I was a rookie, fresh from the academy, patrolling the mall parking lot on my first afternoon tour. The winter air was crisp and dry and I watched as dozens of shoppers parked and walked to the stores to exchange the Christmas gift that didn't fit or to take advantage of the January clearance sales. I rode up and down the aisles and, seeing no problems, began to work my way to the western exit that would take me to the highway and, ultimately, to the diner for dinner.
Driving down the final row of cars I saw her. She was frantically waving me down. Something was wrong. According to procedure, I called in the license plate number of her car and got out of my vehicle. She ran up to me, "Oh, officer, I need your help. I accidentally locked my keys in the car and my baby is in the back seat." I looked her over. She was about 21 years old, a few years younger than me. She had that wholesome kind of farm girl look. You know, well scrubbed with little make-up. She was wearing winter clothes so it was kind of hard to see her body. But, nothing could hide the fact that she was well-developed on top. I went around to the side of the car and looked in to see a six month old infant in her car seat on the back seat of the 1966 gold Ford.
I told the mother to remain calm and I would have the car open in short order. We had a tool specifically for these circumstances and I went to my car to retrieve it. Within a couple of minutes, the lock was popped and mother and daughter were reunited. I checked the mother's identification documents and headed back to my patrol vehicle with the good feelings of a job well done. The mother, Nicki, was positively effusive with thanks. She insisted that she wanted to do something special to thank me for rescuing her and her child.
I explained that it wasn't necessary but she would have none of it. Nicki suggested that her husband would also like to thank me and, seeing no harm in that, I agreed to have dinner with them the following night, which was my day off. Nicki said she would swing by my apartment complex on the way home from her part-time job so I could follow her home. "It's kind of complicated to give directions," she said. "I'll be by around 5:30 and don't bother to dress up, we're pretty casual people." That was good news.