It was 1973 and I was 13 years old. A friend was having a 13th birthday party/sleepover one Friday evening. There were 13 of us at the party in a home on the edge of city limits - Austin, MN had a population of about 26,000 at the time.
We started the evening by having pizza and the birthday girl opened her gifts. Then it was decided that we needed to go for a walk in the cemetery nearby. All 13 of us started walking along the side of the road toward the cemetery (I would guess this was approximately a quarter of a mile). It was just beginning to get dark and traffic was pretty light.
As we began to get closer to our destination one of the 13 said, "Hey, let's all moon the next car." Two girls decided this was a great idea and proceeded to drops their pants and moon the car. The other 11 girls realized, with a significant amount of horror, that the car being mooned was a Police vehicle. The Police turned on their flashy lights as the turned the car around. The two girls who mooned the cop ran across the street to the heavily wooded area, while the rest of us ran to the cemetery and attempted to hide behind one, large headstone. The Police pulled into the cemetery and asked us to step out from behind the stone. As we did one of my friend's whispered, "Oh no, I've peed my pants" and another said "I broke my glasses and can't find my lens" (it was the 70s and if we had glasses they were wire-rims).
The Police instructed us that we had broken the law and that they were going to take us into the station and book us for indecent exposure. The tears began to flow from many, some of us tried to reason with the officer, and all 11 of us climbed into the back of the squad car. On our trip to the station I continued to attempt to reason with the officer and there was no negotiating.
We were all brought into a room and told to wait. This was the longest wait in my life! About 5 minutes later two officers (different from those who brought us to the station) entered the room and one said, "All right, here is what we are going to do. We are going to take your names and tomorrow all of your parents will be called about tonight. We are going to let you go for now and you and 30 minutes to get home before the 10:30 pm curfew for minors. I suggest you all talk with your parents about what happened tonight so no one is surprised tomorrow." We all left and ran the 2 - 3 mile distance from the station to the sleepover/birthday party.The Police drove by us every so often as we ran back to the house we were staying at. I remember that made me feel safer - after the excitement of that evening, the night suddenly didn't feel so good.
The two girls who ran into the woods (and had gotten all of us in this mess) were outside the house waiting, worrying, and wondering what to do. We all went back inside the party and headed to the basement to talk. I don't recall what was decided but I was the only one of us that told my parents. The others figured the Police won't call and even if they did, they would just wait to let their parents know what happened. So, I was the only one of 13 that was grounded - for 6 parties (an eternity!) and no telephone for two weeks. The others thought I was pretty stupid for telling my parents. I thought they would laugh at the incident since I hadn't mooned the cop. They weren't happy with me - probably more scared than angry. The Police never called any of the parents.
Thankfully my friends invited me to several parties that weren't really parties and my sentence was shortened. My family still gives me a hard time about this. I got very tired of hearing "Moon River" over and over as I grew up.
One of the two who mooned the cop married a minister. I wonder what her children have done to cause her to worry? I wonder what the cops were thinking that night? I suppose they had a good laugh! Many of the parents of the 13 were good friends. I wonder now if my parents ever talked about this night with the other parents.
This was the most trouble I've been in....well, the most trouble that I'm willing to share here!!
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