911

A calm, peaceful Saturday morning.

Breakfast at the cafe with my daughter and oldest grandson. Saw lots of old friends. Caught up on news around town. Got the latest update on the price of hay and cattle.

No real agenda for the day. A day to rest and relax.

So I stopped by Hardtail's house to catch up on gossip and see what he was up to.

As we were solving the problems of the world, my cellphone rings. It's my daughter.

"Dad, if you see police at the house, don't worry."

Exactly the words every father longs to hear.

"Oliver managed somehow to dial 911."

My oldest grandson may have just set the new record for youngest prank call to the police. He is 20 months old.

Don't know how he did it, but he did it.

My daughter got them on the phone and explained. The officer explained that they are required to come to the location of any 911 call with a hangup.

It is good to live in a small town. The police arrived, they knew the family, and it was all settled with a giggle.

Can't wait to read the crime log in this week's local paper.

The family is debating if this tops the previous best 911 experience.

We were vacationing in Colorado 18 years ago.

We were in the old Denver airport for a flight back to Dallas.

The plane had a mechanical problem, so we had an hour plus wait at the gate.

There were a number of young kids on the flight, including my youngest son. He's now 23. He was then 5.

The bunch of kids started playing together much to the delight of the exhausted parents. They played tag. They ran around the long concourse. Anything to wear them out so they would sleep on the flight.

A few rowdy ones began playing on the pay phones, but we quickly shooed them back to safer activity.

The gate agent began a long and confusing message. I walked up to the counter for clarification.

About then, a horde of police surrounded the gate area. This was way prior to 9/11, so that much security got everyone's attention.

Having clarified the boarding procedure, I rounded up the clan to get on the plane.

Then a police sergeant announced loudly, "Someone just called 911 from this pay phone next to this gate. We have to identify who and why."

The boarding had already begun and not everyone heard the policeman.

My first thought was, "Who pulled that stunt?"

I had my five year old by the hand.

Then I looked down at him and he was looking up at me.

Guilty, guilty, guilty. Not a word was spoken, but his eyes told all.

I shoved him forward into the herd of passengers.

"Just get on and run as far back as you can as fast as you can and find a seat. I'll catch up with you."

And he did.

And he didn't get busted.

And the police didn't pull everyone off the plane as they would today.

And we were only an hour and a half late getting home.

To the Denver Airport Police, here's one cold case you can close.