My 911 Call

Last Thursday morning I was driving my mom to Chester, IL, for a second look at the assisted living facility she'll be moving into in May.  It's just under a 2-hour drive.  About half-way there, the car in front of me was weaving from one side of the road to the other.  Then he'd be okay for a few miles.  Then he'd cross the center line and jerk back to our lane.  It's a two-lane road, so crossing the line can be a head-on collision.  I watched him repeat this for about 15 minutes and decided I needed to do something about it.  I'm sure it had nothing to do with the 20 hours of cop shows we watch every week.

I called 911 from my cell phone and told the operator what was going on.  She connected me with the Monroe County sheriff's office.  I repeated my observation and gave them his license plate number. I had pulled up close enough to get it, then backed off about a fourth of a mile.  She asked my location. We were just coming into Red Bud.  At the stop sign in town, I told her that he turned right and was going south on Rt. 3, the same way I was going, and that it was a white PT cruiser with no side windows - like a panel van.  She asked my name and phone number, which I gave her, and asked if I could stay on the line, and I said yes.  No further conversation for about 10 minutes.  Then, I saw a police car in my rear-view mirror.  When he got behind me, he turned on his lights.  I pulled over, he went around me and up behind the weaver, who pulled over, too.   The cop got him.  I was so relieved and very curious about why he was all over the road.  It WAS a guy, and he did look kind of weird. 

In my fantasy, he was drunk as a skunk and I saved a family from being hit head on and killed.  Or he was a drug runner from Mexico with 200 pounds of cocaine lining his car doors.  And no, I don't think I watch too much TV.  I'd like to call the sheriff's office tomorrow and find out what really happened.  He was probably falling asleep, which would be a logical explanation for the erratic behavior.  But, I like my fantasy better.

Later, I wondered if by me staying on the phone with the dispatcher, the police were tracking ME through my cell phone to get the idiot's location.  They never asked where I was exactly after the first time.  I don't know how technically advanced the county police are in southern Illinois, but I'm very thankful they responded and pulled him over.  I hope they did more than just give him a ticket, too.  Four hours later when we were going back home, there was no white car where he was pulled over. 

Elsa, my pregnant cat, is still pregnant with eight kittens.  When I got her a week and a half ago, I didn't think there was a chance in the world that she'd still be pregnant by the third Tuesday of the month for my quilt guild meeting.  Well, my meeting is in two days.  I think she'll be another week and I'll make the meeting.  However, I missed two meeting in three months last summer because of cats going into labor.   How do they know???