“But officer…”

I said, with my deepest voice of sincerity,

“…I don’t really know how I ended up driving my Willy’s truck on the Arizona State University campus.”

Four officers surrounded me in front of the Life Science building on Palm Walk. I looked into the rear view mirror of my truck to grin at my buddies who dared me, only to find that they ditched me in time to face the hungry “Barney Fife” campus police alone!  The biggest officer, who had a City of Tempe badge, said,

“Son what in the hell are you doing?”

My perfectly thought-out response of, “I really don’t have a clue” didn’t win any points with my potential punishment. I started daydreaming as the group of police confiscated my drivers license to run it in their computer system. My first thought was,

“What will my dad say? What will his punishment be?”

I was abruptly awakened by the lead officer’s voice whispering,

“I think this guy is Dr. Hering’s son!”

Panic ran through my body and I was ready to say gracefully,

“Just give me the ticket please!”

That’s when the biggest officer limped over to my truck window and asked me a very profound question.

“Are you Dr. Hering’s son?” He asked.

I think my eyes went cross eyed and I had a multiple possible answers besides “Yes I am” and “NO I’m not.” Then, after what seemed like coming out of anesthesia, or like my brain traveled through a black hole of brainless space, I was confronted with the bridge of honesty. Do I tell the truth or do I attempt to navigate around truth and float on de NILE (denial)? My jaw slowly moved out of rigamortis and my tongue was suddenly healed from cramping. My lips came out of their hypothermia mode, and I softly uttered,

“Yes, I am.”

Not knowing how the officer would respond, I squinted my eyes to try and hide and after what seemed to be two to three minutes. He said,

“Boy, this is a good day for you!”

In my mind, I imagined a Roman prison cell with shackles and torture devices. Next, I heard the officer say,

“The only reason I can walk today is because your dad put my right leg back together after my horrific motorcycle accident.”

He proceeded to describe how most of his leg became one with the asphalt in front of some jewelry store on 16th street, but I was in a rapturous trance of hopeful delight. Telling the truth absolutely paid off! The other officers faces reflected painful disgust as they heard the City of Tempe officer say,

“Now, get the hell out of here and next time you get a dare, try to pick day when they don’t have a city wide police convention on campus!”

The truth does set you free.