When I worked at Carlson Companies, I spent eight hours a day in a tiny cubicle. I used the lunch hour as a chance to get outside. On most days, I would eat lunch in my car in a shaded part of the parking lot while doing the crossword puzzle from the Star Tribune newspaper.
On this particular day, the parking lot was being resurfaced. My shaded area was closed off to me. I drove around the nearby streets to find another spot. About three blocks away, I found the empty parking lot of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church
About half way through my crossword puzzle, as I was penciling E-S-A-U into 23 down, two Plymouth Police squad cars screeched to a halt, red lights flashing, in front of my car. Four officers emerged with their hands resting on their guns. One approached the window on the drivers’ side. I rolled down the window.
“Let me see some ID,” he commanded.
I put down my sandwich and crossword puzzle, dug out my wallet, fished out my driver’s license and handed it to him. He handed it to another officer who took it to one of the squad cars.
“What’s going on?,” I asked.
“I’ll ask the questions. What are you doing here?”
“Eating a sandwich and doing the crossword puzzle.”
“Don’t get smart with me, young man.”
This coming from a man who looked at least five years younger than me.
“'Why are you in this parking lot?' was the question I asked.”
That wasn’t the question I had heard.
“They’re resurfacing the parking at Carlson Companies, where I work. So I parked here today. Here’s my Carlson ID.”
“We got a call about a suspicious character lurking around the Day Care Center.”
Lurking?
“What day cay center?”
He pointed toward the rear of the car. I turned and looked. I saw a row of pines, behind that a barely visible eight foot high chain link fence. Beyond that, I saw what could have been the top of roof of a building.
“What day care center?” I asked.
“Don’t get smart with me, young man.”
He put his hand on his gun, turned on his heels and walked to one of the two squad cars. About ten minutes later he appeared at my window. I put down my sandwich and crossword puzzle and looked up at him.
“It appears everything checks out. But we are making a report of this and keeping it on file.”
I sincerely hoped no children in the seven county area would be abducted in the next year or so. I was sure my name would appear first on the list of likely suspects.
“From now on I would suggest you eat lunch in the park," he said as he looked down his nose at me.
“But there are more kids there, than here!” I answered.
“Don’t get smart with me young man!”
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