thought this would be a good story to relate on what used to be a very popular pirate radio day.
All events in this story are true. (sorry it's not a ghost story)
My family moved us out to Las Vegas, NV from Wyoming back when i was 14 years old. (talk about culture shock!) Within the first month of moving here, i had a TRC-440 base station set up with a ringo antenna and was talking all over town with it.
Back then, channel 4 was the young person's channel and we would gab all night on the radio about teen stuff.
One of my regular contacts was a girl who called herself Little Bear, and she always seemed to have people over at her house when we were talking. Like any 15 year old kid, i was very interested in meeting her in person and would hint that i hoped to meet her some day.
On Halloween night at about 10pm i found her on the radio with the usual background noise of people partying.
I was feeling especially brave this night and told her i would like to come over to her house and join the party.
She told me to come on over, and told me where she was. It was about 8 miles from my house and not in a very good part of town.
Because my CB was set up in the garage, it was quite easy for me to sneak my parents Honda scooter out and ride over to her house (at about 25mph max LOL). However, because i was going to an area of town i was unfamiliar with, and was going to be meeting people who had no idea who i was; i decided it would be a good idea to bring my bowie knife with me. My knife had a 5" chrome blade on it, was very sharp, and had only ever been used to stab trees and whittle sticks. I put the knife in the little plastic carrying case behind the seat and set off on my journey.
I made it to her house after what seemed like two hours of scootering, and while she wasn't as attractive as i had envisioned, i was still somewhat smitten, and was trying to flirt.
there were people at her house and they were older than us and drinking beer. i was offered one and took it as if i'd been drinking them since toddlerhood.
Little Bear showed me her base station, which it turned out was her father's base station, and it was a Browning MK3 with a HUGE golden eagle amp. This is when she informed me that her father's handle was Big Bear and he was a police officer.
It was now about 3am and she told everyone to leave as her father was coming home soon.
So i took off on my scooter headed home, just a little disappointed that it didn't turn out to be the romantic encounter i was hoping for. I made it to within two miles of my house when it happened.
I was pulled over by the cops. This was only my second encounter with the law, and since my first encounter was at the tender age of 8 and didn't go well, i was scared $hitless!
The cop tells me to get off of my scooter, shut it off and stand beside it. As i am doing this, two motorcycle cops stop to see what's going on and there is now four very bright lights shining on me.
the first cop goes back to talk to the others leaving me standing by my scooter, literally shaking for what seemed like a half an hour.
Then another cop car shows up! They too shine the lights on me and now i can't even see any cops. just lights. Now i see the shadows of five police officers walking towards me, and they all come and stand around the scooter.
the most recent cop to show up finally starts asking me questions. "do you have a licence?" "no sir".
"is this your scooter?" "no, it's my parents sir". "do your parents know you are not at home right now?"
"uhh, no, sir".
By this point i am SURE i am going to jail for driving without a license, after curfew, and maybe even theft since my folks didn't know i took the scooter out.
I am shaking and visibly pale. This is the moment when the first cop asks me if there's anything in the scooter box that he should know about. "no sir" i say because i honestly can't think and really believe that it's empty.
One of the cops opens up the box, and pulls out my bowie knife! I AM SCREWED!!! i have just lied to the cops about a weapon, and i have never been more certain that i am going to be put in the back of a cop car at any moment.
The officer with the knife pulls it from its sheath, and loudly announces "that's not a knife! That's a knife!" in his best crocodile Dundee voice. This sends the rest of the cops into hysterics.
he then asks me why the knife is in the scooter box.
even in my fear ridden state, i still could not admit to them that i had brought it in case i was confronted by demons or gangsters or both. the only thing that comes out of my mouth was, "it's my dad's. he uses it for hunting!" the cops all laughed even harder. something told me they didn't believe me LOL.
They confer with eachother for a moment, and then the most surprising thing happens.
They handed my knife back to me, and told me to go straight home, and to only take the side streets.
I went home, parked the scooter, snuck into my room and went to sleep.
The next time i talked to little bear, she told me that she had been grounded by her father for having people over when he wasn't home.
To this day im not sure if i dropped the dime on her while talking to the cops, but she never could figure out how he would have known.
Happy Halloween everyone!
LC
All events in this story are true. (sorry it's not a ghost story)
My family moved us out to Las Vegas, NV from Wyoming back when i was 14 years old. (talk about culture shock!) Within the first month of moving here, i had a TRC-440 base station set up with a ringo antenna and was talking all over town with it.
Back then, channel 4 was the young person's channel and we would gab all night on the radio about teen stuff.
One of my regular contacts was a girl who called herself Little Bear, and she always seemed to have people over at her house when we were talking. Like any 15 year old kid, i was very interested in meeting her in person and would hint that i hoped to meet her some day.
On Halloween night at about 10pm i found her on the radio with the usual background noise of people partying.
I was feeling especially brave this night and told her i would like to come over to her house and join the party.
She told me to come on over, and told me where she was. It was about 8 miles from my house and not in a very good part of town.
Because my CB was set up in the garage, it was quite easy for me to sneak my parents Honda scooter out and ride over to her house (at about 25mph max LOL). However, because i was going to an area of town i was unfamiliar with, and was going to be meeting people who had no idea who i was; i decided it would be a good idea to bring my bowie knife with me. My knife had a 5" chrome blade on it, was very sharp, and had only ever been used to stab trees and whittle sticks. I put the knife in the little plastic carrying case behind the seat and set off on my journey.
I made it to her house after what seemed like two hours of scootering, and while she wasn't as attractive as i had envisioned, i was still somewhat smitten, and was trying to flirt.
there were people at her house and they were older than us and drinking beer. i was offered one and took it as if i'd been drinking them since toddlerhood.
Little Bear showed me her base station, which it turned out was her father's base station, and it was a Browning MK3 with a HUGE golden eagle amp. This is when she informed me that her father's handle was Big Bear and he was a police officer.
It was now about 3am and she told everyone to leave as her father was coming home soon.
So i took off on my scooter headed home, just a little disappointed that it didn't turn out to be the romantic encounter i was hoping for. I made it to within two miles of my house when it happened.
I was pulled over by the cops. This was only my second encounter with the law, and since my first encounter was at the tender age of 8 and didn't go well, i was scared $hitless!
The cop tells me to get off of my scooter, shut it off and stand beside it. As i am doing this, two motorcycle cops stop to see what's going on and there is now four very bright lights shining on me.
the first cop goes back to talk to the others leaving me standing by my scooter, literally shaking for what seemed like a half an hour.
Then another cop car shows up! They too shine the lights on me and now i can't even see any cops. just lights. Now i see the shadows of five police officers walking towards me, and they all come and stand around the scooter.
the most recent cop to show up finally starts asking me questions. "do you have a licence?" "no sir".
"is this your scooter?" "no, it's my parents sir". "do your parents know you are not at home right now?"
"uhh, no, sir".
By this point i am SURE i am going to jail for driving without a license, after curfew, and maybe even theft since my folks didn't know i took the scooter out.
I am shaking and visibly pale. This is the moment when the first cop asks me if there's anything in the scooter box that he should know about. "no sir" i say because i honestly can't think and really believe that it's empty.
One of the cops opens up the box, and pulls out my bowie knife! I AM SCREWED!!! i have just lied to the cops about a weapon, and i have never been more certain that i am going to be put in the back of a cop car at any moment.
The officer with the knife pulls it from its sheath, and loudly announces "that's not a knife! That's a knife!" in his best crocodile Dundee voice. This sends the rest of the cops into hysterics.
he then asks me why the knife is in the scooter box.
even in my fear ridden state, i still could not admit to them that i had brought it in case i was confronted by demons or gangsters or both. the only thing that comes out of my mouth was, "it's my dad's. he uses it for hunting!" the cops all laughed even harder. something told me they didn't believe me LOL.
They confer with eachother for a moment, and then the most surprising thing happens.
They handed my knife back to me, and told me to go straight home, and to only take the side streets.
I went home, parked the scooter, snuck into my room and went to sleep.
The next time i talked to little bear, she told me that she had been grounded by her father for having people over when he wasn't home.
To this day im not sure if i dropped the dime on her while talking to the cops, but she never could figure out how he would have known.
Happy Halloween everyone!
LC
