Campus Cowboys

The following is a completely true story about David, Texas, and my adventure from the other night. Enjoy. :)

On the night of Monday, August 9, 2010, David, Texas and I decided we were going to go longboarding. This is a pretty regular occurrence; we go probably at least once a week up on campus.

We started out in the spectrum parking lot just messing around there for a while. Then we went up by the stairs on the east side of that parking lot and took some pictures. We decided we were going to do a loop around campus like we normally do, but first took a pit stop at the statue of the bull.

David immediately decided he wanted to get on it, and fake becoming an ultimate aggie, meaning he would just take his shirt off and ride side saddle so it looked like he was naked. So he's up on this bull, pretending to ride it, and Texas is about to get on.

Now, if you know Utah State's campus, you know that the statue of the bull is incredibly well lit. It's also near a pretty busy street. Right as Texas was about to get on the bull, we saw a cop drive by. It didn't have it's lights on or anything, but we felt sketchy so we decided to go. All of a sudden the cop flips it's lights on and zooms up towards us. Texas and I grab all of our stuff and book it to the car. We turn around and David is GONE. He grabbed his shirt and shoes and took off, and we have no idea at all where he went.

So we pull away, thinking we'll pick him up on our way out. We're not going fast or anything, just normal parking lot speed, when we get pulled over. And when I say pulled over, I mean SURROUNDED. Three cops come speeding up. One pulls up behind us, one to the side of us, and one right in front of us, so we're completely blocked in.

The cop in front of us jumps out of the car and runs over to us. The conversation went as follows:
Texas: Hello officer, is there anything wrong?
Officer: You guys didn't happen to see a boy running past here did you? He was skinny and had long hair.
T: No sir.
O: Are you sure?
T: Yes sir.
O: *proceeds to look in the back of the car with his flashlight.
Officer then takes a description of our clothes and our license numbers. He's radioing all his other people talking to them about who know what.
O: So it's just you two up here?
T: yes sir.
O: What are you doing up here?
T: We're just longboarding sir.
O: You're not lying to me are you?
It's pertinent to mention that at this point in the encounter I completely thought we were going to be arrested.
T: No sir, we haven't seen anything.
The cop gets back on his radio and says something along the lines of "two females, story checks out, I don't think it's them.
He runs back to his car, and jumps in, and pulls out of the parking lot, lights flashing and tires squealing, and his companions soon follow him.

So at this point Texas and I CANNOT BELIEVE we got away with it. We drive around looking for David for a while, but there are cops all over the place. There must have been 8 or 9 driving around looking for him. We kept driving around, but at one point we got followed by two cops, so instead of hanging around and looking suspicious, we decided to take off.

We parked in the Petsmart parking lot and went over our options. We decided to call Dixon, who lives on campus, and ask if he'll go up and drive around looking for David. Dixon agrees, but half-an-hour later, there is still no sign of David. At this point in the night it's about twelve-thirty. So Texas and I decide that David is a smart kid, that he'll find someplace to stay and be fine. So we head home, but both feel incredibly guilty for leaving him up there.

I'm lying awake in bed at 1:57 when I receive a phone call. It's a completely foreign area code, and I have no idea who it is, but I answer anyways. It turns out it's David, and he borrowed a phone from some random creepers who were out walking at two in the morning. He asks me to come pick him up, so I call Texas, we jump in the car and scamper back on up to campus. We eventually picked him up at the northeast corner of the cemetery, where he proceeded to tell us his story.

He basically hid in the bushes for a solid three hours, and counted cop cars go by no less than 38 times. 38! So ridiculous. Good news: None of us got caught. Moral of the story: Apparently it's illegal to ride the bull. :(