Life in 2005
Email from my Dad. You should probably know that they live in a part of New Mexico near the Rio Grande, where being stopped by the Border Patrol is not that extraordinary in and of itself. You also need to know that he was returning from a medical checkup.
Let's see -- how to relate the circumstances . . .
Okay -- the procedure went fine -- got to hospital early enough that I was first check-in -- the techs were really nice, the testing went like oil on glass, got through much earlier than we thought, I'll get called with the results, they even gave me 2 free meal cards, so we ate breakfast gratis at the hospital cafeteria. OK. So far so good.
Then came the trip home . . . .
All is routine until we get to the Border Patrol checkpoint by the White Sands National Monument. Roll up to where the BP guy stands, and where we usually get a "Hi" and a friendly wave-through.
Not today.
The Border Patrolman has a thing in a leather case on his belt - about the size of a personal tape recorder - holding it sorta towards the car, and he's cupping his hand over the top and squinting down at it [the sun was pretty bright]. He leans over and says "Sir, have you had any kind of medical procedure recently?".
Politely I answer: "Yes. As a matter of fact I'm just coming from the hospital in 'Cruces -- had a stress test."
"Did it involve any radioactive material?"
"Yes it did."
"Sir, please pull your car over there so we can check it out. We have to check for radiation, and we're getting a reading from you."
Done & done. We get out of the car, and one of the BP's, holding a clipboard with a form on it, goes over the car with the leedle device.
Then he came over to me, and showed me the gadget -- small window for the readout on the top-- has a little red number in the window. I don't know how high the scale goes, but they got a "2" reading on the car.
I, however, had a "9".
Then another BP person brought out a different tool -- looked almost like one of the old Geiger counters - just a little bit smaller, and bright yellow and grey. "This will tell us what material was used."
He aimed it at me and pushed the button. "Hm!" Backed up a cuppla feet, did it again -- "Hm!" Backed up again -- did it again, "Hm!" again. Finally he's about 12 feet away and says "Got it! MedTech 99." They duly write this down on their separate forms.
They were all very polite, friendly, apologetic -- kept saying it's the new rules, they have to do it, etc.
But.
Sad world we're living in, isn't it.
And most likely the car now has a "record". I'll know for sure next time we go through a Border Patrol checkpoint.
Let's see -- how to relate the circumstances . . .
Okay -- the procedure went fine -- got to hospital early enough that I was first check-in -- the techs were really nice, the testing went like oil on glass, got through much earlier than we thought, I'll get called with the results, they even gave me 2 free meal cards, so we ate breakfast gratis at the hospital cafeteria. OK. So far so good.
Then came the trip home . . . .
All is routine until we get to the Border Patrol checkpoint by the White Sands National Monument. Roll up to where the BP guy stands, and where we usually get a "Hi" and a friendly wave-through.
Not today.
The Border Patrolman has a thing in a leather case on his belt - about the size of a personal tape recorder - holding it sorta towards the car, and he's cupping his hand over the top and squinting down at it [the sun was pretty bright]. He leans over and says "Sir, have you had any kind of medical procedure recently?".
Politely I answer: "Yes. As a matter of fact I'm just coming from the hospital in 'Cruces -- had a stress test."
"Did it involve any radioactive material?"
"Yes it did."
"Sir, please pull your car over there so we can check it out. We have to check for radiation, and we're getting a reading from you."
Done & done. We get out of the car, and one of the BP's, holding a clipboard with a form on it, goes over the car with the leedle device.
Then he came over to me, and showed me the gadget -- small window for the readout on the top-- has a little red number in the window. I don't know how high the scale goes, but they got a "2" reading on the car.
I, however, had a "9".
Then another BP person brought out a different tool -- looked almost like one of the old Geiger counters - just a little bit smaller, and bright yellow and grey. "This will tell us what material was used."
He aimed it at me and pushed the button. "Hm!" Backed up a cuppla feet, did it again -- "Hm!" Backed up again -- did it again, "Hm!" again. Finally he's about 12 feet away and says "Got it! MedTech 99." They duly write this down on their separate forms.
They were all very polite, friendly, apologetic -- kept saying it's the new rules, they have to do it, etc.
But.
Sad world we're living in, isn't it.
And most likely the car now has a "record". I'll know for sure next time we go through a Border Patrol checkpoint.
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