It happened on a warm, breezy, summer afternoon. A Saturday. Timmy, my best friend, and I were out running around, tossing a baseball back and forth. Being kids, you know how it is. We were twelve that summer. That day, we were full of sugar and mischief, as usual, and it wasn't long before we got into trouble. We started by bouncing the baseball off of mailboxes and fences, and, yeah, we dented a few mailboxes. Once, Timmy threw the ball so hard it broke off the red flag that was sticking up like a soldier. That gave us a pretty good laugh. The owner of the mailbox, old Mrs. Gillicuddy, came out of her house screaming at us, waving her fist. We laughed some more, and I bounced the ball off her mailbox one more time. We ran down the street, Timmy still laughing.
Then, it happened. The bad thing. Timmy yelled something at me, something I didn't hear, and he whipped the ball at me. I tried to catch it, but it was too far to my right. It was like it happened in slow motion - I watched the ball shoot over the street and crash into the rear window of a cop car. Oh jeez, a cop car! This was bad.
Slowly, the door of the car opened, and Officer Buck stepped out. Things were really getting bad. Officer Buck was big, about six and a half feet tall. He had a massive chest, big biceps like melons, and thick trees for legs. Worse, he didn't like kids much. His crew-cut bristled. He clenched and unclenched his fists.
"Run!" Timmy yelled at me.
"Hold it kids," Officer Buck snarled, his voice deep and menacing. "Don't make this worse."
He was about a foot behind me by then, and I froze, like a deer in the headlights. Timmy was halfway down the block, sprinting, heading for his house.
"Get in the car," the cop told me. I tried to protest, but he grabbed my arm and hustled me into the back. I opened my mouth, to say it was all an accident, accidents happen, we didn't do it on purpose - but I couldn't talk.
"I know who you kids are," the cop told me. "Where's your parents, Ralph? Are they home?" I explained that they were out of town, and I was staying at Timmy's house for the weekend. We drove slowly through town, to Timmy's place. I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen. Timmy's dad was home, and he wouldn't be happy about this, so, I knew Timmy and I were going to be eating dinner standing up that night.
Timmy's dad - Mr. Parker - answered the door, and stared at me. He got pretty mad, like I knew he would, when Officer Buck explained that Mrs. Gillicuddy, and several others, had called the cops to complain about two boys throwing a baseball at their mailboxes. Officer Buck looked down at me, and I couldn't see his eyes because of the mirrored sunglasses.
They found Timmy hiding under his bed. He was my best friend, but I had to admit that sometimes he could be kind of dumb.
Mr. Parker led us all into his den. There were going to be punishments, we all knew it, and Timmy and I were shaking from fear.
"Officer Buck," Mr. Parker said to the cop, "Thanks for bringing these two boys home. Trust me, they're going to pay for what they've done. Let me ask you - would you like to stay and watch?"
Timmy and I were shocked. Spanked in front of the policeman? Mr. Parker had never done anything like that before! It would be so humiliating. This was just getting worse and worse.
"Why, I'd love to." Officer Buck answered, with a smile.
(to be continued........)