And Justice For All?

It's 10:00 ish on Monday night. The phone rings. "Hello?", I cautiously answer. (we don't believe in the power of caller I.D. at my house, so we never know who's calling) At the other end of my phone line, is a man's voice. He wants to know if I am the mother of my daughter. My first xanax induced sleepy thought, is "DUH, who else would her mother be you idiot??".... but then I slowly realize, that this just might not be good. Did I hear him say, this is Officer sombody or another?......No, surely not. My daughter is 2 streets over watching a movie with her boyfriend.But, then again, I swear to God this strange man calling my house this late at night, DID say something about calling from the Police Station. OH UH-UH!! A parents worst nightmare, has just rang my line. This is totally not happening. As if I don't already have enough going on! My first thoughts begin to flood my into my mind. I can't think!! As long as she isn't dead, I won't be mad for whatever stupid thing she's done. Please God, don't let her be dead. I can handle anything else. Not that............."Is she alright?", I ask, officer Billy Bob, trying to sound as calm, and as normal as any other person would be at that moment. And then, the moment comes.... "Yes ma'am, she's fine. She's just in a bit of trouble. We need you to come down here and pick her up.""What?!" Oh Heck no! Did you say trouble? Here I am, 500 thousand thoughts racing through my mind, worried over her safety, and you just said TROUBLE???? Well, if she wasn't dead already, then she was about to be, and actually, I think I will be able handle it! Crap! For a split second, I forget that Keith is 21,000 thousand miles away, and I am the single parent of 2 kids, ONE of which is in the bed asleep, and then obviously, the other is at the FREAKING POLICE STATION! Now I have to drag my son down there with me....."Mom, where are we going??" Nowhere, just get your shoes on and get in the car..... (a.d.h.d kicks in): "But moooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I wannaaaaaaaaaaaa know where we are goooooooooooing!!!" Be quiet. "How much lonnnnnnnger????" Be quiet. "It's soooo dark! Looook at the moon!" Be quiet. I wonder what the temperature of the moon is?! Do you know, mom? Be quiet "MOM!!!!!!!! Where are we GOING??" To go get your 15 year old sister out of JAIL!!!!!!! NOW BE QUIET! "Oh....Ok". Finally, silence.I arrive at the offices of our small town's, world reknowned, vice headquarters, and find the parking lot to be quite interesting. I count cars. 1, 2, 3 town cops, 1 deputy, the boyfriends moms car, friends moms car... Dang, what the heck have they done? This was the big time! It was straight out of Miami Vice, just without all the great looking guys and the pretty ocean views. A real live scene from Cops. I immediately start humming, "bad boy bad boy, whatcha gonna do?", then quickly realize that it's just doesn't seem appropriate right this second.As I enter the station, that's about the size of a bread box, I'm directed to where the little deliquents are seated. I put on my mean face. The really mean one. And then I see her. And she's alive and kicking, sitting there not a care in the world, not the least little bit of remorse written on her face. Whatever she and her friends had done, she wasn't the least bit worried about it. Smiling at me as if I should be proud of the fact that I'm staring at her square in the face, her hair is dyed purple, and we are at the police stationin the middle of the night. Not a single care. Not even a little bit. My idiot child, has been stealing street signs, and rolling houses. There's the sign laying right there. Summer Trail."GOOD JOB....... Nice purple hair", I say to her. Not sure where to go from there. Just pissed that I should be in bed, and here I am with the Haughton 5.0.... Well, we finally make it home..... I'm going to let this sink in, before I respond. And over the course of a few days, I realize, that she has NO remorse. None. Could not care less. As a matter of fact, she claims it was the best night of her life! These are her words, exactly... "Hey mom, I know it's not cool and all, and I have never done anything like this before, but just think about it... In one night, I went rolling, dyed my hair purple, and went to jail for felony theft!!" Is she kidding me?? When all the others were crying, and terrified, MY daughter prays to God to give her "caring" feelings so her mom will go easy on her!!!! She tells officer Billy Bob that the ONLY way he can make her cry, is with freaking pepper spray in her eyes! Wtf?? Is she a sociopath? I ask her that....Finally, I think that I'm getting through to her, giving her the talk about what's right and wrong...she seems to be responding a tad bit. Maybe I can get through to her. It's not about all the homeless street signs, its the fact that you took something that is NOT yours. Get it? It's called stealing. Sure, everyone wants a street sign to hang in their room. And I'm sure that all the street signs of the world are just sitting there on their poles waiting to be rescued by all the youth of our country. Saving them from the heat and cold, and all the weather related atrocities they have to deal with. But, you just can't do it. End of story. (yeah, a little too late, probably) But, I think I'm having an impact on her. When all of a sudden, after 15 minutes of silence, my angel looks at me, and says......"Mom, ..... I AM going to get that sign again!"