Community Service

I got a speeding ticket on route 27.   It happened where the road goes suddenly from 55 mph to 35mph in the space of maybe two hundred yards.   A state trooper pulled me over and gave me the ticket.   I had to appear in person in county court at Hauppauge, which is a bit more than an hour away.   I was going so fast that I plead not guilty because a guilty verdict would mean points on my license or the suspension of it.   My punishment was 35 hours of community service.  

They hand you a card with community service choices. There was the South Hampton museum, the town Dump, something I can't remember and the Senior Citizens Center in South Hampton.   I knew the museum was not going to make me a curator and the dump would probably be just as bad as it sounded.  That left the Senior Citizens Center which I chose because I thought it would be great to work with the old people. Lots of wise talk and memories, I thought.  When I called to set up my service I told the lady who answered that I even played the guitar, which I thought would be great for the old people.

"Your guitar," she said.
"Yes?"
"Is it water-proof?"
"Why?"
"Because," she said, "you're gonna spend your 35 hours washing dishes."