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Post by freebirde on Jul 15, 2022 14:01:46 GMT -6
Since the twelve-year-old was brought up, how about their boss has to lay some people off and a couple of bottles of cheap whiskey and a tank of gas for a couple of low lives is cheaper than paying unemployment.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 15, 2022 14:05:28 GMT -6
Since the twelve-year-old was brought up, how about their boss has to lay some people off and a couple of bottles of cheap whiskey and a tank of gas for a couple of low lives is cheaper than paying unemployment. Dang... I worked for some A-holes but thankfully none have put a hit out on me to get me off the payroll... What sort of bosses have you had Birdie?? LOL
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Post by iamnobody on Jul 15, 2022 14:48:27 GMT -6
Oh nosy readers... you'll just have to wait and see. I will say I hae various ideas floating thru my head as to the who's, how's and why's... With all your more obvious guesstimates I may have to veer further off course... I mean I wouldn't want to possibly validate your hunches would I? The word wait is not in my vocabulary.
M O A R!
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Post by imahic on Jul 15, 2022 17:53:39 GMT -6
Great story and I'm enjoying it a lot. Thanks for the update.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 15, 2022 17:58:51 GMT -6
When they finally made it back to Jimbo's apartment it took a lot of help from his Dad to get out of the Suburban and moving. His Dad had ran to the apartment complex office to get a key. When the property manager had heard about Jimbo and Merv they quickly had re-keyed the locks, so they had to pick up the new key. After sitting for almost three hours it felt good to get out and walk some but Merv was surprised and how quickly he was getting winded. He was never so grateful as right now that Jimbo's apartment was on the ground floor so he didn't have to try getting up flights of stairs.
Once in the door his parents helped him to the couch. He asked for a glass of water and for some of the ibuprofen from the kitchen cabinet. He'd have to get the script for the pain pills from the hospital filled but he was hoping these would take the edge off the throbbing in his hand. As she handed him the water and pills she made another plea to him to come home to recuperate. “Honey, please come back home and your Dad and I can help you get healed up in a couple weeks till you more able to be up and on your own.” “Mom, I appreciate what your saying but, well this just seems like something I have to do on my own. I need to get myself back on my feet, to see I can do it. With everything that's happened in the last few weeks and months. I mean everything with Karen and the divorce and then this attack. I just feel like I need to stand up and tell the world no more. I need a few days to process everything that's happened. Just some quiet time to reflect and maybe get a plan together.”
They did insist on running some errands for him and he conceded, he realized he had nothing in the house. He gave them directions to a couple of the stores and a list of a few things he needed. “I'll pay you back as soon as I get my account straightened out with the bank and get my new ATM card set up.” “Don't worry Honey, we understand and you don't need to worry about it.” Since the thieves had taken his wallet, he had no cards and no cash on hand. A new debit card was likely sitting in the mail that needed picked up at the apartment complex office. As there was no one at the apartment for going on two weeks, the property manager had had the mail held at the office rather than have their small mailbox at their building overflow.
His Mom directed his Dad to the grocery store. She was glad to see that most of the things on his list were healthy so she wouldn't worry about him eating take out or cereal or PBJ for every meal. She added a few other things she knew he liked and that would be easy and quick to make and eat. Their next stop was at the big box store to pick up some toiletries and to add his requested, prepaid Tracfone. Since his cell had been among the things stolen he'd need need to get with his cell provider to work that out and to see if his phone insurance would cover the theft with a replacement. This phone would allow him to at least reach out and make all the calls he would need to make in the next few days. Their last stop was the pharmacy to get his prescriptions filled and to also get some additional wound care items. The hospital gave him a pretty good amount to get started but he figured he'd need more and then he also wanted some various vitamins and supplements.
When his folks got back, his Mom wouldn't hear of it when he said just set the cold stuff in the fridge and I'll put the others away later. Not on her watch... she went around and put it where she thought it needed to go. She also decided to clean the bathroom, and while she was at it she had grabbed his dirty laundry and tossed it in to wash. Merv could see what she was doing and so could his Dad.
His Dad spoke up when he could see his wife was procrastinating. “Well Mother, we need to be hitting the road. I’d like to try and make it at least half way before we stop for the night.” They had about a 5 hour drive ahead of them. Merv felt bad about not having room for them to stay, but after all, it wasn't his place and he himself was a guest. Merv worked on getting himself up off the couch to stand to see them out. He was covered in sweat as he finally got on his feet. He could see his Mom's eye's filling with tears as she leaned in and gently hugged him trying not to cause him any pain. She stood on her toes as he tried to bend his 6'4” frame down for her 5'4” frame to kiss his cheek. She promised they’d call him when they stopped for the night to see how he was doing. His Dad shook his hand and pulled him into a hug and whispered “Now if you need help call, don't be so hard headed and stubborn as your mother can be and end up making yourself suffer.” “I won't I promise.” with that his Dad kissed the side of his head then turned and headed to the door. He took his wife's hand and lead her to the door.
“I’ll lock this on the way out buddy, I'll lay the new keys here on the counter. Apparently the police had been here and when the property manager found out about you all being robbed, including your keys, she went ahead and had the locks changed in case the thieves used your ID’s to find out where you all lived and decided to burglarize your apartments.” “Thanks Dad. I love you both. Thanks for everything and for being here for me this last couple weeks. I know it's been a lot of driving and time off for you both. Be careful and don’t push driving to late.” “Fat chance your Mother will let me drive too long…” he chuckled “We love you bud, we’ll call and check in, knowing your Mom it’ll be every day, and every hour on the hour.” His Mom reached up and gave the back of his Dad's arm a light pinch. “See the abuse I take...” they all laughed. “OK see you soon.” With that his Dad guided his Mom smoothly out the doorway and pulled the door closed behind them.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 15, 2022 18:39:00 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by freebirde on Jul 15, 2022 19:25:04 GMT -6
Dang... I worked for some A-holes but thankfully none have put a hit out on me to get me off the payroll... What sort of bosses have you had Birdie?? LOL It was often wondered if they made themselves beneficiary of life insurance policies on employees. My last day there ended with me in an ambulance after collapsing from stress. They tried to force me to go back to the same job. "Good worker don't quit bad jobs, they quit bad bosses."
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Post by bluefox2 on Jul 15, 2022 19:53:49 GMT -6
Got some heavy metal cranking in the background and going to see what the muse spits out... Try some Santana instead
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 15, 2022 20:20:26 GMT -6
"Good worker don't quit bad jobs, they quit bad bosses." Now there is a very true statement.
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 15, 2022 21:18:37 GMT -6
I had a District Manager that was being pressured to move to the company's NJ headquarters. She said "No." Then "NO." Then "NO!" Then "I quit." The idiots up the line couldn't believe someone would quit a job at that level instead of doing X years in the salt mines in NJ.
I heard she was quite happy in her new job ;-)
She was possibly the best District Manager I had in 30+ years at that company because she stood up for her people with the same determination - good person to work for.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Jul 16, 2022 0:21:32 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by jpr9954 on Jul 17, 2022 10:44:46 GMT -6
I'm really liking this story!
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 17, 2022 13:20:53 GMT -6
Appreciate hearing from all of you who are liking my story so far!
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frankie
New Member
Posts: 48
Member is Online
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Post by frankie on Jul 17, 2022 14:02:51 GMT -6
Appreciate hearing from all of you who are liking my story so far! I love this story. I check several times a day for updates.
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Post by imahic on Jul 17, 2022 15:23:43 GMT -6
Appreciate hearing from all of you who are liking my story so far! It sure has my attention. Eagerly await each new chapter. Thanks for your efforts.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 18, 2022 19:23:24 GMT -6
Sorry took so long to update. I accidentally had two files going and copy pasted and got things and order messed up and I liked one part better than the other and then vice versa so took me a few days to sort it out. I still have a bit of a mess but I'm trying to hammer it out on the forge of not knowing what I'm doing. 16
As the door shut Merv thought the latch clicking closed was one of the loudest things he could recall hearing, it seemed to echo thru his soul. His mind then went straight to a scary thought his Dad had just planted. Until that moment Merv hadn’t given a thought to the fact that those yahoo’s had his and the guys wallets and their ID’s that were in them. Credit cards and debit cards could be frozen and replaced, but knowing where they lived, that was another thing. Since he now knew they'd shot him, did they know he'd survived? Had they been out to kill him or just scare him and accidentally shot him since they hadn’t shot the other guys? Might they now want to try to finish the job and eliminate witnesses?
If those thugs know where Jimbo and Matt live they therefore where Merv lived right now. But since he'd not had a chance to change his drivers license they also knew where Merv's now ex-wife still lives. If the police had come here, had they gone there too? Was she possibly in danger? He thought about that for a minute. He couldn't stand Karen for what she'd been and done to him, but he didn't want to see her hurt or dead. But he sure didn't want to contact her directly, no way since he was sure she'd try to twist something back on him. He picked up the tracphone to dial his lawyer... “shoot, I forgot, no contacts list, guess I'll have to look his number up.” With that Merv did a quick search and called the office number, his cell wasn't listed. The call went straight to voicemail so he left a brief message on what was going on and that it was urgent to hear back from him. He ended with his new cell number explaining his other phone was stolen.
Merv's brain spun and chewed more on the idea of those goons showing up here. Here he was, half lame and defenseless, what could he do if they did show? For only the second time in his life, and both occurrences in just the last two weeks, he felt vulnerable and defenseless. If they did show up he didn’t have any real way to defend himself. Not like he could have a gun, no way he could have one in the District, not with the strict gun laws they had. If you didn’t ‘know’ people in the government that could push it thru for you, forget it. He considered the irony of how many people in DC carried guns as employees of the district or federal governments so that they could protect the very people who passed the laws to keep guns and self protection out of the hands of the citizens and to turn them into sitting ducks.
He pondered on that, why would the government make it so hard for an honest, law abiding person like himself to have a gun when a thug who doesn't give one shit about any laws, much less gun laws, can easily get an illegal one. After all, it isn’t like a criminal is worried about breaking a few gun laws while they’re committing their other crimes like robbery, rape and murder in the first place. All the gun laws do is make the honest person into a waiting victim, and if they choose to ignore the gun laws to ensure their safety, the law turns them into a felon for trying to protect themselves and their families.
He wasn't going to do anything about that today, circles of influence and that one was way outside what he could personally impact. So what could he control if those thugs did come here? He didn’t have a real way to defend himself, especially with his busted up hand and the limited vision in his right eye. The best he could muster was a kitchen knife and a baseball bat and with his bum hand he'd only have a one handed grip on either of those but at this point, anything is better than nothing.
Merv made his way to the kitchen and pulled out the only knife Jimbo owned that might pass as a half-assed defensive knife but it was dull as crap. Oh well he could stab with it if need be. Later he’d look in his couple bins to see if his sharpening stones were in them or if those were in the storage locker. He took it in and laid it on the coffee table. He was planning to sleep on the couch since it was far better than the futon he'd been sleeping on for the last many weeks. On the coffee table would put it within arms reach. Though in his current state he'd never be able to get up off the couch very quickly to respond to a threat.
Merv flicked on the night over the kitchen table and sat down to read over the crime victim pamphlet Trooper Stein had left for him. After reading it Merv thought it seemed aimed at trying to ensure a crime victim assumed even more of a victim mentality rather than trying to empower them to take back power and control. There was no mention of self protection, situational awareness or things to help make a person less of a target in the future. That didn't sit well with him, he didn't want to know how to hide in fear, he wanted to know how to protect himself, how to hit back.
He went into his small bedroom and grabbed his laptop bag off that hated futon, the bag was right where he'd left it the afternoon they'd left for the camping trip. He grabbed it, his pillow and a blanket and walked back out towards the kitchen. He tossed the pillow and blanket on the couch for later and then headed to the table and fired up the laptop. While he waited for it to boot up he went to the fridge and started to grab a beer till he remembered the Docs orders, no booze with the pills, so he grabbed a Coke. As he sat down he opened a browser window and punched in a few words and phrases that came to mind. After only a few minutes several of the same sort of sites were popping up in the search results. There were ones for teaching various martial arts, ones teaching self protection with a firearm or knives. Primarily it was firearm sites. Yep, a gun, same thing that first popped into his mind when he thought about protection, self protection, self defense and similar.
He noticed that the handful of sites he skimmed had a couple similar trains of thought and phrases, all seemingly repeating very similar themes. One popular one seemed to be “when seconds count, police are minutes away” there was “it only takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun” and “are you a sheep or a sheepdog”. These really hit a cord with him. He knew there was a layer of propaganda and marketing to them but he also knew they were built around real hard truths.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 18, 2022 19:56:54 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by iamnobody on Jul 19, 2022 8:15:24 GMT -6
That was a mouthful of truth!!!
Our wonderful employee servants of we the people, consider us as nothing more than a bunch of beef steers to be used and abused at their whim, while projecting to us the illusion that we have a say and that we live in the land of the free.
There went my social credit score again. It won't be long before I have a negative social credit score.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Jul 19, 2022 11:43:39 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by texican on Jul 19, 2022 19:35:07 GMT -6
There went my social credit score again. It won't be long before I have a negative social credit score. iam, You mean your social credit score was positive. Miracles do happen. Texican...
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Post by gipsy on Jul 19, 2022 20:39:34 GMT -6
Mine's not listed.
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Post by iamnobody on Jul 20, 2022 10:04:07 GMT -6
iam, You mean your social credit score was positive. Miracles do happen. Texican... They took pity on me because of the poor stories I write.
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Post by texican on Jul 20, 2022 13:13:06 GMT -6
iam, You mean your social credit score was positive. Miracles do happen. Texican... They took pity on me because of the poor stories I write.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jul 20, 2022 15:28:31 GMT -6
17
Merv thought on the topic of guns and the role they'd had in his life up to this point. Merv's parents didn’t approve, well his Mom didn’t like guns. It'd be more correct to say she hated guns and still did as far as he knew. She’d always say how dangerous they were and when the news would chatter on about gun control or forced firearm turn-ins she'd voice her support. His Dad grew up shooting and hunting but had given it all up when he’d married Merv's Mom. Her being a big city girl, she'd grown up with a near rabid, irrational phobia of guns.
She hated when they’d go visit her in-laws because her father in law had those 'things’ there. Right there in the glass front gun cabinet, just sitting there on some sort of display. When he was young, there was a time or two that he could remember, and likely more that he didn’t, where his Mom went on a rant to his Granddad asking him if he wasn't concerned or worried his grandson might get hurt or killed by them. Merv’s Grandad would laugh and say “Girl, do you think the damn things are gonna jump out of there, load themselves and shoot him?” Then he'd try to convince her to let him take her out and teach her to shoot so she could see they aren't the monsters she created in her head. Things would start to get loud and heated at which point is usually when his Grandma would swoop in and artfully change the subject and redirect both of them away from the hot button topic and off to other tasks. His Dad would sit by and not get involved.
When he was in Scouts and they'd go to summer camp each year he would get to shoot single shot .22 rifles and single shot break action .410 shotguns. He loved that time and he would be at the range every chance he could be during his week of camp. His Mom knew about this and only allowed it as Merv had convinced her he needed the badges to advance. OK, true there were other badges he could do but she hadn’t dug further and accepted it.
Grandpa Merv, Marv’s namesake, was a Marine. As they say, once a Marine, always a Marine! Grandpa Merv had done two tours in ‘Nam as he called it, then went to Grenada, Panama and he said several south and central American countries back in the 80's. They never did find out which ones as all he would say when asked was that he wasn’t allowed to talk about. Merv always wondered where he'd gone and what had they done while there that he still couldn’t talk about it 30 plus years later.
Around about the time Merv was 10 his Grandpa swore him to secrecy. Until Merv promised to do so, he wouldn't even give him a hint about what the secret would be about. Once Merv finally agreed and swore on his honor and to God, his Grandpa spilled the beans. How would Merv like to learn to shoot? Possibly to even go hunting? Merv was instantly intrigued and also immediately understood Grandpa's demand for an oath of silence. But what if his Mom found out? Grandpa said “Well boy, that’s why it’s gotta be a secret or she’ll go off like a broody hen kicked off her nest. She’ll get her feathers all puffed up and run around squawking.” His Mom would blow a gasket and he knew his Dad would also shut it down or tip his Mom off; either way, the end results would be the same and he’d not get to shoot.
So completely behind his parents' backs, without their knowledge in any way and sworn to secrecy as if they harbored national secrets, Grandpa Merv taught young Merv all about guns. Merv was a bit disappointed that Grandpa just didn’t take him out to shoot, he said before he could touch a gun he had to learn how to safely handle them, take care of them and above all how to respect them. He told him once he could master that he’d teach him to shoot and then to hunt.
Grandpa Merv first taught him about the safety and respect for firearms. He'd tell him ‘only a dumbass does dumb things with a gun.’ Grandpa went over several different types of guns explaining all the parts and their functions and purposes. He showed Merv how to field strip, clean and lube them; he explained how guns are tools and that like any tool in your toolbox a person needs more than one depending on the job needing done.
Grandpa Merv told him a man should own a good hunting rifle, a good shotgun and a good pistol and be able to shoot all of them well and with confidence. He said it wouldn’t hurt a woman to also be able to shoot. He expanded from those three saying he should have a good squirrel rifle, which in Grandpa speak meant a .22 for putting food on the table and keeping critters out of the chicken coup. He told Merv that when he got older he should have a battle rifle also.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 20, 2022 16:01:02 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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