I was in my office at the Massage Therapy College I teach at, shuffling papers, when the call came.
"This is Detective Jansen, we need you to come in and identify a suspect!" The gruff voice on the line said.
I readily agreed, they had the guy in custody that had taken a shot at me, and tried to attack my next door neighbor, Donna.
That had been quite an experience, I had interupted him in the act. I wasn't sure I could recognize his face, but those eyes! I will never forget those eyes. He looked right at me, I was heading at him in a rush as he pulled back and turned, I saw his hand come up, saw the gun.
I had pounded away and clawed at him like a wild animal, I guess that was all I was at that point. I never heard the shot, didn't even feel the bullet that slid along my ribcage.
It was that close, something like that makes a man stop and think about life.
I finished up, and jumped in my new z06 Corvette, getting that feeling of pride a man can only get from a machine like this.
The car had made me the talk of the school, after all, I am coming up on 60, balding, and earn around $16,000 a year at the college. Yet I drive a $50,000.00 sports car! A conversation I had overheard popped in my head as the machine roared to life. I had overheard a couple of the ladies from one of the other classes talking. "How in the hell does he afford THAT?" one had said. "Oh, he won the lottery!" the other one replied.
I had a laugh at that, not exactly correct but close. Then I heard the first gal say, "I hear he is hung like a..." and I didn't catch the rest as she turned away, but I could fill in the blank.
My wife, Lee, called the car my "Shiny dick with two seats", she got that from some movie she saw.
I slipped a Santana disc in the player, singing "Black Magic Woman" at the top of my lungs as I went down to the holding center.
Pulling into the lot, I parked the car right between two police cruisers, the safest place I could see. Hitting the button to lock up, I jogged up the steps. Detective Jansen met me at the door, giving me one of those milky soft handshakes I hate. I resisted the urge to clamp down and mash his hand. He led me into a side room, here sat Donna, looking a bit pale. She hopped up and gave me a hug, holding me a bit longer than necessary. "Make sure you don't do any of that when we get to court!" Jansen snorted. I just looked at him, thinking I didn't like him much.
We stood there as a line of men came in, I looked them over and didn't see the guy at first. Jansen started calling out numbers, having them turn this way and that. Then I saw him! It was the eyes, he looked at the blank window, pure hate in his eyes. It was him, no doubt! Donna saw it too, let out a little gasp.
"That's him." I told Jansen simply. "Are you 100%?" he asked. "No doubt!" I replied.
"Good!" He said. "We have some fibers, we have the bullet, we got him with the weapon in his possession," He said. He turned away, said something into his radio, and two men came in and led the guy out a side door.
There was about an hour of talking to the detectives and one prosecutor that looked to be about 15 years old to me, and we were free to go.
Donna turned to me and asked for a ride home, she had ridden down with Jansen. I readily agreed, no point in going back to the school, there was just a few minutes left in my normal day.
We rode in quiet out highway 30, I turned the tape down low, and listened to the throb off 405 dead serious ponies loafing away at 60 mph. Finally, Donna said, "That was scarey!" "Yes, for me, too!" I answered. She smiled at me as we made the turn and headed out the two lane country road towards our homes. I wasn't looking forward to my evening, Lee was off at the hospital so I had a lonely meal and some TV scheduled. As we pulled up Donna's circular driveway, she reached out and touched my leg, and said, "Come on in, I will fix dinner!"
Well, I didn't have to be asked twice! I sank into her soft leather sofa while she was fiddling around in the kitchen. I heard her humming "Black magic Woman" as she rattled pots and pans around.
Finally, I got up and went in to help. She had a couple of beautiful ribeyes on the broiler, so I busied myself chopping up some veggies for a salad. We just worked together in silence, soon everything was ready.
After the meal, we cleaned up and did the dishes, both of us still quiet. Donna poured a couple of glasses of some kind of lemon flavored drink, and we retired to the living room.
We sat and sipped, and chatted a bit. Suddenly she blurted out, "Ted, do you regret what we did?"
I have to admit I was wondering, Donna had came into my arms after the bad scene with the guy who had attacked her. For me it was wonderful, we had made like a couple of kids until suddenly her Daughters, Lisa and Kathy showed up and caught us. But was it a rebound for her? Did she do it out of fear, some inside need to be with her protector, I just wasn't sure.
"No!" I told her flatly. "You are wonderful, it's just one of those things that happen."
"Does that mean it can never happen again?" she asked. I smiled and touched her shoulder, kneading the flesh there softly. She turned and was in my arms!