Too late for Cheung!

Paddling out with your buddies is a great thing, as you take that first hit to the head from a mountain of cold white water, you look over to see if your surf pals are making it, it gives you comfort to know they are there to feel the pain with you, and experience the joy after a sweet ride. For Danny, Jeff, Keith and I, if we see a brother’s ride, a fist up in the air and a wide smile gives the props--especially if we survived a big close-out.

Today was one of those days as Jeff and I surfed Seal pier. In photo: Jeff is in black shirt, green cap, standing next to Rich Harbour, who’s standing next to me with that sweeeeet yellow 7’4, the Spherical Revolver. The waves were 3-4 ft. and consistently holding up. But throughout the session, I had one little negative weighing me down—a court appearance at 1:20 that afternoon. Try as I might to block out stressful situations that loom on the horizon of life, I can’t help but let it seep into my mind on occasion. It’s been that way for the three months since the showdown with Officer Cheung was set. My mantra of “Don’t worry about it, enjoy this day, enjoy this moment; what will happen, will happen.” Works most the time, but occasionally the mind starts to live that uknown future over and over again. Luckily, on this day, as the hours counted down to face-off, the surf kept my mind at bay, with only the occasional thought creeping in, “Oh yeah, I’ve got a trial in a couple of hours.”
My epic battle against Officer Cheung started when I was pulled over several months ago for crossing the double line into the carpool lane, and I decided to fight it. The court date was yesterday, and it’s been a slight nagging in my mind for months. After the fun morning of surfing with Jeff and two of my daughters, Jordyn and Dakotah, it was off to the courts. I arrived early, signed in and took a seat. I didn’t know the procedure and about 16 minutes went by before I asked the receptionist how long she thought it would be.
“You have to wait twenty minutes for the officer to arrive.” She said with a smile.
I had thought I was just waiting for the court to start, I didn’t know the process had already begun, so I asked, “Are we doing that right now?”
“Yes.” She said, again with a smile.
I took a seat and quickly looked to the clock, then checked my court time. Sure enough, my official appointment read 1:30 pm, and the clock now read 1:46 pm. My eyes grew wide with the realization; I only had 4 minutes until my ticket—seemingly—would be dropped.
I watched agonizingly from my seat as the second hand moved slowly around the dial. I couldn’t take it, and stood up, moving to the door where I could watch for Officer Cheung amidst the slow flow of people checking in through the metal detector.
I glanced back at the clock. Only a minute had gone by.
I paced the hall and then made my way back to my seat, aching out the next two minutes. At 1:50 pm, by my account, the twenty minutes should be up, but I wanted to play my cards right and I didn’t know if this was a legal time limit, or just something they went by. I began to stalk the counter, pretending to read the miscellaneous family law posters—don’t hit your wife, very bad things happen to you, and they have a lot of power—and finally, after about a minute, the nice middle aged lady who seemed to be in charge, looked at me questioningly. I had found my opportunity.
“I was wondering?” I said in my nicest voice. “What happens after you’ve waited 22 minutes?”
She looked at the clock, then to her paper work. “Well, Officer Cheung never misses an appointment, so…”
I held my breath as I saw her eyes reflect inner musings.
A friendly officer behind her joked, “I’ll testify for him.”
I chuckled nervously.
She looked out the window to the darkening skies and wet streets. “It’s a crappy day out, I’ll let you go.”
In hopeful shock I asked, “Is that it?”
“That’s it.”
I smiled, laughed a little, “Thanks, I wasn’t really sure--”
She cut me off. “But you better get out of here.”
Being the babbler that I am, I laughed, and continued with my story. “—I wasn’t sure that my digitalized witness would hold-up in court, and…”
She cut me off again. “I’m serious. You better get out of here.”
This time I took the hint, if Officer Cheung showed; she would reverse the dismissal if I was still there. I bolted for the door with a wave and a smile, and walked the short distance to the glass doors set in glass walls.
That’s when I saw him.
The youthful Asian cop walked briskly, tinkering with his blue tie. I crossed his path perfectly as I exited. Recognition read in Officer Cheung’s eyes as I gave a brief nod and walked away.
Now I considered pushing it by saying, “Hi, Officer Cheung, sorry I missed you, have a great day.” Or something to that effect, but I was just thankful to be running for the hills. I’m not afraid of a showdown, but like Eastwood says, “Every man’s got to know his limitations.”
I walked briskly to the corner of the brick building, rounding it casually, but as I escaped the view from glass, I took off running!

And of course, I called my pals; Danny, Jeff, and Keith to give the verbal fist in the air and big smile...I escaped the close-out.

Lord, thank you for causing Officer Cheung to be late, and putting charity in the heart of those lovely ladies working the counter. God always takes care of his children, but sometimes it’s more obvious than others.