Last Thursday I packed 18 signed copies of my books into a cardboard box to take to the Bunch of Grapes bookstore. I guess the last batch had sold out, so I drove down on Main Street to deliver the goods.  The loading zone spot across from the bookstore was open, so I pulled in and left my flashers on, grabbed the box, dashed across the street and delivered the books to the buyer, who had an invoice printed and ready. In and out in under three minutes.

When I got back to my car I saw the rather unkempt and pudgy exterior of a local constable waddling toward the new coffee place where a place called Che’s Lounge used to be. I saw a piece of paper flutter to the ground and picked it up. A punch card for frequent coffee drinkers.

While I was waiting for the cop to emerge from the coffee bar, so I could return his punch card, I noticed he had left a parking ticket for $25 on my windshield.

Hey! Loading zone, flashers, in and out in three minutes…how can that be cool? When he waddled back into view, I asked him.

“No commercial plates,” he said. “You can argue that until the cows come home and you won’t get anywhere.”

And I was giving him back his coffee punch card? Fine. Some people are just plain jerks, but at least, I thought, it’s cool that people are already asking at the bookstore for my new book, BUZZD – The Bee Kill Conspiracy.