55 "Brave or Stupid?" Adults can stand up to bullies too.
Don't show fear.
Brave or Stupid?
It was a Thursday evening Becky said she needed something from the store. Since we had plans to go out to dinner anyway we decided to just stop at the store on the way. I found a parking space close to the front of the store. Becky went inside turning to me and saying that she would be just a few minutes.
While I was waiting, listening to the radio, a large black SUV pulled up and parked in front of our car. A man exited the car from the driver’s door and walked around to open the door for the woman. I thought to myself, “Now there’s something you don’t see every day, a gentleman opening the door for the lady.” Then the woman stepped out of the car and when I could see her, again I thought to myself, “Now there’s something you don’t see every day.”
Both were dressed to the hilt. I watched them until they entered the store.
As I was waiting for Becky, some guy wearing a brown suede jacket came out of nowhere and approached my car. My window was down. He leaned over and said, with a very slight, but distinctive, Australian accent, “Did you enjoy the view?” Then without waiting for an answer he said, “My boss wanted me to give you this.” And he held out for me to see, a fancy silver pocket knife in a brown pouch that looked very much like his jacket.
I simply said calmly, “No thank you, I don’t accept gifts from strangers.”
He said, “You should take it more as a warning instead of a gift. You might need it for protection if he ever catches you looking at his woman like that again.”
I replied, “I don’t accept threats from anyone either, especially strangers. Besides, I was just watching them walk into the store.”
He said, “I watched how you watched her”. And he put heavy emphasis on how and her.
The next thing I knew there were three larger men standing behind this puny puke.
He said, “Here, take the gift, or should I say, warning.”
I simply said, “No thank you, I have my own.”
He replied, “I’ll remember that.”
“Make sure you do. It would be smart on your part”, was my response.
I think he was expecting me to show fear. I looked him in the eye and said to him, “Do you mind stepping aside? You’re blocking my view of a beautiful lady?”
He glared at me and asked, “Do you know you are really pushing your luck?”
I glared right back at him and said with a bit of a growl, “No, I’m not pushing anything. But I will be if you don’t get your ugly mug out of my way so I can see my beautiful woman.”
And about that time Becky came around the car and asked, “Is there something wrong?”
I replied with, “No, nothing wrong. These nice gentlemen were just asking directions and I told them where to go.” And with that Becky got in the car.
As we pulled out of our parking place, the well dressed man and woman were walking out of the store. I pulled up and stopped in front of him, window still down, and I said, “Good evening to you and your lovely lady.” When he asked if he knew me, I simply told him, “No, but you should keep your pets on their leashes.”
As I drove off Becky was giving me a funny look. We enjoyed a very nice dinner together, and of course I had to explain the whole thing to her over after dinner drinks.
Greg
