and they owe me money"
-i'll see what they have to say. stay here

Drive to the circus walk through the families and talk to the manager
"He is drunk. I got kids and tigers and a circus to run. I gave him 45 minutes to grab his crap."
He hands me a garbage bag of stuff

I go to were the guy was supposed to be, he is gone. I ask nearby person.
"I saw him walk towards the liquor store"
great, now I got a bag of crap.
Three hours later the drunk carnie calls back.
"i'll be at 1st and A St."

He ain't there, but there are 5 empty airplane vodka bottles.

He calls again. He is a block away.

I meet him there. He thinks only 5 minutes have gone by since he first talked to me, even though the sun has gone down. He smells more like alcohol.

-here is your stuff and I have a place for you to sleep

"I ain't going to lie I am drunk"
Now I have a drunk carnie story.

Geography and code runs

Another difference between city agencies and county is the size.
Take a look at a map if you know what county i am in, 4th bigiest in the state.
So when you get he call at the tip of the north edge, prepare for the hour code run.
Nothing better than 80 mph up a straight road in the night.
Nothing to see

And so far all of the calls have been, kind of a joke anyway.

-I am here (an hour later) what happened.

Incident #1 "my son was drunk. as soon as i called the police he left (1 hour ago), so I don't need anything, sorry you came.

Incident #2 "well he didn't point a gun at anyone, we didn't see a gun. we just heard a gun shot".
in the county? really?

Meanwhile the other person has gone to bed and can't be woken up, beside there was no crime.

Then there is the close to two hours drive back, because you have to do the speed limit.

You can't respond to calls. You don't get a good radio station and you have to gas before you do anything.

Honesty

it is 9:35.
my shift ends early for my 3 days weekend.
i pull behind a car.
it screams pull me over.
it tries to get out of my way.
i stop it.
-license, registration and insurance
"i just got the car from my uncle, I haven't switched the registration, but i have the title."

pause, hands me all the paperwork

"i'll be honest i haven't paid my insurance, so i don't think i have insurance"
-you know what happens when you don't have insurance?
"yes, i Have had it happen before. i just got paid" envelope of money sitting on dash

the insurance paperwork he handed me is good for another three months. the dmv records show the card insured. he doesn't have priors (as an adult)

-well with exception of you being honest with me i wouldn't have known you don't have insurance.
i can't contact the insurance company and the dmv records show you are insured. so

"on man I had to be honest."

-yup, but I can't punish honesty, so i'll follow you the 100 feet to your home, ok?

"thanks, i'll check tomorrow"
-i believe you, because someone else might pull you over tomorrow. HINT HINT