He's a Maniac

Michael…I managed to get my buddy some help in spite of himself.

Rob and I are reclining on the sofa in the watch room. We should be studying for the upcoming driver exam, but the Fire Chief’s Handbook and the Firefighting Tactics book remain safely in their appointed place on the shelf. It is summertime and the fall examination for driver is far away. Our brunch of softly scrambled eggs on a large piece of Cuban bread slathered with mayonnaise, topped with crisp bacon strips, raw onions, salt, pepper and a little tobasco sauce cause our eyelids to become exceedingly heavy.

A police officer walks in off the street and helps himself to the ever-present firehouse pot of coffee. Rob sits up with a start and says to me, “We should not be giving these cops free coffee.” This is an astonishing remark coming from my friend and my mind races for the reason behind it. Suddenly, I realize that Rob drives like a maniac 100% of the time. “You got a traffic ticket, didn’t you, Rob,” I inquire? There is no reply and the chase is on. He will have no peace until I find out his secret. Out the door and up the stairs we go. He tries to hide in a bathroom stall, but I am relentless in my search for truth. Finally I corner him in a downstairs broom closet and to get me to leave him alone he utters one word, “WILLFULL.” My mind reels, Rob has gotten a ticket for willful and wanton reckless driving.

It seems as though Rob has a trunk full of tools and he tried to use that as an excuse for the back end of his old Plymouth swerving wildly when going around a sharp curve. The officer that pulled him over wasn’t buying it and of course Rob has to argue long and loud which does not endear him to officer. They nearly come to blows, but thank goodness that did not happen. As a result he gets the maximum traffic ticket he can without going to jail.

Our coffee drinking officer quickly enlists to help and he calls the police officer, which wrote the ticket, to come over to our fire station. Negotiations begin and our officer ends up going to court with Rob. Reduction of the charges from willful and wanton reckless driving to careless driving is a fait accompli.