The first time I ever got pulled over by a police officer was when I was twelve. Towards the end of summer, we always used to take a trip in my grandparents’ R.V.  This year we chose Medora, North Dakota. In past years, we chose other places in North Dakota or South Dakota. Medora has many cool things to do. We enjoyed the Medora musical, pitchfork fondue, and horse rides while we were there. 

We had just left the ice cream shop. It tasted like heaven, cold ice cream on a hot summer day. On our way back to the campground, we saw a guy doing a golf demonstration, so we found a parking spot to watch him. The smell of fresh cut grass was super inviting. He was about to start so we didn’t waste any time going over to take our seats. He was doing different trick shots with golf balls. He was a goofy guy, so it seemed almost like a comedy skit too. I could've sworn he played in the Professional Golf Association.  He was hitting golf balls like a guy swinging a baseball bat. He was hitting them blindfolded and while balancing on an exercise ball! I enjoyed the show, it kept my interest from the first second to the last. I could have watched it for a lot longer and not been bored. When he was done my whole family got to meet him. After we were done talking to him, it was time to leave. 

We had two vehicles to drive around; a car we rented, and my grandma's red jeep, that we pulled behind the R.V. It wasn’t that far of a drive so Grandpa let me drive back to the campsite. It was a small jeep, it felt like driving a go-cart. I hopped in the driver's seat. I was a little nervous because I knew I was too young to drive, but Grandpa told me we had nothing to worry about, and he said it was going to be fun. I put the jeep in drive and we headed off. I was trying my best to keep it on the speed limit, if anything, I was under the speed limit. I did not want to get pulled over. It was a five minute drive and we were almost back to camp. I could see it from the road. I looked ahead, and between us and the campsite, there was a cop. I got nervous and accidentally hit the brakes pretty hard. We passed the cop and he looked at me funny. I felt a pit in my stomach. I was getting ready to pull over but Grandpa told me to turn in and drive to our camp spot.

I looked in the rear view mirror, I heard the siren, and the cop turned around.

We made it to our camping spot. I pulled in right behind the R.V.  The cop was going mach five and pulled in right behind me, boxed me in like I was going to drive away.  Grandpa and I both got out of the jeep and walked over and met the police officer halfway. 

The first thing the cop said was, “ Aren’t you a little young to be driving?”  I didn’t answer back because I was nervous.

My grandpa answered, “He is.” The officer didn’t know what to do or say. He said he has never dealt with a situation like this. 

He finally looked at me and said,  “You know you could go to juvenile detention for this, right?”  I just looked at him, I thought that was an absurd remark and bit of an overkill for the situation. 

My grandpa told me to go stand by my parents and let him handle it. My parents were sitting by the campfire, they had ringside seats to this whole thing. All of a sudden I saw the cop call on his radio for backup. We waited for a little bit and the other officer finally showed up. My grandpa talked to him. It didn’t take long before they came up with a conclusion. The officers got in their vehicles. Grandpa walked over to the fire to break us the news. 

He said “I got a ticket for child endangerment.” only a 20 dollar fine. He tried to pay the cop there but they don’t allow it. A 20 dollar fine for all that extra havoc that went on, I thought it was stupid. However, I learned my lesson. I never want to experience anything like that again.