"And You Were Worried About Me?" ... A Funny Story

PlasteredDragon

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May 6, 2014
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627
Location
Central Massachusetts
There's a little athletic field down the street from my house. It's behind a middle school and it is not well kept. There's no sprinkler system, the ground is hardscrabble in places, lots of sand and gravel mixed in with patchy "grass". Not the best for detecting either... any historic soil has been leveled away and covered with modern fill, and it's full of trash.

As you can imagine, I don't generally find much in this field, but since it's convenient, every now and again I will go there. It doesn't see a lot of use, so I almost never encounter other people when I am there.

So the other day I am hitting this field. We haven't had rain in a bit (not that it matters, the field is pretty much brown anyway) so I am keeping the digging to an absolute minimum. Most targets I am retrieving with a long screwdriver.

As I am working I hear footsteps behind me and I turn around to see a guy in a black-and-white sports shirt and shorts. He says hello and then asks me the dreaded question "are you digging?" Most people ask "have you found anything" or "what are you looking for". When someone asks you "are you digging" it's because they're about to hassle you.

But I'm not a dishonest person so I answered truthfully that I was mostly just popping coins out of the soil with a screwdriver, but that I had dug a couple targets. "You can't dig here, people play soccer on this field." I assured him that it was possible to dig targets without leaving big holes, uneven ground, or sloppy sod, and concluded with "trust me, I know what I'm doing."

His concerns were not assuaged. "Yeah but kids play here, I don't want anyone breaking their ankle." So I asked him if he was familiar with the most popular athletic field in town. Of course he was, and mentioned that he played soccer there all the time. "I've dug over 400 targets on that field. Have you heard about anyone breaking their ankle there?"

That did the trick, and it seemed to register with him that maybe he didn't know what he was talking about. "Well... not yet." "Sir I understand your concerns, and I would be mortified if anyone was ever hurt by anything I did. So I promise you I take the utmost care when I dig to make sure that everything is neat and safe. If I don't feel I can retrieve a target neatly and safely, I don't dig."

"Okay, okay." he said with a grin, and wandered off.

A few minutes later I heard voices and turned to see that some more men had arrived, they had brought soccer balls, orange plastic cones and the like, and it was clear they were getting ready to play. So I gathered up my gear and went over to greet them and discovered the man I had spoken to earlier was among them (must have been the first to arrive).

"You guys going to play a game? I'll clear out, I don't want to be in the way."

"Nahh, you're fine, we can play over there."

"No that's fine, I don't want to be in the way, I'll move along, you guys have a fun game."

"Find anything?" another one asked.

"Just a buck in change, I generally don't find much here."

"You should go over to (the exact same field I mentioned to the first guy) -- people drop money all over that place." (Don't I know it.)

I was glad that the man who had spoken to me earlier got a chance to see that his friends were totally fine with me detecting on this and other fields. We chatted a bit longer, and then I said goodbye to them. Even the guy who had originally been hassling me smiled and gave me a friendly farewell as I moved to other areas around the school.

Over the next hour I could hear the guys playing soccer (and their kids whom they had brought along) as I checked out the various lawns around the school buildings. I did okay, nothing major, maybe $3 in change (including a clad Kennedy half), and as I was getting ready to leave I suddenly heard a loud racket down on the athletic field.

I wandered over to see what was going on. Some older teen boys had shown up with a dirt bike and an ATV and were tearing around the field, making wide circles around the spot where the soccer players were trying to play. The teens weren't trying to hassle the players, they were pretty much oblivious to them, but I know exactly how a parent would feel if they were playing soccer on that field with their kids. One kid goes chasing a runaway ball in front of an ATV and blammo... a free trip to the hospital. It was clear that the soccer players weren't very happy with the motor vehicles ripping around on the field kicking up sandy dust, rocks, and clumps of dirt.

On of the teens pulled up in front of me and said "you like my bike?" (He had seen me watching.) I said "yeah it's very cool, just be careful okay man?" "Oh yeah, no worries" and VROOMMM he was off tearing around the field again.

I shook my head as I walked back to the car and though of the guy in the black-and-white sports shirt and shorts.

"And you were worried about me?" I thought to myself.
 
Great story. It just goes to show the ignorance that some people have for the hobby. Glad to see that you could set them straight in a totally diplomatic fashion. Now about those dirt bikes....!!
 
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