My guardian angle wears blue - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

DrBob · 10-06-2005, 11:26 PM

Tonight was wet here in Atlanta. Not really raining, just a constant mist that makes everything wet, and a lot of fog making visibility really bad. I am on my way home at bout 9:30 from the Southern Cruisers monthly officer’s meeting, rolling down I-85 about 30 miles from home, struggling to see the road and traffic around me thru wet glasses, fog, mist, light rain, and tire spray. I put on my blinker to change lanes and get around an 18-wheeler and its road spray, which puts me three lanes over from the right. With fairly heavy traffic behind me, there is one vehicle coming up pretty fast in the left most lane. I finish passing the truck, put on my blinker to get over in front of him, and my mirrors light up with blue lights: that fast moving car is a Gwinnett Country police car. I glance down at the speedo, barely visible and covered with water droplets: 70 - 72 MPH in a 60 zone. Crap. I put on my blinker to work my way to the shoulder, and the cruiser pops over a lane at a time to block traffic for me. I get to the right most lane, and spot a sign that says ‘accident investigation site half mile ahead”. I point to it and leave my blinker on, figuring the officer doesn’t want to get hit by a passing car any more than I do. I turn into the pull off (provided for motorist who have had a fender-bender to exchange information and wait for an officer), all the way forward and all the way to the right, giving the cruiser plenty of space to get off the road. Excuses form in my mind: I was trying to beat the rain home…I couldn’t see the speedo with the water on it…I was trying to stay ahead of traffic…

To my surprise, the cruiser pulls up NEXT to me, not behind me. The window rolls down, and a sweet, southern, very female voice says, “Sir, your tail light is out!”

I get off the bike, bend down to her window. “Your blinkers work, but your tail light and brake light don’t. I didn’t see you at all until I was almost next to you and you put on your blinker. Scared the heck out of me! You’re lucky you didn’t get killed.”

I turn the key back on, and sure enough, no lights on the back of the bike. I thank her, hoping she will chose to avoid the rain and leave it at that. Nope. She gets out of her cruiser into the light rain, ticket book in hand, and I think, “Great, now I’m gonna get TWO tickets”

She uses the ticket book to keep the rain out o her eyes. “Do you have a spare bulb, or do you want me to follow you someplace. Where are you headed? Cool bike by the way. Suzuki, right? I love that leather tank.”

A smile crossed my face. No ticket. No problem either, as I have a spare bulb and a screwdriver…

In the storage compartment.

Of the sissy bar.

The one I took off yesterday.

Crap.

I ask if she has a screwdriver, so I can pull a front turn signal bulb out and put it in the taillight. She digs around in the cruiser and pulls a Philips screwdriver, flat screwdriver, and rag out of her bag. She stands there, in the rain, without a hat or jacket, holding a flashlight as I do the swap. I tell her she need not get wet, but she just smiles and says, “Hey, I ride too. I have a Volusia” We chat a little as I work, and it turns out her name is…Angel.

Swap complete, I hand her back her tools and thank her. I tell her I’ll head right to the nearest gas station and buy a bulb. She hands me back the tools and rag, telling me I’ll need them to swap in the new bulb, so just keep them. I tell her to follow me to the next exit and I’ll give them back, but she has a call to answer. I thank her profusely, and she pauses only long enough to block a lane and let me back out on the interstate. Then she is off and running again. I pull off at the next exit, buy a bulb, install it with my ‘new’ screwdriver, and remind myself of how dumb it was to remove the sissy bar BEFORE putting the fake air cleaner/ tool box on the bike.

Could I have made it home without getting hit? Maybe. But maybe not. So I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that she just might have saved my life. At very least, she saved me a very expensive speeding ticket and a trip to the station to prove I had repaired my light.

Should you happen to read this, thank you officer. You truly are an Angel.