Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Leniency (04/18/24)
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TITLE: A Speed Bump | Previous Challenge Entry
By Stephen Pallesen
04/24/24 -
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Bored teenagers going for a drive. Ashleigh suggested we should head down to the lake, Luke agreed, “lets do some handbrake slides on the grass.” He quipped.
We pulled into the reserve, there on the left side of the big oval were two cars whose headlights blinded us in the darkness of the night, fear hit me for a second, ‘I wonder if they’re drug dealers? Better go the other way round the oval rather than driving past them.’ I thought. Bad thought, wrong thought. I pulled over the curb and onto the grass field, I slammed on the gas and the big V6 engine roared as it sent the car flying forward, I turned the wheel hard and pulled the emergency brake, once, twice, three times, the car spun in circles tearing up the turf with no remorse. “No that’s not good enough bro, let me have a turn.” Luke said. Then we were disturbed, blue and red lights lit up the night sky and my heartrate quickened. “Oh no, it’s the cops!” I stopped.
30 minutes later my car was on a truck on its way to the impound lot and we were taking a ride in the back of a police car back into town.
New Zealand law is really harsh for this sort of misdemeanor, 28 days of impound for my car, loss of license for six months and the possibility of a criminal conviction. I had to go to court and face the judge, three months I waited with trepidation, how will this effect my future? Will I be able to travel overseas? What will it be like to stand before the judge?
Luke’s dad Tony was a pastor of a local church. He wrote me a letter to give to the judge saying that I was an upstanding citizen, but the thing is I’d done it before, and I’d done worse, 100 metre long smokey burnouts in my old Mercedes out on country roads. Same town, different time, different place. God was gracious, God was lenient, he let me get caught on grass doing it, when I could’ve been caught out at a worse time in a worse place, and nobody ever got injured.
My court date came and the lawyer that I was given showed the letter to the judge. The police woman in charge wanted to make an example of me given that the lawlessness of street racers had seen police getting shot at with air rifles and other hooligan behaviour in another city, it had been broadcasted all over the news. The judge highlighted the various punishments that could be given for repeat offenders, including up to three months jail time. After reading the letter he said, “I’m sure you didn’t actually know why you did what you did. But I don’t see you as a street racer and so you’ll have to pay the fine and lose your license but I am going to give you a discharge from receiving a criminal conviction so nothing goes on your permanent record.”
I was incredibly relieved as I had done a number of reckless things on the roads over the years, and I had learnt my lesson, my driving became much better after this. Thankfully God showed me leniency and he gave me a lenient judge.
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Your writing was a case of raw honesty.
Perhaps next time you might try a few more paragraphs to make the reading easier and comfortable for the reader. A well-set entry draws more attention. And your thoughts on leniency deserve attention.