What a Trooper

photo by: Christina Watka

"We spend millions of dollars putting these 65-mile-an-hour signs up and down the highway... and we expect people to read them." The state trooper states with the slightest of sarcasm. I smile. "Sorry." I say, laughing gently. He thinks the gun on his hilt and the lights on his car make him in charge, but I see what he's doing. He's playing good cop to an imaginary bad cop and he's making me more late for work. "This would have been a $110 ticket." He says, handing me a written warning. "Thank you." I say. Like a peasant, I bow to the queen.