This is just stupid luck. I was driving to Andrea's house to pick up the video camera from her Dad. So, I hop in the car and go. At the curve that takes you around the park, I see a police car parked with two policemen outside. They stop me and say that they're doing a "seatbelt check and a driver's license check". It's obvious to see that I'm wearing my seat belt, but when they ask for my license, I reply that I don't have it. I tell them that I'm literally one minute from home, and I can go back and get it. He doesn't want that. He asks if I have any ID on me. I have nothing. Okay. So he goes back to his police car for a few minutes. I'm just sitting on the side of the road wondering what the heck is going to happen. He comes back and says that he's checked my name on the computer, and I indeed do have a valid license. Okay. He then asks me for my insurance.
"Um, just a minute", I say, as I root around in the glove compartment. Truth be told, I have no idea what car insurance looks like, as I have never seen it before. I root around furiously, looking at every piece of paper to see if it says "insurance". There are so many papers in there and I don't really know what I'm looking for. This is when I start to panic a little. I felt invincible before; there is no way that a policeman would ticket a cute, innocent girl sporting braids and wearing a flowery dress.
"I'm sure the insurance is here, but I don't really know what I'm looking for. I don't know how it looks," I say pathetically, hinting for him to help me look for it.
Stubbornly, he replies: "It's your responsibility as a driver to know what the car insurance looks like."
I feel so helpless and stupid. I repeat myself, "But I'm sure it's here..."
He booms in with, "Do you know that I could charge you over 300 dollars for not having your license or insurance on you (as far as you know)?"
"Oh" is my feeble reply.
He leaves and goes to his car again. He comes back a minute or two later and says:
"Okay, I'm going to give you a warning about the insurance, mainly because you don't know if you have it or not, but I'm going to charge you for not having your license."
So, I'm fined ONE HUNDRED AND TEN DOLLARS because my stupid license is a QUARTER OF A KILOMETRE away.
"Is this your first ticket?" he asks singsongy to me. What a slap in the face.
"Yes", I reply quietly.
I drive away and instead of continuing on to Grantley road, I turn around to go home. I promptly burst into tears and wail to my mother.
When someone first hears this story, their initial reaction is disgust, and they tell me I should fight it. Then, after thinking about it for another minute or so, they realize that the policeman was justified as I did not have my license. He was just really nasty. Mum thinks that the police were just trying to reach quota, as it was the end of the month, and it was an easy fine to give.
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