Miracle Through Intuition


Buster

My son Jershi, Buster (right) and Gidget.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

–Albert Einstein  

Around the beginning of spring, I was called for an audition in Hollywood. As usual, I drove from South Pasadena to get to my destination, but this time I took a route in a school zone. As I was driving, I couldn’t help but think about my son’s recently deceased dog Buster, who I had still been mourning. ((loveneverending(80):Oh,Buster! )Because I was familiar with the street, I didn’t pay any particular attention to my driving.

When I reached a red light, a police car gestured for me to turn and pull over. The officer came over and said, “Lady, did you know you were driving 40 miles an hour in a school zone where the limit is 25 miles?” I couldn’t believe that I had been driving that fast, but I couldn’t find it in myself to argue with him as thoughts of Buster occupied my mind. I was given a ticket, and the officer told me to pay the fine and go to traffic school so as to not drive up my insurance premium.

As I drove off, I still couldn’t figure out how I had been driving so quickly. It was a winding road with an ascending slope so that I wouldn’t have been driving recklessly. Finally, I decided I would just let the ticket sit and decide what to do in a month. Somehow I felt like I should argue in court, so I went to pay the fine and scheduled court date.

Three months later, I went to the Pasadena Courthouse. There were about 35 other people, most of whom were probably in the same situation as I was. As I was waiting, I struck up a conversation with the woman next to me. She explained to me that she felt the officer who gave her the ticket would show up, as he had five other cases. He wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to deal with all of his traffic cases in one day. Worried, I checked my ticket and saw my officer also have the other five cases too. I was sure my police officer would show up without the doubt.

Ticket
The image is from https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/insurance/car-insurance-speeding-ticket-colorado-co/.

As we were seated, I started to look around to see if my officer would show up. Only one officer had shown up. I tried to check the name on his uniform, but I couldn’t make it out from far away. Then the judge started hearing the cases. She called the officer and kept ruling in his favor, case after case. The only exception was a woman, the president of some charity. She had been driving a woman from Africa who didn’t have her seatbelt on and, given her situation, won the case.

Looking at the judge, I started to get very scared. It was obvious that she was siding with the officer, as she trusted his judgment. I felt like my chances of winning the case were growing slimmer and slimmer. Eventually, I decided to surrender when it would be my turn.

Once she had finished the officer’s six cases, she told everyone else they were free to go, as their officers hadn’t shown up. Obviously, I was exuberated not to have to pay a fine and go to traffic school. But as I was driving back, I thought how unlikely it was that this would happen. From my understanding and prior experiences, it was rare that most of the officers on these cases wouldn’t show up. But this time, the majority of people were let go because of these no-shows. It had been such an unexpected miracle, one that I was extremely thankful for.

Before I had left for the courthouse, my son and friends advised me there was no chance of winning if I protested the ticket. The advancement of technology has ensured that the officer probably had a very accurate reading on my speed. Even so, I felt compelled to go to court to fight the ticket, not to mention I didn’t want to pay the fine and go to traffic school. As unlikely as it was for me to go with my gut feeling instead of listening to reason, I’m glad I did so. It is rare that one gets to experience such a miracle with so many others.

生活只有两种方式。一个人好像什么都不是奇迹。另一种则认为一切都是奇迹。——爱因斯坦

大约在初春的时候,我需要去好莱坞试镜。像往常一样,我从南帕萨迪纳出发,开车走上市区小路去上高速公路,但这次我阴错阳差的开在一个高中学校的背后,有时速限制的路段。那时我满脑子只想着最近去世的狗巴斯特,它是我儿子的宝贝,一个不一样有着老灵魂的狗,它的离开我们异常不舍。想着想着加上因为我熟悉这条街,所以我没有特别注意我的驾驶。

当我开离区,遇到红灯时,后面一辆警车示意我靠边停下。警察走过来问:“女士,你知道你在一个限速为25英里的学区里,以每小时40英里的速度开车吗?” 我不敢相信我开得这么快,但我无法跟他争辩,因为我脑子里一直想着巴斯特。我被开了一张罚单,警察告诉我交罚款,然后去上交通学校的课,这样我就可以不必担心我的保险费涨价。

当我别过警察时,我还是弄不明白我为什么开得这么快。这是一条弯弯曲曲的斜坡路,我不可能开快,更何况我的个性也不会让自己在那庅弯曲的路上猛踏油门的。最后,我决定把这张罚单放着,我有至少一、二个月的时间才要作决定。不知何故,我觉得我应该去法庭上辩论,所以先去付罚款和预定出庭日期。

三个月后,我去了帕萨迪纳法院。大约有将近四十个人,他们中的大多数可能和我的情况一样,大概都是驾车超速。在等着的时候,我和旁边的女士聊了起来。她向我解释说,她觉得给她罚单的警官会出现,因为他还有其他五个案子要处理。他不会放弃在一天内处理这么多交通案件的机会。我很担心,我马上去看告示,看到开给我罚单的惊察名字下也有其他五个案件,我确信我的警官会毫无疑问地会出现。

当我们就坐后,我开始环顾四周,看看我的警官是否会出现。只有一名警察出现。我试着看他制服上的名字,因为我不记得开我罚单警官的长相了,但是距离太远看不清楚名字。这时法官开始审理案件。她一个接一个地作出判决,每一个案件,法官都是接受警察的说词。唯一的例外是一个白人女人,一位慈善机构的负责人。她开车接送从非洲下机的一位女士,这位女士不明白车上要系安全带的美国法律的规定,因此女士在车子行驶中不习惯所以解开了安全带,不巧的是那时刚好被警察看到,法官倒是非常体谅考虑到白人女士的情况,她是唯一被法官接受的赢家。

看着这位白人女法官,感觉她并非公正无诃的女包青天,我开始变得非常不安。很明显,她是站在警察一边的,因为她一面倒的相信警察。我觉得我打赢这场官司的机会越来越渺茫了。最后,我决定轮到我的时候,我要双手双脚的高举投降。

当法官完成了六个案子后,她开始念一大串名字,当然包括我的在内,看她严肃的样子,我们不知道她要如何处置我们的案件。念了好久,她终于念完了,正当每个人都紧紧张张的望着她,不敢出声,忽然她大声说「你们都可以走了,因为开罚票给你们的警官没有出现。」

显然,我很高兴不用交罚款,不用上交通学校。但是当我开车回去的时候,我想这是不可能发生的。根据我的理解和以往的经验,这些案件中的大多数警官都很少不露面的。这是一个意想不到的奇迹,今天竟然有那么多开罚单的警察没出庭作证,因此有三十几个要出庭应讯的我们竟然得到特赥,罚款一笔勾销,霎时个个的充满笑容,高兴的离开法院。

在我去法院之前,我的儿子和朋友们好心的提醒我,如果我对罚单提出抗议,我不可能有获胜的机会。高科技保证了警官可能对我们的速度有非常准确的判断。即便如此,我还是觉得有必要上法庭去争取免缴这张罚单,因为我真的不认为我超速,我不想交罚款,更不想去花那么多时间上交通学校。虽然我很少凭直觉而不按理智出牌,但我很高兴我这样做了,更难得的能和这么多人一起经历分享这样的奇迹。

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