Welcome to The Moth. I'm Kate Tellers, and on this episode,
we're putting on our masks, getting our makeup ready, and donning our costumes.
Comic-Con, which is happening this week,
has us thinking about things we do in order to become someone or something else,
even if only for a moment.
Whether it's the oddly aggressive Elmos in Times Square,
the Tiger mascot at your high school pep rally,
or Mickey Mouse walking through Disney World, costumes can transform people,
give them permission to inhabit someone else with all that that entails.
First up, we've got Annie Weiberg, who told this story at a Twin Cities Grandson.
Here's Annie live at the moment.
It was a beautiful summer evening in Minnesota,
the kind where neighbors are outside talking to each other while their children play.
I was located a block away from such a neighborhood gathering,
but I was lying in the backseat of a police squad car.
my heart racing, my head pounding.
I was desperately trying to calm myself,
a process made more difficult by the fact that from the neck on down,
I was draped in the hot and heavy costume of an anthropomorphic dog wearing a trench coat.
And after a few minutes, the officer in the front seat turned to me and said, look,