Welby does his Civic Duty - And Ruins a Day

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yesterday after work I needed to swing by the store to get some essentials of life: Milk, bread, taters, gummy bears, beer. This is not a happy prospect living in NOVA, what with a spier running around loose. As I pull into a parking lot and do my paranoia scan I notice a white van with ladder racks sitting towards the back of the parking lot, near an exit, with a guy in it.

I figure maybe it’s possible he’s waiting for someone, but take no chances and drive by, noting the license plate number. I go inside to do my shopping, come out 20 minutes later, do my paranoia scan - and he’s still there.

So I get on the cell phone, call the police non-emergency number, and talk to a lady who says I’m in the county, not the city, and she’ll transfer me. As I’m waiting on hold, there’s an accident at the intersection. When the police arrive the guy starts his van and leaves.

“Oh shit.” I think to myself, “what if it’s the sniper guy for real?” Awful suspicious, sitting here for that long, then when the police arrive, leaving right away. I fire up the welbymobile and give chase, still on hold, following the guy, maintaining a discreet spy-movie distance, and direct the officers to our location.

The police pull him over to check him out and…

…find out that it was just some poor painter who had been working since 6 AM and was sitting in his van eating his Mickey D’s before heading home. It’s the 5th time the poor guy has been stopped since all of this started. I felt really bad, but don’t really know what else I should have done. Did I do my Civic Duty or did I over react?

2

Sure, you inconvenienced the painter, but had that been the sniper, the cost of not acting would have been far, far greater.

Besides, after the third or fourth time getting pulled over, you’d think the painter would learn to try to avoid arousing suspicion. Why would he sit inside his van in a parking lot? He could just have easily opened the rear doors and eaten in the back of his van in plain view of everybody around, thereby alleviating any suspicion.

Don’t beat yourself up over this.

3

You did fine, welby1. Poor guy, though, what a pain for him.

Y’know, the cops oughta have his number in the system already so that even if he’s reported, they know he’s been checked out and deemed okay.

He’s going to be in a tough spot until the whole situation gets cleared up. Hell, I live in Indiana and even I catch myself watching for that van. Sad, really.