More on that crosswalk incident

I never could have guessed that a simple matter of condensation on a sidewalk could be the catalyst for a potential international incident.

As part of their strategy to help my fellow aliens assimilate into society, as well as curry their favor, the local government has allotted small but adequate sums of currency to the recent immigrants.  This is meant to help them get on their feet while they find a way to blend into society and contribute back to it.  My race is not used to the concept of money, and other than to pay for certain necessary living costs, we have little use for it as a means of consumption.  This means, we are not used to buying nice things.

The nice thing in question was a pair of suede shoes that a certain kinsman of mine purchased with specific instruction to not get them wet.  That combined with a very prominent puddle on the sidewalk caused him to cross the street at one of the more ill-conceived crossings.

As a side note, I wonder why so many streets have crosswalks between blocks.  They seem to cause more harm than good for people that are clearly too lazy to walk to the end of a block to cross the street.  In my opinion, an extra fifty paces could not be that strenuous.

In any case, the alien in question was confused as to when he was allowed to walk after another pedestrian started walking before he got a signal.  This confusion let to him not paying attention to another puddle that had formed in the crosswalk, and in his moment of panic he caused a traffic jam that was a little greater than most.  Fortunately, no accidents occurred.

This might not seem too bad, but the poor fellow was so panicked by the situation, he went out of his way to find the nearest peace officer to turn himself in for “breaking the rules.” The policeman was of course thoroughly confused by this man’s behavior, not knowing the nature of this person’s origin, so he took the man for an insane transient.

It took hours to sort out the mess until I was finally contacted, but it is still quite the legal and public relations mess to clean up, and my “friends” in the government assume I will take care of the situation.  For the sake of my brethren, I have to, but one of these days something actually bad will happen, and I do not know how I will take care of that on my own.