Chapter 2: Ride Along

Addison Montgomery believed it was not enough as a citizen, doctor and aunt to her newly discovered niece, Christine to give public speeches and raise money to stop teen drunk driving. She decided to put her butt on the line and volunteer to take part in ride a longs with the Seattle Police where tipsy drivers would be pulled over and their parents notified by the college they were attending or high school as part of an intervention.

She would have firsthand accounts of the dangerous and selfish practice rationalized by teens and coeds who drove tipsy. The findings would be put to use, although if Addison had her way there would be some sore behinds red as the stop lights they were known to blow through. Her Seattle hospital had donated money for radio, TV and transit board ads along with support for Dr. Montgomery Addison to speak to mothers of concerned college and high school students. All her efforts were designed to make top of mind the issue of ‘Tipsy Drinking’ and make examples of students which would make peers take notice and change their bad behavior. It was called The Doc Ride A Long.

It was a misty foggy night on the beltway that ringed the city of Seattle skyline and the iconic Space Needle uniquely dominating the sky in blue lit spires and the red glowing top. Perhaps that red dome should have served as a warning to the naughty young ladies barreling down the road with a tipsy Christine behind the wheel. If she knew an unmarked police car patrolling for drunk and tipsy driving would soon approach, she would have scrunched her behind in her car seat involuntarily in fear for her rear if Aunt Addison the good lady doc found out about her current driving condition. The nineteen year-old college coed knew it was wrong to drive in a tipsy state, but someone had to get her and her three friends home.

The foggy mist was penetrated by flashing blue lights in her mirror. The driver’s heart sunk as she realized she was about to face the consequences of tipsy driving. Had she not stayed in her lane? She did remember a couple of times feeling and hearing the rougher gravel of the shoulder of the road, but she was in control of her faculties. The blue lights got brighter as they closed in on the back bumper of a black four door car. Riding shot gun with the officer was Dr. Montgomery Addison who was tired of seeing the babies of Seattle she delivered maimed and killed in drinking related accidents. That is why her butt was in the seat, to make a difference and be able to relate firsthand accounts when her speaking engagements started. A sudden blast of a siren rented the air and the female driver gripped the steering wheel like it was her lifeline. The foreign black car pulled off onto the shoulder followed closely by the unmarked patrol car with its blue flashing bubble lights which illuminated the northeastern night sky.

The frightened feminine diver swept her brown hair out of her face and let down her window. You could hear a pin drop as the police officer put on his wide brim hat and approached her car window. The college student swallowed, so hard it was audible to the others inside the car. Just when the young lady thought it could not get any worse she noticed a tall female with long brown hair dressed in a white doctor’s coat and pants approaching the car from the other side. Frantically she remembered the doc ride a long program and knew she was in BIG Trouble! The doc was from Mercy Hospital, but she hoped she would take mercy on her.