Sirens

There is a sound that will cause the hairs your neck to immediately stand on end. It is the unexpected cry of a police siren from behind. Instantaneously you slow down and start looking around to figure out what you've done wrong. In nanoseconds you retrace your actions, stops, lane changes, speed, blinkers; all of this before checking our rear view mirror and pulling over.

I had been playing baseball for only a year or two when I was selected to my first All-Star team. I was very excited to be chosen to represent our area in the late summer tournament. I was initially worried because I didn't know how I was going to get to the practices and games. Our local league was close enough that if I didn't have a ride, I could easily ride my bicycle to the ball field.

That was not going to be the case for this tournament. I was going to work and train with different coaches and the field was ten or fifteen miles away. My mother really didn't see how she would be able to dedicate the time that was going to be needed to participate in the tournament. But before I fell into despair I learned that my neighbor had been chosen as an All-Star as well. He was older than I was but the practices and games were going to be at the same time so it all worked out.

After one practice, my friend and I and a couple other guys piled into the back of my friend's mother's car. I am fairly certain that seat belts were not involved. We were goofing around, telling jokes and recounting some of the plays that we had made. I remember talking about some of the really good players who we only got to see during these tournaments. I really started to learn what it meant to play on a team where every player excelled. I also began to sense the need for improvement when you were playing against a team that had quality players in every position.

Right in the middle of this baseball magic the sound began; it could be nothing but a police siren. At first it was nearly imperceptible. Soon it got a little louder and a little louder. Our driver shouted for us to be quiet as she frantically checked all of her mirrors and she finally pulled over and stopped. She looked around and saw nothing. Deciding that it was safe to proceed she pulled onto the road and as she got up to speed the sound began again. Softly at first and then louder and louder. Everyone was looking around but no police car was found.

Suddenly the siren started laughing. The source was no police car but a quality pre-teen  imitation. The laughing stopped after a severe scolding from his mother, but in the rear-view mirror I spied a suppressed grin on her face most of the way home.