It Cannot Get Any Worse
Self-Defense
Cassandra was extremely annoyed. She had driven around the island for a considerable time and the road was horrible, nothing but potholes everywhere, plus she seemed to be dodging around people and wild animals half the time. Her car would at least need an alignment after this. She finally decided to try to call Terrence for directions. She was hoping to see him personally rather than apologizing over the phone and then telling him she was on her way to his barbecue. Better to show up in person. However she discovered she had forgotten her cell phone at home. Darned middle ages tunics have no pockets. She probably left the phone in the pocket of her jeans when she changed.
No phone, no directions and driving around a road that was mostly potholes unable to find Terrence’s house left her more than a little bit cranky. She was sure she would remember where it was if she drove around enough, but it had been too long and she was annoyed. Cassandra saw a lady pulling weeds at the end of her driveway and decided to stop and ask for directions. It was a small town, hopefully the lady would know Terrence and could tell her how to find his house.
Cassandra got a strange look stepping out of the car in her middle ages tunic, but the lady was pleasant enough. She joked about her opening a directions and historical information both for visitors to the island, rather than pulling weeds. She said she hated pulling weeds anyway, and today she was spending more time giving directions than weeding. Cassandra bent over and started helping her pull weeds as she asked whether the lady knew Terrence. She explained she was supposed to attend a barbecue there and she was late and lost. She secretly hoped she could identify the weeds and not pull out any flowers. It had been a while since she needed to pull weeds herself.
The lady knew who Terrence was, and also knew the entire history of Terrence's house, which she proceeded to relate in detail before providing the requested directions. It turned out, Terrence's house was just a mile or so up the road from the lady. Just a little past the Harry Bennet Pagoda house. Cassandra had enough history lessons so she decided not to ask who Harry Bennet is or what a pagoda house looked like. She need to get going.
As they talked, a man, holding a gun and limping badly, walked up and demanded the keys to Cassandra’s car. Cassandra was ticked. What? A carjacker - on Grosse Ile where they have no crime at all? How is that even possible? She wanted to show him what she had learned in self-defense classes, but he had a gun. She handed him her keys.
The man turned and saw the lady who had given Cassandra directions was using her phone. The man stepped past Cassandra and brandished the gun at the lady, demanding her phone. As he walked past her, the man winced as if in pain and lowered the gun. His arm looked odd. Kind of lumpy and misshapen. He was obviously having difficulty holding the gun. Cassandra saw her chance.
One of the best moves she learned in self-defense class was to stomp on the top of the ankle of an attacker and push or hit him up higher. Her instructor explained the top of the ankle is a soft spot.
Stomping there and pushing or hitting up higher is very painful and causes them to lose their balance and fall so you can run away.
Cassandra stomped as hard as she could. It worked better than she could ever believe. The man screamed in pain, dropped the gun and fell to the ground screaming and cursing. Cassandra stepped on the gun with one foot, and began kicking the man with her other foot. She was angry and out of control. The man rolled away from her and started standing back up. Cassandra took a step back, looking for a place to run to.
The direction lady scooped up the gun Cassandra had been standing on and pointed it at the man. “Get out of here or I will shoot you right now” she snapped in a faint voice. The man stared at her appraisingly for several seconds, then began shuffling off down the street in the direction he had come. He was trying to hop and avoid putting any weight on his left foot. The foot Cassandra had stomped appeared to be unusable. "Good Cassandra thought, I hope I broke his foot, but I really do not see how that is possible."
The directions lady told Cassandra she would handle dealing with the police, and Cassandra could just go on her way. “I know our local police and I know how to handle this mess. If he comes back, I will just shoot him. I will be fine. You are better off not getting mixed up in this, it will take all day. Didn’t you say you were late for something at Terrence’s? He is such a nice man, I would hate to hold up his party. Just go. I got this.” After debating with the lady a bit, Cassandra gave up shrugged, picked up her keys and went back to her car. She felt uncomfortable just leaving the lady there, but she had held the gun like she knew how to use it and she kept insisting Cassandra not be any later for the Hilderman party. “They are such nice folk. Give them my regards. Tell them Laurel said ‘Hello.’”
It turned out she was barely a mile from Terrence’s house on the same road. Had she not stopped, she would have found it several minutes ago. As Cassandra pulled up to the house, there were police cars all over the place, even a police helicopter had landed in the yard. Wondering what could possibly be happening, Cassandra parked at the road, and walked up to the house. As expected, there were people in tunics all over the place, but unexpectedly, some of them were laying on stretchers. One was Terrence. Casandra ran up voicing her concern and asking what happened. Terrence just kept repeating “Did you know?” Cassandra had no idea what he was talking about. She told Terrence he was not making any sense. He finally said, “I was shot by Benchman thugs, I know it was them. If you really did not know, go talk to the cops, tell them about the pond and the school and the $72 million. You need to come clean if you want to stay out of prison. I think they got the servers, but I bring home a backup flashdrive every Friday. The police have the pictures, you need to tell them about the pond and the school.“
Some uniformed men carried Terrence to the helicopter. A middle aged man carrying a huge red bag followed along and got in beside him. The helicopter lifted off and flew across the water.
No phone, no directions and driving around a road that was mostly potholes unable to find Terrence’s house left her more than a little bit cranky. She was sure she would remember where it was if she drove around enough, but it had been too long and she was annoyed. Cassandra saw a lady pulling weeds at the end of her driveway and decided to stop and ask for directions. It was a small town, hopefully the lady would know Terrence and could tell her how to find his house.
Cassandra got a strange look stepping out of the car in her middle ages tunic, but the lady was pleasant enough. She joked about her opening a directions and historical information both for visitors to the island, rather than pulling weeds. She said she hated pulling weeds anyway, and today she was spending more time giving directions than weeding. Cassandra bent over and started helping her pull weeds as she asked whether the lady knew Terrence. She explained she was supposed to attend a barbecue there and she was late and lost. She secretly hoped she could identify the weeds and not pull out any flowers. It had been a while since she needed to pull weeds herself.
The lady knew who Terrence was, and also knew the entire history of Terrence's house, which she proceeded to relate in detail before providing the requested directions. It turned out, Terrence's house was just a mile or so up the road from the lady. Just a little past the Harry Bennet Pagoda house. Cassandra had enough history lessons so she decided not to ask who Harry Bennet is or what a pagoda house looked like. She need to get going.
As they talked, a man, holding a gun and limping badly, walked up and demanded the keys to Cassandra’s car. Cassandra was ticked. What? A carjacker - on Grosse Ile where they have no crime at all? How is that even possible? She wanted to show him what she had learned in self-defense classes, but he had a gun. She handed him her keys.
The man turned and saw the lady who had given Cassandra directions was using her phone. The man stepped past Cassandra and brandished the gun at the lady, demanding her phone. As he walked past her, the man winced as if in pain and lowered the gun. His arm looked odd. Kind of lumpy and misshapen. He was obviously having difficulty holding the gun. Cassandra saw her chance.
One of the best moves she learned in self-defense class was to stomp on the top of the ankle of an attacker and push or hit him up higher. Her instructor explained the top of the ankle is a soft spot.
Stomping there and pushing or hitting up higher is very painful and causes them to lose their balance and fall so you can run away.
Cassandra stomped as hard as she could. It worked better than she could ever believe. The man screamed in pain, dropped the gun and fell to the ground screaming and cursing. Cassandra stepped on the gun with one foot, and began kicking the man with her other foot. She was angry and out of control. The man rolled away from her and started standing back up. Cassandra took a step back, looking for a place to run to.
The direction lady scooped up the gun Cassandra had been standing on and pointed it at the man. “Get out of here or I will shoot you right now” she snapped in a faint voice. The man stared at her appraisingly for several seconds, then began shuffling off down the street in the direction he had come. He was trying to hop and avoid putting any weight on his left foot. The foot Cassandra had stomped appeared to be unusable. "Good Cassandra thought, I hope I broke his foot, but I really do not see how that is possible."
The directions lady told Cassandra she would handle dealing with the police, and Cassandra could just go on her way. “I know our local police and I know how to handle this mess. If he comes back, I will just shoot him. I will be fine. You are better off not getting mixed up in this, it will take all day. Didn’t you say you were late for something at Terrence’s? He is such a nice man, I would hate to hold up his party. Just go. I got this.” After debating with the lady a bit, Cassandra gave up shrugged, picked up her keys and went back to her car. She felt uncomfortable just leaving the lady there, but she had held the gun like she knew how to use it and she kept insisting Cassandra not be any later for the Hilderman party. “They are such nice folk. Give them my regards. Tell them Laurel said ‘Hello.’”
It turned out she was barely a mile from Terrence’s house on the same road. Had she not stopped, she would have found it several minutes ago. As Cassandra pulled up to the house, there were police cars all over the place, even a police helicopter had landed in the yard. Wondering what could possibly be happening, Cassandra parked at the road, and walked up to the house. As expected, there were people in tunics all over the place, but unexpectedly, some of them were laying on stretchers. One was Terrence. Casandra ran up voicing her concern and asking what happened. Terrence just kept repeating “Did you know?” Cassandra had no idea what he was talking about. She told Terrence he was not making any sense. He finally said, “I was shot by Benchman thugs, I know it was them. If you really did not know, go talk to the cops, tell them about the pond and the school and the $72 million. You need to come clean if you want to stay out of prison. I think they got the servers, but I bring home a backup flashdrive every Friday. The police have the pictures, you need to tell them about the pond and the school.“
Some uniformed men carried Terrence to the helicopter. A middle aged man carrying a huge red bag followed along and got in beside him. The helicopter lifted off and flew across the water.