Wild Right Turn

       My best friend in college was Laura, or LR, as she was nicknamed – initials which also stood for left and right, or Larry and Ralph, as in take a Larry at the next street or hang a Ralph. Laura was the only other person I knew at Canisius who lived with her grandmother just like I did! LR's grandmother lived in a house with her son, Laura's uncle – and they were all the way in Amherst, past UB off of Bailey Avenue – but LR, I don't think I would know how to get to your old neighborhood if I were driving around the area these days.

       We met the first  month of freshman year and started hanging out together. She was a philosophy major, and I was a biology major, and we had great conversations. We went to the college basketball games at Memorial Auditorium in downtown Buffalo on Saturday nights and afterward drove to the Park Meadow, or PM, a bar where Canisius students partied until the wee hours.

       Now, remember, these were days long before cell phones – there were land-lines and payphones for making calls, and no answering machines or caller id. And in those days, one of Laura's fantasies was to be in a bar with friends some evening, and the phone behind the bar would ring, and the bartender would answer, and then yell across the bar, “Laura! Phone call for you!”

      That would be so cool!

      One afternoon, it was just before Christmas break our senior year. LR and I were looking for something to do, and I casually mentioned, not thinking that she would take the suggestion seriously, that the biology club was having a Christmas party that night in the Health Sciences building. To my surprise, LR said that sounded like a plan! We had a few hours to wait until the party started, so we drove to a bar and maybe had one beer.

       Afterward, as we headed back toward campus, LR made a right turn that some might think was a tad wild. Then she turned sharply left into the parking lot of the Health Sciences building. A car followed us and then turned on its police light.

       “You keep your mouth shut!” Laura warned me as the nice police officer approached her car window.

       “Good evening Officer,” LR exuded with a soft, almost purring voice.

       The policeman asked for her license and looked it over.

      “Where are you ladies going?” he asked.

      “We are about to go to the biology club Christmas party.” In her ever so friendly way, Laura pointed to the building in front of us, which was indeed where the party was – but from the outside, the Health Sciences edifice was pitch black with no lights and no apparent signs of life!

      The policeman looked toward the building, and he was clearly skeptical of L.R.'s story!

      “Are you aware that you took that right turn back there rather sharp? And it looked like you were trying to evade me by pulling into this parking lot.”

     “Oh the turn might have been a little sharp; and we really are going to a party in that building!”

     The policeman shined his flashlight through Laura's window across the front seat to me,        “You haven't had much to say,” he commented.

     “Laura told me to keep quiet, “ I responded.

      He gave LR a look, and then he asked, “Have you two been drinking?”

       “Oh we might have had a beer,” Laura answered, again ever so innocently.

     “Next time, be more careful with your turns,” and then the policeman went on his way.

     She had done it! LR had sweet-talked her way out of a ticket with a crazy but true story.

     After all this time, I vividly remember the turn, the parking lot, the policeman and flashlight and questions, but I have no memory of the biology Christmas party!

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