​​​​​​Because humor is funnier when you know it's true.

A battle of wits (continued) 

Failing with that tactic, he then asked John for his identification. When he saw that John was underage, he was elated and accused me of driving with beer and a minor in the car. I said, “My father frequently brought beer home from the store with me in the car, and so I don’t think that’s a crime." 

He was really pissed, but had nothing on me. Finally, he asked, “Do you mean to tell me that you bought these two quarts of beer to drink all by yourself? Aren’t you planning to drink this beer with your underage friend?" 

This is where things became “veracity challenged.” No crime had been committed (yet), and so I felt technically correct in saying that I (now) planned to drink these beers at home by myself, and would stay home with no further plans to drive that day. Though we both knew that I was bending the truth, he had no legal reason to hold me any longer. 

And so he let us go with a look and a tone intended to impart fear in my heart. But Bud also knew that I was now legal, and was no longer a vulnerable teenage punk that he could scare with made-up laws. He could have spent the rest of the summer hassling me, but I suspect he spent his energy more fruitfully in chasing clueless teeny boppers.    

-Rick M.