The priest smiled calmly, folded his hands over the steering wheel, and said, \u201cOfficer, I assure you, I\u2019ve only been drinking water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officer raised an eyebrow and pointed at the empty bottle on the passenger-side floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen perhaps you can explain why that bottle clearly says Merlot<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest glanced down, then back at the officer, looking genuinely puzzled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He picked up the bottle, turned it over in his hands, and gasped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continue reading on next page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \u201cGood heavens!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The officer blinked. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest held the bottle up toward the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s done it again!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The officer frowned. \u201cWho\u2019s done what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest lowered his voice dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Lord. He\u2019s turned my water into wine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a moment, the officer simply stared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he crossed his arms. \u201cVery funny, Father. Step out of the vehicle, please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest complied, still looking astonished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the officer began preparing for a sobriety test, another patrol car pulled up behind them. A second officer stepped out, curious about the delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her partner sighed. \u201cFather here claims this wine bottle used to be water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second officer looked at the priest, then at the bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without missing a beat, the priest nodded solemnly. \u201cI\u2019m as surprised as anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She bit back a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll right, Father,\u201d she said. \u201cWalk in a straight line for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest did so perfectly\u2014heel to toe, without the slightest wobble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow stand on one leg.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He balanced with ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRecite the alphabet backward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He paused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOfficer, I\u2019m a priest, not a magician.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the first officer chuckled at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, he wasn\u2019t entirely convinced. \u201cIf you\u2019ve only had water, why do you smell like wine?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest thought for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cI did attend a church fundraiser earlier. There was communion, a spaghetti dinner, and Sister Margaret insists on greeting everyone with a hug strong enough to transfer perfume, cologne, and apparently the entire contents of the wine table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second officer laughed outright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first officer shook his head, trying not to smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just then, the priest reached into the back seat and pulled out a casserole dish covered in foil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was actually on my way to deliver this to the church picnic tomorrow. Care for a sample? It\u2019s my famous baked ziti.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aroma drifted through the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first officer\u2019s stern expression softened immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs that homemade?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIndeed,\u201d said the priest. \u201cThough after today, I may need to add a little less \u2018holy water.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That did it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both officers burst out laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first officer handed back the priest\u2019s license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll right, Father. I\u2019m letting you off with a warning. But keep it under the speed limit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The priest nodded gratefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you, Officer. And should this water turn into anything stronger, I promise to pull over immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As he drove away, the second officer turned to her partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know,\u201d she said, \u201cthat might be the best excuse I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEither that\u2026 or the most impressive miracle I\u2019ve seen on patrol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The priest smiled calmly, folded his hands over the steering wheel, and said, \u201cOfficer, I assure you, I\u2019ve only been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18895,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18893\/revisions\/18895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tbdig.com\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}