What Would You Do?

Finally...It seemed like months since I'd been home, so Harry, the girls, an I drove up to see about Mom and Dad this weekend.  We were going to surprise them, but Harry wanted Mama's famous catfish nuggets and fries for dinner so I had to call ahead and put our order in.  And of course Dad made his  famous toss green salad made fresh with his garden veggies.  Dad makes the salad even when he's not feeling up to it.  He complains that Mom and I only use lettuce and cucumbers. He,on the other hand, finely chops up all sorts of peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc.   We stayed up with Dad and watched the Honeymooners, with Cedric the Entertainer.  (I thought of you cousin Ben) Getting him a dose of laughter.

Dad is doing fine, not moving fast but moving nonetheless.  He has gained some of his weight back and looks good.  He was up early Saturday morning for his morning walk.  Dad does experience some pain and a constant headache.   However I believe boredom is his greatest side effect.  I'm thinking of getting him an Internet job. He goes back to the doctor Wednesday and won't have treatment again until the 2nd week in October. 

Harry and I have been making a few updates around the house while there and we needed to go by The Home Depot to get a few supplies.  As we were walking towards the store we noticed a man's legs hanging out of the drivers side of a jeep window, fresh broken glass on the ground next to it! It took us both several seconds to actually process this picture. In milliseconds I thought, 'Did this guy break his own window b/c he locked himself out? NO...  But if so, why didn't he just open the door?  Why did he jump through the broken glass, what is he fidgeting with in the dashboard?  After those seconds passed we both realized that this thug was stealing the radio or some other device out of this Jeep! Mind you, it is 1:00 p.m., broad daylight!

Now we have stopped, but others are walking by, looking in the direction we're looking and pointing, but saying nothing. They're just shaking their heads and moving on.  I don't have my phone so I tell Harry to get his cell phone and dial 911. While he's describing what is happening right in front of us to the  dispatcher, I notice a man in a grey Suburban parked directly  in front of the jeep. (engine running)  He and I make eye contact, then he says to me, 'ain't nun-a-my business'.  By now the thief is squirming backwards out of the broken window, stereo in hand,  and jumps into the grey Suburban!  They pull out of the parking lot and down the street.  Harry tells the dispatcher that he's now gone and which direction the driver is heading.  Harry and another lady, who catches up to us and explains she also saw what happened, head into the store to report to the store manager.

With all that is in me I knew that Harry wanted to rush the guy, drag him out of that Jeep and beat the snot out of him.  But every time he moved towards the vehicle I motioned him back.  If I had known the Suburban was the get-a-way truck I'd gone around the back of the truck to get his plate number. (Michigan doesn't have front plates and at the time I didn't connect the dots)
Our first thoughts were that this guy is vandalizing someones vehicle, its wrong, and he must be stopped.  The second thought was if we don't do something now, it could be our vehicle the next time. I'm aware we were in Detroit and it wasn't worth taking a bullet, but it was worth a phone call to the police.

What would you Do?




Robertson Family Reunion Dickson, TN 2006



Now WHERE did the rest off the Family go? Oh it's clean up time so you fanished.... :-)