#8 -- Rick's troubled (and bruised) saga with Spanish police (and related hoodlums). Part 2

In March, Carnaval comes to Badajoz.  I wouldn't say that we celebrate Carnaval, but rather that it is an entity in itself, a third-person infection that enters the city and takes over all life for 5 days. It provides the perfect environment for all sorts of base actions that you would never see the rest of the year.  And, of course, Rick was the victim of one of them.

During Carnaval, everyone dresses up in ridiculous costumes.  Besides being entertaining, the costumes afford such a degreee of anonyminity  that you can see cowboys, flamenco dancers and ninjas peeing on churches and stealing bottles of liquor from bars.  Somehow, just putting on a mask lets people instantly fulfill their most primitive desires.  And, when the whole city is costumed, the chaos becomes amplified and you feel like you are just living in a dream world where people aren't limited by silly things like social norms or laws. Mix this with the sheer amounts of alcohol consumed, partying done, and pagan drumming, and Carnaval turns into an all-out bachannalian hot mess.

Carnaval during the day

Scene set.  Rick is dressed as a ninja.  I am a flamenco dancer.  We are in Plaza de Espana, and it is filled with thousands of revelers and multiple roving groups of drummers.  One of our friends, Ariela, had some problems with Spanish girls stealing her cell phone and camera .  Rick intervenes, America comes to save the day!

The next thing I see is Rick surrounded by 6 or 7 Spanish hoodlums.  He falls to the ground, they start kicking him, and suddenly everything clears out and there is just Rick still alive but with a mangled face.  Ariela didn't get her phone back.  It took a minute to process, but I suddenly realize, "Holy Crap, Rick just got jumped!".
My roomate Alonso, being a typical concerned Spaniard, took Rick to the hospital.  I think after his visit to the doctor,  Rick's Carnaval experience got cut short.  Luckily, he didn't get that hurt -- just some cosmetic damage to the old mug.

Fast forward a month and a half -- Rick recieves a letter in the mail telling him that he has to appear at court.  In front of a judge.  And if he doesn't, he will have legal problems.  We really have no idea why, but speculate that it has something to do with his hospital visit.  Rick's court date hasn't come yet, but I'm sure that its going to involve a Spanish judge speaking fast with obscure language, and Rick trying to explain that he was the one that got beat up, and was just trying to have a good time during Carnaval, and wondering to himself why the hell he has so many problems with the archaic and bureaucratic Spanish legal system.  Hopefully I won't have to write a Part 3.