When Law Dog is on duty he usually calls me once he gets out on the street. We chat about Tubbs and Crockett and the shenanigans they pulled before bed and then I always say, “Have a good night, I love you.”
With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, Law Dog was working all kinds of over time. A couple weeks ago, he was working an overtime shift and it was the last shift he was working before the schedule change. He was going to have a few days off before he started his new schedule. Before he left he said he was going to lay low and make it a quiet night.
Fast forward a couple hours, I had just put Tubbs and Crockett to bed, washed my face and plopped down on my bed for some me time. I turned on the TV to catch some local news before I went to sleep. The top story was a shooting that had just happened in a bar right in Law Dog’s sector. My heart skipped a beat; I hit rewind (thank you DVR) to watch the story again. The news said the owner of the bar and a few of the patrons had a scuffle, and when the bar owner tried to escort them out of the bar one of the patrons pulled out a gun and shot the bar owner multiple times. Of course the news says the bar owner is in critical condition and on his way to the hospital. The gunman and his buddies loaded up in their cars and took off. I looked at the time, it was about 9:45 (right when he gets out on the street) and immediately called him. He picks up the phone and I said, “So much for a quiet night right?” He said, “No chance of that happening.” He gave me the real scoop: the perps were in the bathroom doing some Schedule II’s, the bar owner caught them and wanted them out of the establishment, in the process of kicking them out one of the perps pulled out a gun and the bar owner was DOA. So I said, “I know you are busy, be careful tonight, I love you.”
When we disconnected I got this sinking feeling in my stomach and the thought ran through my mind that this could possibly be the last time I spoke with him. He was going to be out on the streets looking for a car full of high…armed …hoodlums who have nothing to lose; obviously they are not afraid to pull the trigger and take someone’s life. If anyone will dig them up in the most randomness of places it will be Law Dog. Of all nights for something like this to happen, a night that he was not supposed to be working, and should have been home with us.
Dark thoughts came pouring in to my mind like if something were to happen to him, would he know how important he is to me and much I would miss him? How would I explain this to Tubbs and Crockett? Would they know how great their dad truly is? I lay down in my bed and tears started streaming down my face. Who would notify me if something happens to him? There goes reality again, smacking me in the face. OUCH. Has this ever crossed your mind?
They never did catch those bastards that night. A family was left without husband, dad and a grandfather and so much unanswered.
But my family unit moves on whole and thriving….just taking it day by day.
