benefits of small town life

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS TRUE, NO NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT
A few days ago, the children and I ventured off to Alco, a local variety store, to exchange a shotgun. The shotgun belonged to Wes and had failed to work after a short period. I was ok with the gun no longer working because the working part involved making noise, however, we decided that for the price, it should have worked longer. Anyway, we get to Alco and find another gun to replace our defective one. I realize that I had just put new batteries in our original gun, and being thrifty wanted to keep my batteries. So we make our way over to the tools to see if we can find something to open up this gun, because everyone with children knows that it is not as simple as opening a lid to replace batteries... you must first find the tiniest screw driver ever made by man. I think we used to change our own batteries, so I know there were no screws involved. We find the screw drivers, but most are in pacakges--sealed packages. Finallywe found a screw driver that we could use to retrieve our new batteries and we were off to the return isle. The nice lady was helping us with our exchange when this other customer walked up in front of me and began to explain that she had been overcharged for some downey. The sales lady started to explain that she would be right with her when an officer of the law stepped in and said to the downey lady that she needed to finish their conversation. Downey lady told the officer to wait a minute. He explained that he needed to see her ID. She refused. He insisted. I am trying to get my gun and get out of here, and my kids are GLUED to the action. I keep trying to finish my business ASAP and keep the kids facing the opposite way they want. If I only had two kids, it might be possible, but two hands and three kids is not real math. This lady contines to insult the officer and his authority, and he arrests her.... mind you this is about 2-3 feet from where we are standing. This lady has two small children with her in the bakset, and the supporting officer is calling CPS for the kids who are screaming by now.... not my kids, they are SILENT. So we start out the door leaving this scene to unfold further, and my kids ALL want to hold my hand... they never want to hold my hand even when I insist. They are very concerned about all that they have seen and ask many questions. This is something I never expected to see in my life, let alone at ALCO in Dalhart. We travel home and I do my best to explain that it is important to be respectful and follow the rules or when we grow up, we have much bigger trouble.....