we were up on football hill one fine, warm, saturday night cracking open some beers (all of us still in high school at the time) when a set of headlights blinds us.

the first voice says "stop where you are and don't throw the bottles."

second voice says " get out your i.d.'s"

first voice comes over, asks who the driver is, and everyone points at me. Officer Cox introduces himself to me, asks if we have any more beer than what we have in hand. i tell him the rest of the case is in trunk. he says "good job for keeping it locked up - please open the trunk."

i open the trunk, he counts four beers missing from the case and five guys - i haven't had a chance to get a beer yet. Officer Cox looks at me with his flashlight in my face, looks back at the car, looks back at me, then says "Hey! I know you! I live across the street from you! Tell you what neighbor, dump out the open beers, pick up your bottle caps, and don't hit me in the ass on the way out of here."

he never said a word to my parents, just always smiled and waved from his front yard. it really is better to be lucky than good.