Thursday, August 17, 2006

Panic in the skies (okay, panic maybe 20 feet in the air)

I pulled up to the Starbucks near my office this morning and was momentarily jarred by the sight of a uniformed police officer, standing on the roof. Oh my God, I thought, there's some kind of terror incident at the Starbucks! This notion flared through my mind pretty much simultaneously with But will I be ABLE to get my coffee?!? Because if there are no mochas, Al Qaeda has won.

I was much relieved to discover that the local police department had simply organized a breast-cancer research fundraiser. Officer Rooftop was actually dangling a plastic bucket full of bills and change from a fishing pole; other volunteers flapped signs below, around his merrily-yellow-tape-bedecked cruiser. Whew, and yaay! coffee! (and yaay, boobies, of course). Once caffienated, I happily threw a fiver in the pot, and called up to the cop about my initial alarm, which made him laugh.

"Yeah, right now this is the SAFEST one," he noted. Arguably true, though he had pulled his stepladder up there with him and I'm not sure how fast he might have been able to fling himself down and tackle a perp from on high.

It was very entertaining, however, to listen to Officer Rooftop use his loudspeaker to chastise other customers in the parking lot. *krrrk* Don't walk in the middle of the street, sir. *krrshk* --as jaywalkers flinched and looked around wildly. That's right, buddy, move it along, on orders of Officer GOD, who can totally see you.