The Sign Of The Shoes
I was talking to DAX today, when I said, �I gotta call you back man, there�s a uniformed policeman cop walking through my front yard.�
I open the door just as he was about to ring the bell. Stretch is all over him.
Me: �STRETCH!!!�
Cop: �You must have seen me comming...I can see why you call him Stretch.�
Me: �What?�hold on�let me snag him.�
I�m now holding my dog, and he is GROWLING like a MOFO. He is small, but fearless.
Cop: �Have you seen the shoes?�
Me: �What shoes?� I�m thinking, �This is too weird.�
Cop pointing toward the sky: �Those shoes�
Me: �What shoes?�
Cop: �Those shoes�
Me: �Oh, those shoes�the one�s hanging from the wire?�

Cop: �Yeah, those shoes�
Me: �For the last five years, there have always been shoes hanging from the power lines. I think it�s a high school thing.�
Cop: �Those are new shoes�
Me: �Really?�
The Cop and I move in for a closer look:
Cop: �See�
Me: �Yeap, looks like a couple of pairs of NIKE�
Cop: �Yeap, how long have they been there?�
Me: �I have no idea�I hadn�t noticed them�
Cop: �Do you know what that means?�
Me: �Know what �what� means?�
Cop: �Shoes hanging on the power line across from your house.�
Me: �I have no idea�
Cop: �That is the sign of a drug dealer�
Me: �What?�
Cop: �Yeap�the gangs do it to make it easier to score�
Me: �Really?�
Cop: giving me the evil eye�saying nothing.
Me: �Do I look like a drug dealer to you?�
Cop: still giving me the evil eye�saying nothing.
Me: �Are there gangs here?�
Cop: �Yes�
Me: �So, what do you want me to do?�
Cop: �Report anything suspicious�
I live in a town with 42k people. I�m on a first name basis with the people who sack my groceries, for goodness sake. I drive slow, and wave to everyone�they wave back. This is fucking Mayberry.
Anyway, the Cop walks up the road to where someone is building a house, and talks to the workers. As he is returning to his car, and as I�m taking pictures of the shoes, he said:
�I�ve got to get out of this heat�
I shit you not�I could not make this up.