Vermont and Back

I think it was Dereks’s idea—or maybe Jason’s.
There was a shit ton of weed in Vermont.
We just had to go get it.

We hopped in the convertible and drove up to Montpelier for 4th of July weekend.

Gabby was from there.
She had family up there.
More importantly, she had the connection up there to set us up with a few pounds of the stickiest ickiest we could get.

Jason drove Gabby’s RAV4.
Derek and I traded off in the convertible.
Gabby rode with us—she and Jason were fighting.

We detoured through Trenton to stay the night with Derek’s cousin. The cousin, I don’t remember his name, was in construction. The house itself was also in construction.

Over a very late dinner he told us how due to a permit issue, he basically had to build a new house around the one he bought. From the outside, the place looked amazing, but stepping into the front door revealed plywood flooring and a narrow path to the second front door.

It was a mess, but the couches we crashed on were comfortable at least. And we didn’t need to pay for a hotel.

Next morning, we passed through NYC. It was my first time crossing the George Washington bridge. I got lost in the maze of the interchange and ended up heading the wrong direction deep into the Bronx. Derek pulled out the mapquest directions we had printed, and was at least somewhat familiar with the area. With him navigating we got back onto 87N.

We rolled into Montpelier that evening.

We crashed at Gabby’s parents’ place. They were kind and welcoming. We were again grateful to not have to pay for a motel for the nights we were there.

The parents were classic granola hippies. The bathroom had a little sign that even said “if it’s yellow, let it mellow”. Apparently this pretty much taken to heart by everyone in the house.

Montpelier was doing their 4th of July fireworks on the 3rd. That morning we met up with Gabby’s connect and loaded the trunk of my car with several pounds of weed. It was all packed in gallon ziplock bags,

It was Gabby’s birthday, or close to it.
I almost never had the top up on that convertible.

She asked if she could sit on the back, like a princess.

Of course I said yes.
I slowed down. We were having a fantastic time.

Then we got pulled over.

She knew the cop—apparently they went to high school together.
So it ended up being a non-issue.

Still…
We had enough cannabis in the trunk to send us all away for a long time.

The drive back was quiet.
We stayed at Derek’s cousin’s place again.

Then we hit the road toward PA to connect with I-81 south.
Jason had a guy in Nelson who could flip the load in the trunk.

That was the plan.

I zoned out.
Top down.
Nice weather.
Not much traffic.

The Crystal Method was on the stereo.
I was in the zone.

“That was a cop,” Derek said.

I blinked.

“Uh… where?”

“You passed him like he was standing still. How fast are we going?”

I looked down.

“About 130.”

Derek laughed.

I shook Gabby awake.

“We’re about to have a problem.”

I didn’t slow down.
I kept pace until we were about a mile from the West Virginia line.

I eased down to just 5 mph over the limit.

Came around a bend—
Three PA state troopers filled the lanes ahead of us, lights spinning.

They boxed us in and slowed.

We kept driving.
Passed the state line.

One trooper pulled up alongside me.

I gestured: Want me to pull over?
He shook his head no.

We kept driving.
One mile. Two. Three.
Now into West Virginia.

At about 4.5 miles past the border, he blipped the siren and pointed to the side of the road.

I pulled over.

We waited.

Engine off.

Eventually, one officer approached on my side.
Another came around toward the passenger side.

“Got any weapons on ya, son?”

I shook my head.
“No, sir.”

“You know how fast you were going back there?”

“Not really,” I said. “The speedometer stops at 120—so it’s anyone’s guess past that.”

He shook his head, smirking.

“Son, I could sit here the rest of the day writing you up.
You got out-of-state plates.
Expired inspection.
And you were going 142 when you passed one of my buddies.
What the hell were you thinking?”

Gabby leaned over me—grabbed my crotch—and smiled sweetly.

“It was my fault, officer.
I was doing my best to distract him.
Told him the faster he went, the faster I would…”

She started rubbing my crotch. It felt amazing.

The cop just blinked in disbelief.

“I’m going to need you to step out of the car”

I opened my door, and before I took a step out the cop interrupted again.

“Ya’’ll carrying any drugs”

I froze a bit when he said that. Gabby started to say something, but I cut her off.

“Yeah, we’ve about 10lbs of weed, want some?

The cop laughed. Then continued with

“When I said out of the car, I meant all three of you”

Derek looked mortified that I just volunteered how much we had on us. Gabby opened her door and stepped out, hitting the button on her seat to give Derek the room to get out behind her.

The cop on my side gave me a quick pat down. I watched as his partner on the other side of the car give Derek a quick pat down as well, and then give Gabby a very thorough pat down. Very thorough.

“You can get back in the car”

He said, directed at me. Then the partner asked Gabby for her ID, and went back to the cop car.

“This is truly y’all’s lucky day,” he said.

He radio’d to the other patrol cars that had stopped with us, and they departed. It was just him and his partner now.

“Can you go ahead and open the trunk”

I did. As he walked around to the back, so did Gabby. The weed wasn’t hidden or anything, just sitting in the bags in the back of the trunk. The cop whistled when he saw it, that slow whistle that says everything.

“I’m going to need to pat you down again”

He directed that towards Gabby. He pushed her against the car and gave her another very thorough pat down. This one more lewd than his partner.

The partner returned from the cop car, and announced that she had no priors.

And then he let out a similar whistle when he saw the contents of the trunk.

“What do you think we should do with ya’ll”

The primary cop asked Gabby, still giving her a “pat down”

She played into it, grinding her ass back towards the cop.

“I think I’m going to need to interrogate you”

He led Gabby back towards the police car. The partner stayed behind, leaving us in terse silence.

In the side mirror I could the cop sitting in the passenger seat of the cop car, door open. I couldn’t see Gabby from my angle, but I could imagine the interrogation happening.

After several minutes, they came back to the car.

“She was very talkative”

He said to the partner.

Gabby sat down in the passenger seat. The cop walked around to the back of the car, out of sight from my view and talking to his partner. Then abruptly shut the trunk and walked back to the drivers side.

He looked up at his partner. Then back to me.

“I don’t want to see you.
I don’t want to see this car.
And I especially don’t want to see you breaking another law in my state.”

“You come back—
and I’ll file the paperwork to put y’all behind bars for a very long time.”

To his partner:

“Too bad they crossed jurisdictions.
Radio it in. They’re West Virginia’s problem now.”

The partner just chuckled.

“Oh, and ya’ll, we grabbed a couple bags of your cargo. Now I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t put a call into WV troopers to alert them of a suspected drug trafficking vehicle. If I were ya’ll, I wouldn’t linger now”

We drove off.

Quickly.