When you live in the country your local newspaper can be a great source of story inspiration. Our local paper prints up the local and state police reports. Some of the reports would make great hard-boiled or noir stories, but so far this November, there's been a few humorous items that would make for great stories.
One gentleman reported that $4000 worth of fishing equipment was stolen from his boat, a boat that was parked in his yard. Since the robbery time was estimated between the 1 and 25 of October, I'm guessing he had a cover on the boat and didn't discover the theft until he was launched on the lake and all set to cast out that first lure. I can see the expression on his face. If you toss in a feuding neighbor and a fishing contest, you could have a lot of fun with this one.
This next one really had me chuckling as to the possibilities. A call of shots fired from a vehicle at 9:30 pm set our local officers out on patrol. Now shots fired at night around here are pretty common and they usually warrant a call to the game wardens, not the cops. The chuckles came from the 9:50 pm report of public indecency when officers were flashed by a group of juveniles who then fled into their mobile home park trailers evading capture. You guessed it, the same area where the shots fired report came from. If you've ever seen the movie "Porkys" you can guess the line that popped into my head! "Make them drop their pants, I can identify them."
4 comments:
A story that makes terrific use of the police blotter is "Officers Weep," by Daniel Orozco. It's in "The Best American Mystery Stories 2005."
I also enjoy TV shows like "The World's Dumbest Criminals." I never could have invented the mastermind who bought a 12-pack of beer from a convenience store, drank the contents, and then wore the empty carton over his head as a disguise while he went back in and robbed the store.
Love the story with the guy and the fishing equipment. Feel bad for the guy, but your take on what happened -- he gets the boat out on the water, ready to grab his reel -- made me chuckle.
Yes, theives do some of the dumbest things, don't they, Al. What's really strange is that if you write a story like that, nine times out of ten someone will say that couldn't possibly happen.
I felt sorry for him, too, Chris! But I also wondered why he left all that expensive equipment on the boat, in his yard.
Forgot to add that my son's first thought was he needed the insurance money for the holidays or some new fishing equipment, which gives the story another angle.
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