An M-16? Really do I look that Dangerous?

Any other pregnant woman out there had a machine gun held on them today?

I'm not sure if any of you have heard, but Jamaica is declared in a "State of Emergency". Without going into much detail, there is a drug lord who is supposed to be extradited to America for leading a dangerously violent global drug ring. One paper stated he "supplied much of NYC." Many Jamaican gangs are causing riots because this man is revered by some Jamaicans as a Robin Hood-type figure. In the last few days, many police stations have been ambushed and shot up pretty bad, they have set up road blocks and blocked main roads, bridges, and the road to the airport. The town that we lived in for three months, is having a pretty rough time of it also. The police station has been shot up, and there are killings. It is a pretty sad situation.

The good news is, this is mostly all happening on the other side of the Island, in the capitol. The American embassy has urged us to maintain a low profile. We've made a few preparations and stocked up our groceries. We use our heads and pray for wisdom and guidance.

This afternoon, Josh and I drove into Montego Bay. We had just passed the roundabout and were headed up a steep hill. A police truck behind us started flashing his lights and honking his horn. We thought they wanted around, so Josh tried to pull the van off the road, but it was to narrow. They continued honking their horn....getting more frantic. Finally we found a driveway and pulled over in it.

Josh got out of the van and walked around where 3 policeman surrounded him. One was in full gear...fluffy bullet proof vest and all! What caught my attention was the M-16 he had pointed at my husband.

Something I didn't notice, but we had a good laugh later about, was the man who did all the talking. When the "main dude" got out of his truck he was waving his fingers like they were a gun. He was pointing his fingers...even cocked sideways...gangster style...yelling "put your hands up!!!! I said, put your hands up!!!!" Josh almost didn't even believe he was serious because he was so extremely pointing his gun/fingers. Seriously does that really work? If it had been the man holding the artillery...it would have been a little more believable.

Anyways, while Josh is being frisked by the caulky cop, I'm watching through the back window. He then trots over to the drivers window and looks through the van. He asked me who else was in the van. I looked at him and. thought....”you just looked, something wrong with your eyes?” Out loud I said, “Just me.” He ordered me out of the van. Not really a problem. What ticked me off was Jr. holding the machine gun coming around and pointing at me. Honestly!

I guess I looked pretty dangerous. Most pregnant women in long skirts can’t be trusted....hehe....if he only knew. He looked younger then me and pretty gullible...but I was mad now. I gave him a (mild) dirty look. The ring leader badgered us for maybe 10 minutes. Asking us if we knew "what we did wrong" and telling us "if we didn’t know we were only making it harder on ourselves". I couldn’t believe how rude he was. He asked me if I had a drivers license. When I told him, “no”, he asked me again. Like I was hiding something from him. I said, “Only an AMERICAN one.” I couldn’t help it....I lifted my head up a little when I said American. Then he asked me if I knew what “we” did wrong. When I told him,”no” again, he asked me if we had been sleeping. I’m telling you, I can’t believe how rude they are.

A passenger bus of white American tourist drove by and they were all gawking out the window at us.

Finally the inspector got a phone call and had an emergency to go to. He told us that we had illegally passed him on the roundabout....we honestly didn’t know know this! He told us, “I don’t want to let you go without a ticket, your getting off is not by my will.”

What a day! I’m very thankful that the girls happened to not be with us. This is only the third time we’ve gone out without them.