This "Things I've Never Done" prompt from Mama Kat a couple of weeks ago is just the gift that keeps on giving. First, she suggested we write a "Thing's I've Done" followup, and now she's prompted that I choose one thing off my "Done" list and elaborate on it.
This has proven more difficult than I imagined. While all the things I did on the list are...legal, some of them are pretty compromising. Probably shouldn't have the details bouncing around the web world so my child can find them someday and be deeply traumatized. So I've settled on one that is a little naughty and fun without being too scandalous.
8. Gone on a drive-along with a Vegas cop.
My Cousin Teri has always been a bad influence on me. She's one of Mama's sister Aunt Joey's TEN children. TEN crazy children who grew up on a farm in Montana. We'd go visit them every couple of years, and those trips were some of my best childhood memories. A real adventure for a little only child!
Teri is a couple of years older than me, and I always used to follow her around like a puppy and do everything she told me to. Eat dog food. Eat shaving cream (she told me it tasted like mint). Blow up stuff with firecrackers. Lots of mischief. Teri's full of energy and fun and trouble, and I've just never been able to resist her.
About 10 or 12 years ago, Teri (who was living in So. Cal at the time) and I decided to take an overnight jaunt to Las Vegas. Our mutual Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jan lived there, and we could stay with them for the night.
When we flew into Vegas late in the afternoon, Teri's cousin Sean (her father's brother's son), who just happened to be a cop, picked us up at the airport and drove us to Uncle Bobby's house in his SUV. Sean (who I'd never met) turned out to be a great guy, and a lot of fun. He drove us over to Uncle Bobby's and dropped us off, then left to go on duty as a cop.
Teri and I spent the evening eating dinner and visiting with our aging Aunt and Uncle. We'd thought we would maybe be able to sneak out and have some fun, but Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jan were so sweet (our mutual favorite Uncle and Aunt), and we just couldn't bring ourselves to bailing on them.
Then, around 10 pm, Teri announced to me that I should maybe go in and change into something cuter and put on a little makeup. Turns out, Teri had paged Sean, who showed up about 10:30 in his squad car, picked us up, and dropped us off at the Golden Nugget on Freemont Street in downtown Vegas.
Our first stop? Tequila shots. Next stop? Roulette. We then proceeded to drink and gamble our way through two or three casinos, and most of our money. At one point, Teri was on a roll at the craps table. TWENTY-TWO!! And we were jumping around and screaming and making quite a spectacle of ourselves. Lots of fun.
At about 4 am, we decided that maybe we should head back to the old folks place, and Teri tracked down Sean. Turns out, he was in a coffee shop about a block away, eating "lunch" with his cop friends. We stumbled drunkenly into the place and made an even bigger spectacle of ourselves. Apparently, Sean's cute, crazy, drunk cousins were quite a hit with the other cops, though we didn't hear about this until later.
So Sean led us out to his squad car to drive us home, making us sit in the back. He was, after all, on duty, and I'm thinking wasn't supposed to have a couple of drunken civilian women in the car with him unless he was arresting them.
Teri and I, of course, immediately started goading him, wanting him to show us all his cool cop stuff. And Sean, being pretty flirtable, was easily swayed. He drove around all the bad parts of town and showed us where all the Vegas hookers hung out.
Eventually, we talked him into "making a bust". He started randomly running the license plates of cars we drove by, until he finally found somebody whose registration had run out, or some such other minor infraction. While Teri and I hid in the backseat giggling, Sean put on an elaborate show of "approaching the vehicle with caution" with his hand on his gun. After running the drivers license of this poor sod, he let him go with just a warning (Sean was, after all, a nice guy).
It was at about this time, when a freakish phenomenon hit Vegas. It started to snow. I swear to God. It was surreal.
As Sean drove us back to Uncle Bobby's in the snow, we talked him into turning on his siren and driving as fast as he could. Which he did, as we screamed and squealed in the backseat.
I am hereby NOT mentioning Cousin Sean's last name, as I fear that the leadership of the LVPD might frown upon this silly behavior, and I don't want to get him in trouble. Plus it was a long time ago. And there must be a statute of limitations on taking silly drunken women on an unofficial (and possibly illegal) drive-along. Maybe.
Anyway, there you go, there's your story. Please pop over to Mama Kat's for more follow ups to "Things I've Done" from other folks.
Snowing in Vegas? Incredible - sounds like a night you'll never forget. Can't wait to go there myself one day.
Posted by: MJ | 11/02/2011 at 10:22 PM
How AWESOME
Posted by: mommylisa | 11/03/2011 at 06:01 AM
That is FANTASTIC. Says the super small town girl who has never been to Vegas.
Posted by: Sarah at 32Flavors | 11/03/2011 at 06:56 AM
I've only been in the back of a squad car with the lights flashing ONCE. It wasn't as fun as your time. :-)
Posted by: Sprite's Keeper | 11/03/2011 at 09:54 AM
You know my 24-year-old daughter lives in Vegas, right?
*sigh*
Posted by: Jan | 11/03/2011 at 02:56 PM
Ridiculously funny! I love hearing about wild shenanigans, write more!
Posted by: SUPAHMAMA | 11/04/2011 at 09:58 PM
Okay, see? You've done some FUN shit.
And I've never visited Mama Kat, so thanks for that. :)
Posted by: Aimee | 11/06/2011 at 09:17 AM