Good Grief

Monday night, I was sound asleep enjoying some much needed rest after dealing with a migraine for two days. Anthony had left on Sunday and I was simply drained; I couldn't even function enough to go to work on Monday.

So, anyway, the phone rings about 11:00. I hear this deep voice say something about, "This is Officer Soandso with the Shelby Police Department."

I was instantly wide awake.

It seems that my knuckle-headed son Lucas decided to go drag racing on one of the main streets in town. He was busted doing 85 in a 40. He got a ticket for Speeding and one for Reckless Driving. He is damn lucky they didn't throw him in jail. I think the only reason they didn't is because he is leaving for boot camp on Monday.

So he has a mandatory court date for Feb. 8. (He's leaving Monday, remember?) So on Tuesday, we call the recruiter and he suggests we go see the District Attorney because Lucas cannot go to boot with any pending charges or fines. If he had been arrested, he would have not been able to go at all. (Thank God for small favors!)

We rushed over to the DA's office and they contacted the Court Clerk who told us they couldn't change the date of the appearance because they didn't have the report from the officer yet. We immediately went to the Sheriff's office who contacted the officer in question. He advised he would have the report there by end of business on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Lucas called the Court Clerk who said he was to appear Thursday morning in court.

On Thursday morning, we arrived early and watched as several people were talked to and punished by the judge. I was very impressed. He was fair and efficient. He was getting the cases in and out of there extremely fast.

Most of the cases were driving under revocation. What the hell? Why don't people in Wisconsin feel they don't need a valid license to drive? Then a guy gets up there and he had a DUI (OWI, whatever). He had a BAC of .16. Yikes! First strike, he got time served and a hefty fine.

Then they called Lucas.

He went up and the judge asked how he was pleading. He plead guilty. The judge then asked the DA if they could "cut Lucas some slack." The DA agreed to drop the reckless charge. So all he had was the speeding ticket. This was wonderful news! If both tickets had stuck, Luke would have lost his drivers license and thus lost his job in the Marines. He would have had to choose a different profession.

So now, we just had to pay a fine. How much, you ask? $501.

Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am a poor college student working part time for $8 an hour. I don't have $501 just laying around. And this fine has to be paid before he can leave on Monday.

So I did what any good Mommy would do. I called my rich sister. And she paid the fine with one of her many credit cards.

As of right now, Luke is still leaving on Monday at 12:30pm. Let's all pray it actually happens.