Some people turn up in the strangest places

I've already told you that I went to the jail twice as part of my ride along, once to transport a guy who violated his parole and once to drop off the two guys that had been in a fight.  On both occasions I had the opportunity to listen and watch people get booked in while Randy ran around filling out paperwork and doing who knows what.  It was kind of interesting to see the booking procedure.  The officers basically take all of your things, search through it, put it all in a garbage bag and force you to stand in handcuffs while you answer every single question possible about yourself. 

As I was witnessing all of this, a woman who was getting out of jail came to stand next to me.  She was obviously drunk and kind of kept blabbering on but I was entertained by her and politely moved aside so that she could lean against the counter next to me.  An officer brought out her garbage bag of possessions and some papers for her to fill out and I settled in to figure out how all of this was going to work. 

Suddenly a man entered the booking area.  He wasn't under arrest and he wasn't an officer so I figured that maybe he was her husband, but I found it odd because he didn't seem upset at all that she had been arrested.  The woman greeted the man and said, "Hiya Freddy?"  She then turned to me and said, "Ya know, I feel bad but...." and shrugged her shoulders. 

I just stood there silently not knowing what to say in response.  Then the woman reached over and rubbed my back in a comforting manner.  I had no idea what to do!  It was so sweet and awkward and totally hilarious.  And the only thing I could think was, "I'm being touched by a criminal, I'm being touched by a criminal."

The man she had greeted earlier came back around the corner and the woman said, "Freddy!  How much do I owe ya?"  That's when I figured it out.  He was her bail bondsman.  But that wasn't the best part.  Because in that moment it came to me.  Her bail bondsman was a dead ringer for none other than Sigmund Freud!

Freddy Freud, Siouxland's trusted bail bondsman since 1863.  

I almost couldn't believe it!  The hair, the glasses, the beard/mustache combo, it was all perfect.  I just kept staring at the man with amazement and desperately wishing that I could interview him.  I would ask questions like "What's it like to be a bail bondsman?" and "Do you moonlight as a psychoanalyst?"  I just want to be his friend.  Is that so much to ask?