"This day can't get any worse," Teddy groaned. His wife had to go into work, and he was responsible for getting the baby to the Pediatrician for his one year immunizations. The baby was not happy to be travelling in the car and wailed to let his displeasure know.
Ted accelerated to pass the slow moving cement truck on the back street he'd taken hoping to save time. Travelling with a baby was next to impossible to ever leave the house without being late, but this appointment was very important especially since they were leaving on holidays in two weeks. Glancing around Teddy didn't see anyone else so he continued at his current speed which was 10 over the speed limit.
Around the next corner the radar was waiting. Teddy didn't see it until he knew it was too late. It was at that point as well that he realized he was speeding through a school zone and it was 3pm. The day just officially got worse.
Teddy pulled over glancing at the clock, they had 15 minutes to make the appointment. "Ok TJ just settle down while Daddy talks to this police officer," Teddy told the baby, which sent the baby into new waves of screaming.
Teddy banged his head on the steering wheel, as the police officer knocked on the roof of his car. Teddy turned his head and wondered if he broke down crying if the police officer would take pity on him.
"Do you know how fast you were going?" the police officer opened, flipping his ticket book open, "License and registration."
Teddy reached for his registration, kept in the mirror of the drivers side sun shade, then he reached for his wallet, but found his pockets to be disturbingly empty. He handed the registration over and continued to look in the consoles and glove compartment for his wallet. He distinctly remembered having his wallet in his hand when he was getting TJ ready to go out.
"Sir your license?" the officer prompted.
Teddy was tempted to turn the water works on, it couldn't be that hard, TJ was doing it. Teddy felt between the seats, under the seats in the diaper bag his wife insisted went everywhere with the baby, but it was not there. Closing his eyes he tried to retrace his last steps in the house, but he remembered having the wallet with him as he was getting the baby into the car. Had he put it on the roof to buckle the baby in?
"It seems I can't find my wallet officer," Teddy shared. "I had it with me when I left the house to get in the car, but now it seems to have disappeared, I may have drove off with it on my roof."
"Is this your child sir?"
"Yes he's my child!"
"He seems to be very agitated right now like he's not comfortable with you."
"hush TJ," Teddy tried to soothe the baby by reaching back and patting his head. "Come on TJ, Daddy can't think."
"Sir, could you please turn the car off, if you have no idea then I'm going to need to call someone who can verify that you are supposed to be with this child."
"Officer that would be fine but we have to get to the immunization clinic, I had one job to do from my wife today, I can't mess this up, the baby is mine, he just missed his nap, could you write the ticket so I can get going."
"Sir please turn off the car and remove the baby from the carseat."
"Are you for real? This is a joke right, my wife put you up to this?"
"No sir, she didn't now please exit the vehicle, we've had an amber alert for a one year old boy and a male driver in an SUV, we are just checking every angle."
"Ok, ok, i'm getting out, and I'll get TJ, my son, who's named after me out as well." Teddy exited the front door and opened the back door to extricate his son, from his car seat. TJ lowered the volume of his cries but continued crying until he was outside of the vehicle.
Teddy glanced at his watch, it was now 3:10, he was never going to make it and his wife was going to be upset, because she would have to go to the walk in and that could take all morning. When he was shifting TJ he glanced into the backseat, into TJ's carseat and saw his wallet.
"Wahoo!!!" Teddy yelped, "Officer, I have my wallet!! it was under the baby, that must have been why he was crying," Teddy reached into the car, grabbed his wallet and took out his ID and TJ's health card to hand to the officer.
After handing the cards to the officer Teddy put TJ back into his carseat and accepted his ticket, he still had time and if the clinic was running behind it might be ok if he arrived 5 minutes late. Right now that's all he had left was hope. The officer waved him off and went back to stopping speeding traffic in the school zone. Teddy was very conscious of his speed as he drove away, not wanting to get pulled over twice in the same day.
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