A couple of weeks ago I found myself wandering aimlessly through the French Quarter with nothing to do.

I had been with friends earlier but they left to go home, and there I was alone on Bourbon Street at 2 a.m. with nothing particular on my mind.

I should have realized that this was a recipe for trouble, and I should get back on the streetcar immediately.

However, my lack of common sense won out, and I continued to wander further down Bourbon Street.

As I continued to walk I became extremely bored. Shortly thereafter I passed a group of police officers on horses. There were three of them, and they were ‘doing their job.’
What I mean by this is that they were flirting with a large group of women who were petting the horses and giggling.

Upon seeing this I assumed that these police officers would have a sense of humor. This assumption proved to be very much incorrect.

I sauntered over to the group and decided to test the sense of humor of one of the officers. With great enthusiasm, I slapped the horse on its hindquarters and yelled “Yah! Yah!”
I thought this was funny, but my humorous moment was short lived.

The officer did a 180 with his horse and with great enthusiasm yelled, “Hey!”

Seeing this negative turn of events I decided it was best for me to turn and run in the opposite direction.

The police officer then began to pursue me on horseback. Luckily, it was only the one officer and not all three of them.

I looked back and saw that he was weaving through the crowd of people on Bourbon Street and gaining ground on me.

It would have been easy enough to blend in with the crowd on any given night.
However, this night I had chosen to wear a purple hat and a leopard print fur coat — not my best decision.

In order to get away I ran left down a crowded side street and then proceeded to slip into a somewhat narrow alley.

I saw the officer on his horse gallop past the alley I was in and I figured I had lost him.
After waiting five minutes, I decided it would be for the best to slip off my leopard jacket and purple hat and get to the streetcar.

I got back home and promised myself that I would never again slap the back of a horse, especially if there is a police officer riding it.