Officer

"Driver's license and registration, please."

 

"Yeah, oh, I guess I fell asleep. I just pulled over here because I was tired and didn't want to be on the road."

 

"Okay, license and registration, please, sir."

 

The driver of the car is young, in his twenties, and nervous with the police officer's flashlight blinding him from the left.

 

"Here you go. Everything's there."

 

"How many drinks have you had tonight?"

 

"What?"

 

"I detect an odor of alcohol on your breath. How many drinks have you had tonight, sir?"

 

"Uh...two...or three...like three hours ago. I was at my stepmother's birthday party and I had a few beers."

 

"Two or three? I smell booze on you. How much did you really have to drink tonight?"

 

"Three beers. I had three beers but I stopped drinking like two hours ago. I had some soda since then, but that's it."

 

"Then why did you pass out behind the wheel in this parking lot?"

 

"I didn't pass out. I fell asleep. I was really tired when I left the party so I stopped at this Dunkin Donuts for coffee to wake myself up. I was sitting here drinking it and I guess I fell asleep."

 

The police officer holds the license and registration down and away from the flashlight and plays its light over the car's interior.

 

"No drugs or weapons I need to know about in here?"

 

"No, no drugs or weapons."

 

The driver laughs uneasily, trying to win the officer over and show how preposterous a question that seems to a law-abiding person.

 

"Okay, please step out of the vehicle for a minute."