Choose Your Own Misadventure: You Are Insane but Having a Blast — Part 4
Part Four of an ongoing interactive story that encourages reader input.
You have reached the park, successfully escaping a police officer by running through incoming traffic. Local law enforcement is on the lookout for you since your recent bout of accidental shoplifting, in which you walked out of a convenience store with a bright neon green key-chain in hand. The dreaded man from your building was quick to pounce on your erroneous action and promptly waved for the police to apprehend you.
So far you have eluded capture, but a different officer of the law can now be seen at the far end of the park, and he appears to be heading your way! You have decided to rush forward to the side of your friend, Bingo Kim, in a desperate bid to warn your pal and then make haste.
“BINGO!” Kim shouts as they return to earth from a hop in the air, both feet stomping hard on the concrete, mashing a bug into oblivion.
“Hey, Bingo Kim,” you address as you scuttle alongside, casting a nervous gaze to the oncoming police officer. “Uh, how are things?”
“Oh!” Kim spits as they whirl to face you. “You! Thank goodness! Thought you might’ve been someone else, someone … hold on.” They spy an ant scurrying over the concrete patio. “Bingo!” they exclaim as they extend a leg that lands hard.
“Didn’t mean to scare you,” you say. “Uh, I think I’m in trouble. I was coming to ask your advice about …”
“BINGO!” Kim blasts at full volume. The denizens of the park give momentary glances before quickly moving on to other areas. “Bingo! Bingo! BINGO!”
You and your friend are very exposed on this concrete patio with vacant picnic tables decorating each corner. No family dares to lunch when Kim is working. But there are less bugs now.
“Sorry, you were saying?” Kim asks, finally still.
“Cops are after me. I stole something from a store. Didn’t mean to. It just happened. I know that one time you …” You trail off as you observe Kim’s twitching face. Their eyes are looking down and to the right and trembling. You lower your sight and see a bug crawling toward their shoe.
“Can I just … ?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Bingo!”
“That was some impressive restraint. I’m working with my doctor on things like that, things I have a hard time controlling. You did really good.”
“I almost peed myself.”
“Just now?”
“Just now. Bingo!”
“Hey!” A commanding voice interrupts your conversation. You and Kim turn to see the police officer closing the distance. He is far enough away that he needed to yell to be heard. You have just a few moments to speak to your friend before the cop is upon you. What do you do?
It is time to choose! Post a comment with your preferred course of action. After a week (or two), the votes will be tabulated and the most popular choice will act as a springboard for the next part of the story. Your choices are:
- Run from the cop
- Confuse the cop with an interpretive dance
- Show the cop the key-chain you stole and admit to your wrongdoing
Good luck!
