48 Hour Short Story Contest

“You’ve been Punked”



The car finally came to a stop and Officer Smith radioed to dispatch that he may need a backup unit. Officer Smith didn’t feel good about this traffic stop because he recognized the vehicle as one driven by a member of a local street gang. The metropolis surrounding the Dallas area was inundated by street gangs and Officer Smith knew that he wasn’t prepared to handle this traffic stop on his own.

Two more police cars pulled up to the scene and approached Officer Smith’s vehicle from the rear. Officer Smith, who had his hand on his holster, pointed to the passenger’s side and the two officers responded by walking around the passenger side of Officer Smith vehicle. Officer Smith then yelled at the driver of the vehicle to shut the vehicle off and to place his hands in the air. Officer Smith noticed that the driver was reaching down between the seats and was not complying with the orders given by the officer. Officer Smith, who was standing behind the open police car door for cover, ordered the driver out of the vehicle.

The door didn’t open and the officer’s were having a hard time seeing inside of the vehicle due to its tinted windows and the fact that the sun was slowly slipping over the horizon. Officer Smith was becoming agitated and decided to use the loud speaker on his patrol car. “This is the police”, Officer Smith proclaimed. “Step out of the vehicle” was heard next and still there was no movement from the vehicle. The officers huddled at the rear of the police cruiser and attempted to revise a plan of action.

“What do we do now”, said Officer Brown

Officer Smith looked at Officer Brown and Officer Lewis and said, “I am not sure”.

While the three officers stood there talking things over a small yellow grasshopper landed on Officer Smith’s right arm. Officer Smith daydreamed and thought for a moment back to the time when he was living at home in Oklahoma and use to chase grasshoppers. Officer Smith shook his head and thought to himself, “I am in charge and I better figure this one out”. Officer Smith felt a sense of nervousness coming over him as he told the other two officers to cover him as he attempted to make contact at the driver’s door.

Officer Smith slowly crept up to the door of the vehicle. He could not see inside and made sure that he did not pass the post of the front door. Officer Smith knocked on the window and told the driver to step out of the vehicle. There was no response. Officer Smith pulled up on the door handle and felt that the door was locked. All of a sudden, the window came down and the driver handed Officer Smith a note. All Office Smith could see was a hand that was covered with a white glove. Officer Smith told the driver to get out of the car while he stood there holding the note in his hand. The driver said, “I’m not coming out until you read the note” Officer Smith and the driver argued for a few moments and then the window went back up and Officer Smith retreated back to his police cruiser.

Another police huddle ensued at the back of the cruiser. Officer Smith told the other two officers that the driver handed him a note. Officer Smith began to read the note to the others.

“Please don’t shoot”, the first line of the note read.

“I am being held hostage and he has a hammer”

“He will drop the hammer and come out if you will drop your weapons”

Standing there looking over the note, Officer Smith suddenly ran to the car radio and asked dispatch to send the SWAT unit to the scene. Officer Smith’s supervisor, Sergeant Williams, came over the radio and said, “Negative, they are not available at this time”. Officer Smith thought back to his training that he received in the academy just weeks ago. He was taught that in the case of a hostage that the SWAT team would come to the scene. At this point Officer Smith was really getting agitated and decided to make another run at going to the driver’s door of the vehicle. At that moment Sgt. Williams pulled up to the scene and asked Officer Smith to come to his vehicle. The two other officers covered the vehicle as Smith moved to the rear of Sgt. Williams’s vehicle.

Sgt. Williams was a 19 year veteran of the force and when he spoke everyone seemed to listen. Sgt. Williams told Smith to get on his car loud speaker and ask the subject to step out of the car. Sgt. Williams told Smith that when he asks he should say, “Please”. Officer Smith thought to himself that this sounds really funny coming from a decorated officer that probably eats lead for breakfast. Sgt. Williams said, “Go do it now!”

Officer Smith ran to his car, picked up the mic, and said,” This is the police would you please come out of the car”. At that moment the driver’s side door on the vehicle opened. A very large foot stepped onto the pavement. The driver stepped out of the car with his back to the officers. The subject was dressed in a multi-colored outfit and had big curly hair and appeared to be a clown. The clown started to dance around and Officer Smith could see a hammer sticking in his back pocket. Officer Smith ordered the clown to drop the hammer and the clown threw it onto the pavement. The clown then started running around in circles squirting water from a flower that was attached to the multi-colored jacket. The clown then went down to his knees and then lay down onto the pavement in the spread eagle position.

Sgt. Williams yelled at Smith to make the arrest while the other officers established cover positions. Officer Smith slowly walked up to the subject that was on the ground. As Officer Smith kneeled down to place handcuffs on the subject he saw a paper note attached to the back of the clown jacket. The note read, “Welcome to the force rookie, you have just been punked”. Officer Smith looked back at the other officers who were busting out in laughter. The clown rolled over and Officer Smith recognized the clown to be none other than his good friend Officer Clark. All of the officers shook Smith’s hand and explained that this was all part of being the rookie. Smith laughed with the guys and thought to himself how he couldn’t wait to have his fun with the next rookie that comes onboard.

Two years have passed since the little joke with the clown. Officer Smith is not a rookie anymore and has been involved with several pranks on new rookies. The in car video of the clown incident was enjoyed by many for the last two years. Officer Smith was finally able to take control of the video which was recently reported as missing.

(Word Count: 1194)


Randal WilliamsUSMC329