𝗠𝗬 𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗘 𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗛 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗧𝗠My Son Became Best Friends With Two Police Officers

We only stopped by the bank for five minutes. Five.

I told my son to stay close while I used the ATM in the lobby. He was in one of those moods—curious, wiggly, asking questions about everything from ceiling fans to how money “comes out of the wall.” Next thing I know, I turn around and he’s full-on chatting up two California Highway Patrol officers by a table near the front entrance like they’re his long-lost uncles.

I panicked at first, ready to apologize for him bothering them, but before I could even step in, one of the officers crouched down to his level and handed him a shiny sticker badge.

That was it. Bond sealed. My son puffed out his chest like he’d just been promoted. Started asking about their walkie-talkies, what the buttons did, and—this part I’ll never forget—whether they “eat donuts or just save them for emergencies.”

Both officers burst out laughing. One of them, Officer Raynor, looked at me and said, “You’ve got a future detective here.”

I smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, or a very persistent negotiator.”

What was supposed to be a five-minute errand turned into a full thirty minutes of my son sitting on a bench, legs swinging, hanging on every word these officers said. He asked about their patrol car, whether they ever caught “bad guys with banana peels,” and even offered them a bite of the granola bar he had in his pocket. (I intervened on that one.)Eventually, I thanked them and said we had to go. They both told him to “stay out of trouble, Deputy,” and handed him a little CHP coloring book and junior officer card before we left.

I thought that would be the end of it.

But the next day, as I was packing his lunch, he asked, “Can we go to the bank again? I need to show them my drawing.”

I blinked. “What drawing?”

He held up a picture he made of the two officers, standing next to him, with big cartoon heads and matching uniforms. Above them, in crooked letters: “ME AND MY FRIENDS RAYNOR AND JULES.”