smibbo: (Default)
smibbo ([personal profile] smibbo) wrote2007-12-06 12:42 pm
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this is a true story

I was about 7 years old. My parents and I lived in a little house that rested behind an apartment building about two blocks away from Piedmont park. There was an alleyway to get to our house. In the middle of essentially downtown Atlanta, we lived in seclusion. The upstairs of our house was rented out to some other couple but I believe at the time there was no one there. My parents were hippies. They didn't "believe" in guns and thus never allowed me to have or play with them. I had gone to a friends house a few days before and played with the two boys there - Chris and Carl. They were twins, in fact, but because my class had another boy named Chris this twin was nicknamed "Pistol". His choice. Pistol and Carl loved typical boy games, as did I, and we played happily that day with Pistol's collection of toy guns.

A few nights after my playdate, we were all sleeping when we were broken into. My father woke up and found a gun staring him in the face. My father wears glasses - can't see anything farther than three inches from his face and the man holding the gun stood in darkness urging my father to wake up and tell him where the valuables were. We didn't have any valuables; we were on food stamps and my mother was enrolled in technical school. My father remembers the man was very nervous and kept saying "where's the drugs man?! where's the drugs?!" My parents finally made the man realize there was nothing for him to take. He rooted around a bit in my mother's jewelry box but it was plain we had nothing for him to take.
So he took my mother.
With the gun to her head, he told her to get up out of bed and come with him. She did. He led her through the house to the front door and out. Once they were on the porch, he paused, probably surveying his escape with her. She decided, in that split second that she didn't care if he had a gun, she wasn't going anywhere without a fight. Meanwhile, My father was out of bed and trying to find his glasses. We didn't have a phone at that time.
My mother opened her mouth and screamed bloody murder. I woke up and laid in bed trying to figure out if what I thought I heard was real, my heart pounding. I heard movement outside, on the porch and a then the front door slammed. I laid in bed, trying not to move, willing this tremendous fear to go away and believing that if I laid still enough, I would wake up again and find out nothing had happened.
Then my parents burst into my room. Turning on the light they checked on me and dragged me out of bed to hold me. Then we all went outside as the neighbors came out to see what had happened. One of our neighbors came, rubbing his eyes, with a gun in his hand.
"Did you hear that scream?" he said incredulously.
My parents laughed.
Then there was police visits, questions etc, but my mom was okay.


When my parents had come to pick me up from Carl and Pistol's, I had begged and pleaded with them to let me borrow one of Pistol's toys. A little plastic cap gun that looked exactly like a revolver of the western style. My parents eventually relented, under the condition that I not bring any caps with me. I was amazed at my luck and took it home. Without someone else to play with, the gun lost its allure and I soon left it sitting idly in the living room on a chair. That was the "gun" the man had pointed at my parents. I gave it back the next day and told the story to my school.

[identity profile] redwill.livejournal.com 2007-12-06 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Plastic toy pistols make screaming a lot safer; if the gun were real, screaming would make a loud gunshot seem less negative to a criminal, I'm thinking.

[identity profile] curvedmetal.livejournal.com 2007-12-06 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
IAWTC. Your mom's lucky it was a toy gun!

[identity profile] not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com 2007-12-06 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
as I recall, she told me that his nervousness was what decided her course of action; when he paused, she had "a feeling" that screaming would change the course of events well enough that he would probably opt for a hasty retreat.

NPRA

[identity profile] rick-jackson.livejournal.com 2007-12-06 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
National Plastic Revolver Association. Proud member.
goodjoan: (Default)

[personal profile] goodjoan 2007-12-06 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, this may sound trite, because I know you probably feel like it was your fault the guy scared the crap out of your family, but, if he hadn't found that little plastic gun, he may have opted for a kitchen knife as his threatening weapon of choice. If he'd had a knife to your mother's throat, he may not have hesitated when she screamed. Perhaps fate made you beg just a little more that day, or your parents bend a little more easily that day so that when that man broke in, what he found was a harmless toy!

[identity profile] not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
I never thought of that... wow thanks!

[identity profile] rick-day.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
you are a great storyteller!
Edited 2007-12-07 01:40 (UTC)

[identity profile] not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
aww thanks!

thank you!

[identity profile] not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
hahaha I saw the first icon and thought "so I get an 'F--'?"

shows how even something like an icon can communicate!

Re: thank you!

[identity profile] rick-day.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
yeah, noticed that and changed it. Yay for comment editing!

[identity profile] decrepit-doll.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
WOw.

THat whole story was scary as hell, but funny too. I feel awful for saying it, but i laughed y ass off (of course after thinking of the horrible trauma there. Seriously, no sarcasm).

Your Ma is a badass. If she knew it was a toy it could of been interesting...

i never heard this one...

more!

*grin*

[identity profile] not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com 2007-12-07 07:31 am (UTC)(link)
oh we all laughed too, later.

Awesomeness

[identity profile] kmn-rdr-caoimhe.livejournal.com 2007-12-12 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
This story punched my balls off...

...in relation to the icon I'm using, yes. That's actually a good thing. ^^;

Also this reminded me, at what point did they start putting the orange tips on toy guns? I seem to remember having one without it, but I'm still not sure I didn't just hallucinate most of my childhood... :/

Re: Awesomeness

[identity profile] salvaged.livejournal.com 2007-12-27 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Orange tips happened in late 80's early 90's.

Don't remember when exactly, but I do remember the whole ordeal of them passing the laws requiring them occurred around this time.

Re: Awesomeness

[identity profile] onlyrobin.livejournal.com 2008-04-14 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Which never stopped anyone from removing them or painting over them.

My ex is a cop. They arrested a guy a few months ago who'd painted his REAL Glock 40 calibur bright, Barbie pink, thinking he could make it look like a toy. Funny thing tho - Barbie doesn't carry a Glock. =)

Re: Awesomeness

[identity profile] salvaged.livejournal.com 2008-04-15 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
heh... yeah I do seem to remember lots of people painting the tips of the toy guns back then...

I still have a bb handgun from back before they passed the law for the orange tips.

It's metal and looks like a real pistol.

Until we get a real gun for home protection it will have to do.

Ever since they passed that Orange safety tip law that bb gun has stayed indoors.



[identity profile] mightyredpen.livejournal.com 2008-04-16 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Did you see a rabbit go down that hole?
http://adoptaspacemonkey.com/

[identity profile] paige21.livejournal.com 2008-06-15 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Hey there, yelena_r0ssini poked me over to look at your journal because 1. she says you're cool, and 2. we moved here somewhat recently near your neck of the woods.
Wanna be friends-like? We seem to share a decent bit of interests. Let me know!