Replies

LOL! What in the world are those?

I think I’ve told this story before. It’s about learning what you will or will not do to protect the innocent. If you’ve already heard it or don’t want to hear it, scroll on by.

I had just moved back to Texas and was staying with my parents until I found work. My 4 year old niece was staying there as well, for reasons not relevant just now,

A sheriff came to the door one night and told us my brother had been murdered. My dad was off visiting his mother, so my mom and aunt went to identify the body in Dallas, leaving me with my little niece.

Prior to leaving, I was warned that some thieves were breaking into homes in the area and stealing social security checks and beating homeowners up. I was given a description and told to watch out for them. They also said that my little niece knew who did, and did not belong (she’s 4 and I believed them)

Of course a car matching the description drives up in the side driveway, and two men matching the descriptions get out of the car. So I ask my niece if she knew them. “No Aunt Claws”. Are you sure? Earnest 4 year old face nodding no, big, round, serious eyes….

Oh great. This house has 3 doors, back, front, side, and several large windows (great wrap around porch) . I wanted to send her running to her grandmas house 2 blocks away, but I didn’t see where one of the men went, and I didn’t want him to find her and hurt her, the other was walking towards the kitchen entrance where I was viewing them from.

I take my little niece into my parents bedroom, looking for a place to hide her…ahhh, the clothes hamper! I take out the dirty clothes and have her climb in and tell her do not come out for anyone but me or the police or her mama and to remain still, after she agreed, I put the rest of the dirty clothes on top of her.
(She’s whining about this..”it stinks! It stinks!) I had no time to see the humor in this. Though it cracks me up to this day.

One thing I’ve known since I was her age was that my parents kept a gun in the top shelf of the closet to the left…in a shoebox…no matter what house they were in. It was an old Marshall Dillon-like gun, pearl handle and all.

So, I take this gun out, check if it’s loaded (it always was) and went to the kitchen.

The kitchen door had a window through which I could see the man who had finally made it to the door and was looking at me looking at him.

Then he tried the doorknob. I raised the gun so he could see it and cocked it. He looks surprised and tries the doorknob again. I shouted that I would kill him if he came in. I’m still worried about where the other guy went and was expecting an attack from the back…but I was gonna fight them both if need be. Not for me…for that little girl hiding in stinky laundry. After awhile, the men and the car leave.

And there you have it. FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Regardless of odds.

The ending of this story? Well, the guy that disappeared had just gone to feed the calf that they were boarding there, and the fella at the door was trying to pay the boarding bill. They were pretty pissed about my actions, from what my mom said, they didn’t know who I was either..

Glad I knew to wait for an attack before shooting. But this does not change my mindset according to the information I had. I absolutely know I will kill to protect an innocent, regardless of personal threats.