I'm on my way home from college and it's 9:00 at night. I'm on a road marked "speed limit 55 mph." I figure it's merely a suggestion. I'm currently shuffling along at 70ish mph and as I reach Caro, half way through my trip, I notice a red flashing light in my rearveiw mirror.
Having never been pulled over before, I'm visibly shaken, literally and physically, as I pull over to the side of the road. I'm in complete shock as the policeman came to my window. "License, registration, and proof of insurance, please."
As I lean over to my glovebox to get it, I manage to pull it out and dump it all over my floor. Luckily, it doesn't scatter too bad, and the officer is kind enough to shine his flashlight on the area. I gather it up as quickly as my shaking hands will allow and put the pile in my lap to retrieve the desired pieces of information. I easily find the proof of insurance, but cannot seem to recall what the registration looks like. I look up at the officer with my eyes filling with tears and hesitantly ask, "What does my registration look like?"
He has to point it out more than once because the shock has invaded my brain cells making me temporarily stupid. My fingers finally stumble upon the correct document and I hand it to him along with my driver's license. He takes the three pieces of requested information, says, "Thank you I'll be right back.", and heads toward his car.
I'm so shaken that I can't seem to work my electric window, so I just let the snow fall onto my cheeks hoping it will bring my sense back to me. As the gravity of the situation sinks in, the tears in my eyes begin to silently fall and I start to pray that the policeman will only give me a warning.
After what seems like half an hour, but is actually no more than 10 minutes, the officer walks back up to my window. "Did you know that your plates expired two days ago?" My eyes now have a shocked, tear stained look, "No, they're in my mom's name."
He looks at my tear stained face, and notices my heaving shoulders as he says, "I gave you the less expensive of the two tickets. The expired plates are a misdemeanor, and a little more serious." I intend to say, "Thank you." However, the shock of getting a ticket overpowers all else and I suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears. The policeman sees how upset I am and asks, "Are you alright?" I can barely control the movement of my head enough to shake it up and down.
The conclusion of my story: Crying does not get you out of a ticket. | 
