A Good Ol' Fashioned Interrogation

Border Crossing
Originally uploaded by blmurch

Is it just me?

Have you ever been questioned about something you were totally innocent of, but felt yourself sweating and stuttering like you were guilty? And the more you stutter, the more nervous you get about how bad you're coming across, which only makes it all worse!

Yesterday a tall, stern faced officer of the U.S. Border Patrol took me into a small room, sat me in a chair (after a pocket and purse search), and gave me a good ol' fashioned grilling. My husband waited in another room for his turn.

The questions were all pretty reasonable: Where are you going? How much money do you have with you? Do you have any pets in the car? Do you have any alcohol, tobacco, recreational drugs, or light artillery?

He lingered on this last question and gave me a hard look. "You know, we're going to look through your vehicle, and if we find anything like this, we have the right to confiscate your car and everything in it."

I felt the wild urge to confess: Okay! Okay! We've got a box of AK47's in the back! But I swear they're for personal use!

But, seeing as we had nothing of the kind, I bit my tongue and nodded, trying to look unruffled.

I was left in a small hallway to wait, and my husband soon joined me. His face was a little red, and I could tell he was angry.
"What a waste of time," he said.
"But you're always so pro-border security."
"Ya! Except when it happens to me!" He was only half joking.
"Keep your voice down."

In the end, after an hour's wait and what appeared to be only a light car search, we were handed our keys and sent on our way.

I guess it could've been worse: By the way I was sweating, I wouldn't have been surprised if they had ordered a full cavity search.