Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes - 31. Chapter 31 S2

Chapter 31 – Friends No More

“I’m afraid you’ve picked on the wrong people to rob,” Pops calmly stated as he faced the two robbers pointing hand guns at them. “And you’re going to regret this.”

“I don’t think so. What are you two old geezers gonna do to stop us?” one of them asked as he shoved the barrel of the gun into Pops’ chest.

“Give us your wallets and phones now!” the other gunman said as he shoved the barrel of his gun into Gramp’s chest.

Gramps and Pops quickly glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders before they slowly reached back and took their wallets out of their pockets. They held their wallets up, in front of the eyes of the hoodlum in front of them, and when the two thieves reached for the wallets, Gramps and Pops made their move.

Faster than you can blink your eyes, each of them used their other hand to grab the bandit’s wrists that were holding the guns. I’m not sure how they did it, but they got the two thugs to drop their guns on the ground.

When the two accomplices saw what was happening to their friends, they bolted out of their seats, which were located on the opposite side of the vehicle, and came charging toward us. We immediately noticed that they didn’t have guns, and instead one carried a metal pipe and the other one had a baseball bat, so Devin and I quickly bulked up and moved out to intercept them.

As they raced toward us, they prepared to swing their weapons at us and knock us out of the way so they could get to Gramps and Pops and help their friends. I easily blocked the arm of the guy with the pipe by slamming the back of my left arm into his right arm as he swung the weapon at my head. When our arms slammed into one another, the guy suddenly howled in pain and dropped the pipe. When I heard the sound of our arms colliding, I knew that he had shattered at least one bone in his arm, if not both of the bones below his elbow.

As I was confronting the first of the new would-be robbers, Devin raced toward the other assailant and reached him sooner than the guy had anticipated. In fact, Devin got to him just as he was starting to swing the bat and easily stopped it, He was also able to rip the bat out of the attacker’s hands, and then he used it on him. Devin thrust the barrel of the bat into the guy’s solar plexus and forced the air out of his lungs.

The guy who’d been attacking me was still wailing in pain and trying to support his injured arm with his other hand, while his cohort was on his knees gasping in an attempt to catch his breath. Seeing our attackers were no longer a threat, we turned our attention to Gramps and Pops. They still had ahold of the first two guys and continued to press their thumbs against a nerve in the robbers’ wrists to keep them under control. In fact, those two guys were now on their knees begging for mercy.

“Who the fuck are you guys?” the robber who’d attacked me wailed as he tried to keep his injured arm from moving.

“Are you some kind of fucking mixed martial arts wrestlers… or just some fucking body builders?” the other guy wheezed, since he was able to get a little air back into his lungs.

“We all have our ways of keeping in shape,” Devin replied cryptically as we grabbed them by an arm and started leading them to where Gramps and Pops had their buddies. “And just in case you two think you might be able to break away so you can run back to the car and escape, I wouldn’t try it. If you do, I will use this bat to shatter the bones in your legs before you get very far, so be smart and don’t even try it.”

And as we got closer to where Gramps and Pops still had the other two on their knees, Gramps had used his free hand to slip his wallet back into his pocket. Now that his hand was empty, he used it to retrieve his phone and dial 9-1-1.

“This is the 9-1-1 operator. How may I assist you?” we heard the woman say, since Gramps had put his phone on speaker.

“My name is Jacob McCaskill and four young men just tried to rob us as we were leaving the football game at Folsom Field.”

“Can you describe the men and tell me which direction they went after they left there?”

“That’s not necessary, because we have them in custody. We just need you to send a couple of police cars here to pick them up.”

“There are still some officers at the stadium, so I’ll have a couple of them drive over to pick up the suspects. Just tell me where you’re located.”

Shortly after Gramps had given her that information, we saw two patrol cars slowly making their way in our direction. When they reached us, two policemen got out of each vehicle and came over to find out what had occurred.

As two of the officers were taking our statements, the other two began to slap handcuffs on the four unlucky thieves. The cops had to deal differently with the guy who’d attacked me, due to the suspected fractures in his right arm. Trying to avoid accusation of mistreatment, they handled him gently as they placed the handcuffs on him with his hands in front of his body. The others were handcuffed with their hands behind their backs, and then the officers placed two each in the back of the patrol cars.

After Gramps had finished explaining what had happened again, he made certain that the patrolmen recovered all of the weapons that had been used during the attempted robbery. And then one of the cops said he would call a wrecker to tow the car the thieves had used to the impound lot.

Before they left, however, we had to show them our identification for their report, and once they had that information, the policemen drove back to their station with their prisoners. As soon as they had driven away, we walked the rest of the distance to the SUV and started our journey back to the house.

“I certainly didn’t expect anything like that happening while we were at the game,” I said as we were leaving Boulder.

“I wasn’t expecting it either,” Gramps agreed, “and it makes me wonder if those guys have tried that before.”

“I guess it’s possible, but weren’t you and Pops afraid those guys might pull the trigger and shoot you when you grabbed their arms?”

“No, we weren’t worried about that,” Pops replied, “unless we screwed up when grabbing their arms. That’s because if we did everything correctly and were digging our thumbnails into a specific nerve in their arms, which we knew would cause them to immediately let go of the guns.”

“But weren’t you afraid they might pull the trigger before you were able to do that?”

“No, because we’d made sure they were totally distracted first and wouldn’t notice what we were about to do. You see, when we took out our wallets from our back pockets, we held them in front of their eyes and made certain they were totally focused on them first. Then, when they reached for the wallets with their other hand, we made our move.’

“But how could you be sure it was going to work?”

“They actually did that for us, when they moved closer and jammed the barrels of the guns into our chests in order to threaten us. That put the guns close enough so we could jam our thumbs into the gap between the two bones in their arm and apply pressure to the median nerve in their arm. We were able to do that before they realized what was happening, and once we were putting pressure on that nerve, their hands instinctively opened and they dropped the guns. Once they were no longer a threat and we could use that technique to keep them under control, it was time to request police assistance.”

“I’m still not sure how you guys were able to do that.”

“I’ll show you when we get back to the house.”

“But I still think you were lucky you didn’t get shot.”

“Trust me, we had everything under control and we really weren’t worried.”

“And we were obviously targeted because we were wearing the opposing team’s colors,” Devin said.

“That’s possible, or it may just have been because we were the last ones returning for our vehicle,” Gramps followed. “I still can’t help but wonder if they’ve done this before, and if they have, did they only do it to the fans from the other teams as they were leaving a game or have they done it to Colorado fans as well?”

“Yes, knowing that would be interesting,” I agreed, “but what I’m wondering is how long they’re going to spend in jail or prison.”

“That’s a good question,” Pops replied. “I happen to know that any person convicted of aggravated robbery in Colorado will face a prison sentence of four to twelve years, along with fines of between $3,000 and $750,000. And when they’re released from prison, they’ll also face five years of mandatory probation. I suspect that even if they’re offered a plea deal for only theft, they’ll still serve a minimum of three years in prison, followed by the five years of mandatory probation, but there probably won’t be any fines.”

“What if they aren’t offered a plea deal or they don’t accept it?”

“In that case they’ll go to trial, and if the jury finds them guilty, I’m sure the prosecutor will go for the maximum time in prison, and at least a $3,000 fine, as well as ten years of mandatory probation. It’s possible the prosecutor may even ask for enhanced sentences if they already have criminal records. And if they’re found to have done this before, they may face multiple charges with the same sentencing minimums that could have to be served consecutively. It will be a felony conviction no matter which way they’re charged, so it will follow them for the rest of their lives.”

“Will we have to come back to testify against them?” Devin wondered.

“Only if their cases go to trial,” Gramps explained. “My guess is that they’ll all plead out so they’ll get lesser sentences, and if that’s the case, then it won’t be necessary for us to come back to testify.”

I suspect we’re all hoping they plead out,” Pops followed, “since I don’t relish the idea of becoming part of a media circus.

“I think we all agree about that,” I stated, and then Devin and Gramps confirmed that my assumption was correct.

When we reached the house, we all hurried through our nightly rituals and headed to our rooms to turn it. It was late, and even though it had been a rather exciting night, we were all tired and ready to sleep. I cuddled with Devin as we slowly drifted off for our journey to the Land of Nod.

In the morning, Devin and I went downstairs shortly after we woke up and we found Gramps and Pops sitting in the living room.

“We’ve been waiting for you so we can all go out for breakfast together,” Gramps stated when he saw us.

“Then you’d better give us a chance to wash up first and put on something nicer,” Devin responded. “We merely put on the same clothes that we were wearing last night.”

“Ok, but don’t take too long. Jacob and I are already quite hungry and we don’t want to get caught in the after church rush.”

“Ok, we’ll hurry then.”

When we came downstairs again, we followed Gramps and Pops out to the SUV and they took us to their favorite restaurant for breakfast. Devin and I had been to this restaurant with them before and knew what was on the menu, so it didn’t take long before we were ready to order. Then, we all sipped our coffee as we waited for our meals to be delivered.

“We should pick up a Boulder Sunday newspaper when we leave here, so we could see if there’s an article about what happened last night,” Pops stated, “but I doubt if there will be anything about it yet. It was after midnight when it occurred, and I suspect the paper would have gone to press before anyone at the paper even saw the police reports. It may appear in Monday’s paper, though, provided it doesn’t get pushed out by something more important. And since the local pharmacy back home sells copies of the Boulder newspaper, I’ll just purchase a copy tomorrow night.”

“Then if there’s anything in the paper about what happened to us, take a photo of the article with your phone and send me a copy,” Devin told him. “I’d like to see what it says too.”

“Ok, I can do that.”

After we finished eating breakfast, Gramps drove us back to the house, and then he and Pops packed their things in preparation for heading home.

“You still haven’t shown me what you did to the robbers to get them to drop their guns.”

“I’m sorry; it slipped my mind so I’ll show you now. Give me your arm.” I held out my left arm and he grabbed my hand. “Do you see this area right here?” he asked while pointing to an area on my arm, slightly above my wrist.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“Well, that’s the area between the ulna and the radius, and between them is the median nerve. If you use your thumb to put pressure on that area, like this, you’ll see what happens.”

“That fucking hurts!” I screamed.

“And now you know why those two guys dropped their guns and didn’t fight back.”

“Yeah, I probably would have done the same thing.”

“Ok, we’ll be leaving now and we’ll see you in a few of weeks for the Boise State game.”

“Ok, we’ll see you then,” Devin and I echoed as they headed out to the SUV.

We’d definitely enjoyed our time with them, including what happened after the game, and we look forward to them joining us for a couple more games before the football season ends.

We were pretty busy with our class work during the week, but we happened to run into Barry on Thursday. Of course, he wanted to talk about the football game.

“If I had known it was going to be a double overtime game, I would have gone with you. It was amazing to watch on the TV, but it must have been incredible to be there in person.”

“It was, and it was a shame that CSU lost,” Devin responded.

“And it got even more exciting after the game,” I added.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Barry demanded.

“Four guys tried to rob us,” I replied. “They demanded our money and phones as we were walking out to the SUV.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it actually happened to us,” Devin confirmed, and then he showed Barry the photo of the newspaper clipping that Pops had sent us.

“Damn, it says those guys had weapons and you were able to disarm them.”

“Yeah, Gramps and Pops dealt with the guys with the guns, and I dealt with the guy that had a metal pipe, while Devin took care of the guy with the baseball bat.”

“How did you guys manage to do that?” After we told him everything we’d done, he had another comment. “Damn, you guys really are bad asses.”

“We can all handle ourselves, but I’ll admit we got lucky this time.”

“Damn, I wish I’d been there to see that as well, but I’d probably have shit myself when I saw the guns. Oh, and don’t forget that we’ll be watching the away game at my place on Saturday.”

“Yeah, so let me give you the money now to cover for both of us,” Devin stated, and then he handed Barry some of the money that Pops had given him to cover the cost of the tickets to the last two games.

“Thanks, but I can’t promise this game will be as exciting for you as the Colorado game,” Barry said with a smirk.

“Yeah, we know, but I’m not sure any game will get as exciting as that game, both on and off the field,” I concurred, and then we all had a good chuckle.

“And this game starts at 5:00, but you two can come by as early as you want. We can even watch some of the earlier games together, but the other guys won’t show up until after 4:30.”

“Ok, we’ll have lunch at the dining hall first, and then we’ll come over to join you.”

“That sounds like a plan, so we’ll see you on Saturday.”

Devin and I were actually looking forward to joining Barry and his friends to watch the game, and of course we were all hoping that CSU would win. Even though CSU had lost their first two games, they played a lot better in their double-overtime loss to Colorado, and that gave us hope. It also gained national attention for the team, since Colorado had been getting a lot of media attention after Deon Sanders became their coach. In fact, Colorado had won their first two games prior to playing CSU, so maybe taking them to double-overtime before losing was a good sign.

When Saturday rolled around, we ate lunch at the dining hall and then drove over to Barry’s apartment to watch the game with him. We also wanted to see if he needed a hand with anything.

“I can always use a little help,” he concurred. “I was hoping to get it all done before you got here, but I was working on the assignments that would be due this week and lost track of time. There’s just so much to do this year that I don’t always have time to pick up after myself and clean this place. I keep up with the dishes, though, because I don’t want to attract any bugs.”

“Ok, we can help you with those things then,” we agreed.

The early game was just about over, since it had started at noon, Eastern Time, but at 10:00 on Mountain Time, so we felt we could do some cleaning before the next game stated at 1:30.

“Do you have a vacuum for the living room?” I asked.

“Yes, I keep it in the utility closet out here in the kitchen.”

“Ok, then I’ll straighten up the living room and vacuum the rug.”

“And while he’s doing that, I’ll clean up the dining area and take your books off the table.”

“Take them to my bedroom and stack them on the dresser, and while you guys are doing that, I’ll run out to the store to pick up the beer and snacks. I was just about to do that when you arrived.”

“Ok, but did you order the pizza yet?”

“I’ll do that from the car and have it delivered before the CSU game starts.”

“Ok, sounds like a plan, so get going.”

We’d finished up cleaning the apartment by the time Barry returned, so we went out to help him carry things into the house.

“Thanks, guy. I really appreciate your help, because if you didn’t get here early I might not have been ready by the time the game started.”

“We’re just glad we could help.”

The other three rode here together and arrived just after the pizza was delivered, which was about 20 minutes before the game was set to start.

“Seeing I have a car, I offered to pick these two knuckleheads up so they didn’t have to walk here,” Jerrod stated. He was one of Barry’s friends that we knew from last year. “It’s a good thing I did too, or they might not have been able to stagger here before the game ended, let alone started.”

After he said this, we took a closer look at Art and Brock. They were two seniors that Barry had known as acquaintances, but become closer to when school started in August. Unfortunately, it appeared that they had started celebrating already.

“Are they drunk?” Barry asked Jer.

“Let’s put it this way,” Jer responded. ”They definitely aren’t feeling any pain.”

We thought they were just horsing around when they staggered into the apartment behind Jer, but now we realized they weren’t joking around.

“Then how long have they been drinking?” Barry demanded.

“By the looks of things, they must’ve started before noon,” I offered. “It had to have taken them a while to get this drunk.”

“You’re probably right about that,” Barry added as he glared at Art and Brock. “The three of you can sit on the coach,” he said to Art, Brock, and Jerrod, “and Jer you can make sure they behave themselves and don’t make a mess or cause any damage.”

“Hey, I’m not a babysitter,” Jer protested.

“You are now, since you decided to drive them here,” Barry responded.

“Hey, we ain’t babies,” Brock slurred as he belatedly reacted to Jer’s comment, but the rest of us merely ignored him as Barry turned on the TV and selected the correct station for the game.

Since the pre-game show was still on, we all focused on the announcers to see what they had to say about CSU’s chances of winning today. We were somewhat relieved when the broadcasters all chose CSU to win.

Once the game started, our eyes were all glued on the TV screen. CSU scored first, on a field goal, but then Middle Tennessee made a touchdown. CSU scored a touchdown a short time later, which gave them a 3-point lead at the end of the first quarter. However, Middle Tennessee scored the only points in the second quarter, on a touchdown, so they had a 4-point lead at halftime.

During the commercials I’d been glancing over at Art and Brock and noticed that they were having problems finding their mouths in their drunken state and were dropping chips and pretzels on the floor. And then when CSU scored, they would attempt to jump up to cheer and not only managed to spill their beer, they also stepped on the pretzels and chips that they’d dropped on the floor. I wasn’t certain if Barry noticed this as well, but he definitely noticed when Art almost let his pizza slide off the paper plate and nearly land on the carpet during halftime.

“Hey, be careful,” Barry yelled. “I don’t want cheese and spaghetti sauce on the rug so I’ll have to clean that up too. You’ve made a big enough mess dropping the other things on the floor and then stepping on them and grinding them into the rug.”

Even though they already had a buzz when they arrived, they continued having more beer from the 12-pack they’d brought with them. Since they were both hammered, they’d been spilling beer on both the carpet and couch whenever CSU scored, since they were very unsteady as they ‘jumped’ up to cheer. After watching how they were carrying on, I doubted Barry would invite them back to watch any future games with the rest of us.

Just before the second half was set to start, Art kicked over the can of beer he’d set on the floor. And since Art was reacting so slowly to reverse what he’d done, Devin jumped out of his seat and picked the can up before it all spilled on the carpet.

“Ok, that’s enough beer for you,” Devin stated as he retrieved the can.

“And I’m cutting you off as well,” I told Brock as I grabbed his can. “You guys have been spilling your beer on the couch and carpet since the game started.”

They both tried to grab the cans of beer from us as we took them away, and when they couldn’t get them back, each one decided to take a swing at us instead. Art’s swing hit Devin on the forehead, while Brock’s swing caught me on the jaw. We ignored the blows, since their swing didn’t have much force behind it seeing they were so intoxicated, but when they tried to hit us again, Devin and I reacted accordingly.

As Art swung at Devin, Devin blocked his right arm with his left arm, which was holding the can of beer he’d taken away from Art, and then he hit Art with a roundhouse that caught him on the jaw. The blow caused Art to fall backward onto the couch, where he lay motionless.

At nearly the same time, Brock took another swing at me, and I also blocked it with my left arm, which was holding the beer I’d taken away from him. Then, instinctively, I threw an uppercut with my right hand that caught Brock on the jaw and caused him to fall backward onto the couch as well.

“I think both of you scored a knockout,” Jer said as he looked at the two slumped figures on the couch beside him. “I think that should take care of them for the rest of the game.”

The three of us then turned our attention back to the TV screen. We’d already missed the second-half kickoff and some of the early action, but thankfully neither team had scored. Luckily, we’d just turned back in time to see CSU score first in the second half on a 7-yard pass for a touchdown. In fact, that was the only score in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was really exciting. CSU scored another TD on a 7-yard pass play, followed by a 5-yard fumble recovery for another TD. Middle Tennessee closed out the scoring with a 10-yard pass play for a touchdown, but the game ended with CSU winning by a score of 31-23.

Art and Brock had come to during the last quarter, and during a commercial break they asked a question.

“Why did you hit us?” Brock asked.

“It’s because you hit us first and then tried to do it again, and we figured you’d keep it up unless we hit you back,” I replied.

“I think you loosened some of my teeth,” he muttered.

“Well, you two started it, so you only got what you deserved,” Barry confirmed. “And because of the way you’ve acted today, you’re not invited back here for any future games. And Jer, if you would be so kind, I’d appreciate it if you’d drive these two back to campus and drop them off at their dorms.”

It didn’t appear as if Jer actually wanted to leave, but he could tell by the way Barry was acting that he was serious and wasn’t about to be trifled with. Devin and I offered to help Art and Brock walk out to Jer’s car, since we didn’t want them to fall down and get injured on the way there. They didn’t seem to want to accept our help, but since they were so unsteady on their feet, they finally relented. I helped Art and Devin helped Brock, as we each assisted the one that we hadn’t hit.

Once they were safely in Jer’s car, he drove off. We weren’t sure how he was going to help them when they reached the dorms, but that was their problem. Devin and I merely went back into Barry’s apartment to listen to the after game summary and then we waited to see what game was on next.

“If you give me a wet cloth,” Devin said, “I’ll try to wipe up the spilled beer off the couch before it stains, and then I’ll try to find the spots on the rug and clean them up as well.”

“And I’ll vacuum again,” I offered. “Those two dropped all kinds of potato chips and pretzels on the rug and then stepped on them.”

“I know, and they managed to end our friendship in the process.”

“We had a feeling that’s what was going to happen.”

“And I’m sorry that they hit both of you – twice!”

“Don’t worry about it. They were so drunk that they couldn’t hit very hard.”

“But you two sure did. They were out for quite a while after you hit them.”

“I think we were both fed up with their antics and wanted to make a point,” I replied. “I think you noticed that they were a lot quieter when they came to again.”

“Yes, I did, but they both asked for it and they won’t be coming back here again. However, I’m finding that you two are handy to have around. You really are bad asses, and not just because of what you did earlier. It was pretty impressive hearing what you guys did to the guys that tried to rob you at the Colorado game, and you even had to disarm them, because each one had a weapon.”

“Devin could always handle himself and he was always the one who protected me when we were younger. When he moved away, I had to learn to stick up for myself, and since we hooked up again, he’s taught me a bunch of things so now I feel I can take care of myself.”

“It appears you both can, and it means you’ll have more leftovers to take home with you today. I’ll split what’s left of the vegetable tray and dips with you, and you can have the left over chips and pretzels, along with most of the leftover pizza.”

“But you should keep most of it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take what I want, but you can have the rest of it, compliments of Art, Brock, and Jer, since they paid for most of this stuff.”

“Ok, if you say so.”

We dumped out the half empty cans of beer and tossed away the paper plates with the left over pizza on it. After that, I helped Devin wipe the spilled beer off the furniture and rug, and then I vacuumed up the chips and pretzels off the floor. While I’d been doing that, Barry packed the items he was giving to us into a plastic bag, and since he was giving us most of the pizza, he left it in the pizza box.

“Thank you for all of your help. You two are great guys and I really appreciate everything you did for me.”

“Including punching Art and Brock?”

“Yes, that too,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m sorry I invited them to join us today, because not only did they make a mess of my apartment and furniture, but they also punched both of you.”

“Like we said, their swings didn’t have much power behind them,” Devin responded.

“And we were happy to take the hit for you,” I added, “because then we got to hit them back. We felt it was time they paid for their inconsiderate behavior.”

“Are you going to be inviting Jer back for the next away game?” Devin followed.

“Yes, I can’t blame him for Art and Brock’s actions. He was only trying to be a nice guy and gave them a ride here.”

“That’s good. We were hoping that’s what you’d say,” Devin responded.

“And we’ll see you around then,” I added, “and thanks for all this stuff.”

“Trust me, you both earned it,” he said, and then we carried everything out to the SUV for the drive back to the house.

During the ride, Devin and I started talking. “That was a really interesting afternoon,” I began. “Not only did CSU win the football game, but two drunks made a mess of Barry’s apartment and caused him to end his friendship with them.”

“Do you recall last year when he told us he was glad that we weren’t big drinkers because he didn’t want us getting drunk and making a mess or breaking things.”

“Yeah, I remember he said that and I’m glad we never got drunk when we were with him. I really like Barry and wouldn’t want him to get mad at us and end our friendship, like he’s doing with Art and Brock.”

“I feel the same way.”

When we reached the house, we got busy doing the assignments that were due for our classes on both Monday and Tuesday. And when we got hungry we merely heated up some of the pizza for supper, along with dunking some of the carrots, broccoli, and celery from the veggie tray into the dips we’d brought back with us.

As soon as we finished eating, we went back to work on our assignments, and we finished up just before it was time to go to bed. After taking a quick shower, we spooned together in bed and fell asleep.