Donut?

Back in the early 90s when my family and I lived in our, I mean my first house in Houston, I grew up playing in a small cul-de-sac outside our front door. Some of my first memories are from this lot of concrete our house rested in. All of my friends I went to school with and played with all lived around this cul-de-sac as well. Two of my favorite buddies were brothers that lived across the street from my house. They were the first ones to get a Nintendo. I was very jealous. The brothers and I, as well as other comrades from around the block, would ride our bikes around in the safety of our little circle at the Dead End of the street we all lived on. The only cars that drove back in our area were people that lived there, so we were free to frolic as we pleased, playing Cops n' Robbers on our bikes with little toy guns. Yes, this was quite a while ago. This was a time of Ninja Turtles and Mario.

One day I must have been extremely bored, for I cannot remember the reasoning for doing this act I am about to go into detail about, although I can speculate. The story goes like this: my curious little 9 year old self (or thereabouts) found it convenient that both of my parents were indisposed, my father in the garage and my mother in the shower, so as to make a quick prank call. I enter the room and head straight for the phone sitting next to the bed, sitting down as I type in the numbers 9-1-1. I listen to it ring two or three times until a woman answers with, "911, what is your emergency?" Without hesitation I slam the phone back on the hook and sprint out of the room. I can only assume that my child-self had seen a commercial for 911 or had heard someone speak about it, and with my innate curiosity, felt it completely necessary to test it out. I did not particularly intend for the call to be a prank call, by today's standards at least, I simply felt compelled to find out what the buzz over this 911 was. So I did the only logical thing: I called the number. After I hung up, I went outside and continued with my day as if nothing had happened.

What did I know about repercussions of calling the police? The station sent an officer over to our house for a follow-through to the dropped call of mine. This is just standard policy, they have to come by and check it out in case of a real emergency where to be occurring. So I am playing in our drive way when I see a black and white drive down our way and pull next to curb. I instantly knew what was up and tried my best to look nonchalant with little success, I imagine. I had a small toy truck in my hand and fervently continued playing with the object as the officer exited his vehicle and asked my parents standing at the doorway if there was a problem. Out of my ear's reach, I could not hear the short conversation that followed, but I remember watching as my father pointed in my direction, which prompted the officer to look my way. The officer was white, his expression somewhat disgruntled or agitated as he began walking in my direction. As he reached me I was sweating profusely and feared for my life. I really hadn't a clear idea of what the police were at this time, I really only knew of them being a strong, authoritarian figure that punished criminals.

As the officer reached me, he knelt down and asked me if I was the perpetrator of the call his dispatch had received. I nodded yes. From that point on, the memory gets a bit fuzzy. The officer gave me a short, stern lecture about how prank-calling (his words, not mine) the police was wrong and how it made him take time off of his busy day to come over and visit with me. He warned me that if there was a next time, he would be forced to take my parents to jail.

What a prick.

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