Bill and I were kicking back with wine and beer and chips after our day-trip to Alcatraz. He was channel surfing. I was reading Janet Malcolm on Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. A rap came to the door, then more raps: Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
Heavy. Loud. Authoritative. Not to be ignored.
I opened the door to two handsome, enormous San Francisco police officers, looking even more bulky in their bullet-proof vests. One held out a copy of our room key. Had we lost this? Had our room been broken into?
I got our actual key out of it's place in the drawer by the bed and showed it to them. We were fine. The officer thanked us and told us that they probably wouldn't have to speak to us again and asked where we were from. Canada. He had nothing to say to that. He wished us a pleasant evening and I closed the door.
Bill and I wondered what had brought them up to our room on such a flimsy pretext. Surely they had cleared up any possible problem with the desk staff. They must have insisted on coming up themselves. We amused ourselves with fantasies of how they just wanted to have a look at us and wondering whether we should have invited them in.
Hmm I think the US is just used to this random "security theatre" all of the time now. Glad the police didn't hassle you further.
ReplyDeleteI went to a monument in Chandigarh, India last week which had an entry gate made of plumbing pipe, in the tall rectangular shape of a metal detector. Worked just as well!
Lisa R-R
Thank you for the clear eyed sympathy, but we were definitely more amused than harassed, so that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteWe often remember the theatrical quality of these handsome, polite, butch police officers, filling our doorway, with their not inconsiderable bulk.
Oh, you should have invited them in... should this happen at the Guelph Holiday Inn however, send them on their way.
ReplyDeleteI could have asked them to pose.
ReplyDelete"Listen, I'm a portrait photographer. Could you stand it if I took some pictures of you? There's no light, but if you stand very still..."
My how suspicious you must appear that someone called the police on you. You're lucky they didn't have a no knock warrant, or they might have done you in.
ReplyDelete