October 28, 2008

• Just like The Usual Suspects!
• Interesting topic... I was 13 when I had my first, and only, police interrogation. Unknown to me, a small group of my "friends" broke into our garage and took a stash of fireworks. They proceeded to have a grand 'ol time shooting them off in the middle of a dry corn field. The tinder lit, and the entire field went ablaze (was headline news in the rural town, and a farmer lost a substantial portion of his crop). The fireworks were traced back to our garage based on the "friends" who tried to finger me. I was clueless as to there even being a massive fire across town, but was suddenly encountered by a large group of older kids who surrounded me (one of them started whacking me with a large corn stalk), and started yelling at me for starting the fire. The cops showed up, and took me "downtown". Luckily my mother was home and came along - - but those cops grilled me for a good hour, demanding that I confess to starting the fire. I nearly did give up and say it was me, but the fact that my mother was there and was able to back me up was what kept me from crossing that boundary. They finally realized that I was telling the truth, and let me (and mom) go. That still didn't help me at school, where everyone looked at me like I was the Firestarter regardless of being cleared by the coppers...
• If you ever find yourself in the hot seat, the best course of action is to ask for a lawyer and shut the fuck up. The place to defend yourself is in a court room, not an interrogation room where anything you say can and will be used against you.
• I killed that fat barkeep!
• I shot the sheriff But I did not shoot the deputy--does that count?
• ...and I cut down that cherry tree. But Billy-Jean is not my lover...
• I found a stranger in the Alps.
• It was like that when I got here.