Crazy crane… kids

Last Thursday evening, Brian and I went to the downtown Beanery per tradition. When we arrived, damn near everybody was outside, staring up at the building under construction across the street. A number of police officers were on the scene, as were an ambulance and a fire truck. While Brian plowed his way to the door, I stopped and chatted with the first group of people we passed to find out what was going on.

A bunch of guys had climbed up the crane being used in the building’s construction. They were apparently quite loud… until the police showed up. Then they got reeeeeal quiet. (I clarified that these were just stupid guys, not suicidal guys.)

This unusual experience (hey—this is a small town!) had sucked all the people out of the Beanery as if the place were on fire. The Beanery staff even took the opportunity to put all the unused chairs up for the evening, the place was so dead inside.

There was a decent line of customers, though, even if they all chose to sit outside. Of note was a cute EMT who was getting a cup of joe; as I told Brian, I was tempted to call 911 to find out who she was.

Before we ordered, Brian asked the Beanery staff if they had put those kids up to climbing the crane in an effort to drum up business. One of the gals we don’t know as well called that the most horrible thing she’s heard all evening. Ashley—the gal we know better—just said “no.”

After we obtained our food, we trucked outside—to rubberneck the rubberneckers (meta-rubbernecking, if you will). The people actually weren’t all that interesting to watch; more fun were the group of officers across the street, huddled together and sharing one set of binoculars to try and see what in the world was going on up at the top of the crane. (The idea of officers fighting over binoculars amused—and amuses—me to no end.) Brian thought he saw one officer on the roof of the building (ostensibly part of a sweep for other people), but otherwise there just wasn’t much action.

Brian also commented on a difference in styles: had we climbed up the crane, we would have just sat quietly and enjoyed the view—and most likely wouldn’t have attracted the attention of the fuzz.

As we chatted inside the Beanery, right before it closed, we heard that the guys on the crane had come down without incident. I was disappointed, because if they had stayed up there longer we would have had the perfect opportunity to break the law anywhere in town that wasn’t near the end of Second Street.

Twenty-five MPH? HA!

 

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