John Gilstrap - Threat warning

“Are you going to shoot me if I say yes?”

“No, I’m going to shoot you if you say you’re a burglar. If you say you’re the repo man, I’m going to ask for your ID, and then I’m going to be without a truck, which means that even if I got a job offer and an opportunity to pay back your boss’s precious money, I wouldn’t be able to take it.” Her voice had none of the twang that Jonathan associated with this part of the world. If anything, she sounded like Yankee elite. He thought he saw tears in her eyes.

Jonathan rose from the seat, keeping his. 45 angled away from the woman so she wouldn’t see it and panic. “How long ago did you lose your job?” he asked. It was a stall more than anything else, a way to bide time as he thought of a way out of this.

“Three years,” she said. “I used to work for Appalachian Acoustics until they got their new asshole owner and he put in all his own people.”

“Michael Copley is an asshole,” Jilly said.

“That’s enough out of you,” the woman scolded.

“Sorry, Mama.”

“So, are you or aren’t you?” the woman pushed.

“What are the chances that I can convince you to put that weapon down?” Jonathan asked.

She scowled. “My weapon? What are you, a cop?”

“If I say yes, are you going to shoot me?”

“Seems to be your fixation,” she said.

“I get that way with armed people.”

“Most people say gun,” she said. “You said weapon. My husband’s in the Army, and the only people I know who talk that way are his buddies and cops.”

Suddenly, Jonathan found himself caring more. “Is he on deployment?” he asked. “Your husband, I mean.”

“ Again,” she said, leaning heavily on the word. “To Iraq. Again . I thought this new guy in Washington was supposed to get us out by now.”

“Wars are complicated things,” Jonathan said. “When is he due back?”

“What’s it to you?”

Jonathan shrugged with one shoulder. “Let’s just say I have a soft spot for active-duty personnel.”

“There it is again,” the woman said. “You all sound alike. Who are you?”

“Well, I’m not the repo man. How’s that for a start?”

She lifted the gun to hold it in both hands, but with the barrel still pointed harmlessly. “Not so good,” she said. “Jilly, come over here by me.”

The little girl looked confused.

“Now, Jilly.”

Suddenly frightened, Jilly scampered over to her mom.

“Suppose you tell me why you’re in my truck, if you’re not the repo man.”

Over the years, Jonathan had honed an ice-melting smile that by itself had defused many a volatile situation. He used that now. “I came here to steal it,” he said.

The double barrels pivoted closer.

“The weapon is not necessary, ma’am. I swear to you. You don’t want your daughter to see you kill a man anyway. Not over a car. Besides, I’m not going to steal it anymore.”

The woman gave a wry chuckle as she jiggled the shotgun a little. “I could have told you that.”

“Fair enough. Fact is I’m going to help you.”

She hardened her stance. “I don’t need your help.”

Jonathan held her gaze. “I think you do. How much do you owe on the truck?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Jonathan shrugged. “In a different circumstance, I’d agree, but let’s be honest here. It’s a cold morning, and you were worried enough about having your truck repossessed that you stayed up all night with a shotgun. All things considered, I’d argue that privacy is not your first priority. Come on, tell me. How much do you owe?”

She snorted a derisive laugh. “What, are you going to buy it?”

“Yes,” Jonathan said.

Her face went blank. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’m going to buy your truck.”

“It’s not for sale.”

Jonathan just stood, giving her time to hear the ridiculousness of her own words.

“If I let you buy it, what am I supposed to do? I’ll be stranded out here.”

Jonathan cocked his head. “What was your plan when you thought I was the repo man?”

“I didn’t have one. That’s why I was going to try and talk him out of it.”

“With a shotgun? Who did you plan to have take care of Jilly while you were in prison?”

She threw an uncomfortable glance at her daughter, but said nothing.

Jonathan took the opportunity to further drive his point home. “Wouldn’t it be better to greet the repo man with a wad of cash than a twelve gauge?”

The woman clearly didn’t know what to do. “So, what, you expect me just to take a check from you? Even if it was good, without the truck-”

“I said cash,” Jonathan interrupted. “You know, folding money.”

Her shoulders sagged in disbelief. “You just happen to have twenty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars on you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Then why not just buy a car of your own?”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he said. He was being deliberately obtuse now.

“I mean-”

“I know what you mean. Thing is, there are no dealerships out here.”

The woman scowled as a thought crossed her mind. “Where are you from? How did you get here?”

This was why it was better to work at night-why it was always a bad idea to engage in chitchat.

Jilly sneezed and hugged herself tightly. “Mommy, I’m cold.”

“Me, too, honey.”

“Let’s go inside, then,” Jonathan suggested.

The woman coughed out another laugh. “Excuse me?”

“It’s warm inside,” he said.

“You really expect me to invite a strange man into my house?”

Jonathan polished his smile. “There’s a lot going on right now that I didn’t expect, but it’s happening anyway. What are your choices?” He counted the options on his fingers. “One, you can shoot me, but for the sake of argument, let’s stipulate that you’re not going to do that. Two, you can just take my money and let me drive off in your truck, but it doesn’t look like that’s happening, either. Three, you can go inside and just leave me out here, in which case I’ll just take the truck. Four, we can all continue to stand out here together and freeze, but that’s just plain stupid. That leaves the most logical choice, which would have us all go in together. You have the shotgun, after all.”

Again, she stared as she tried to wade through it all. In the east, the sun had fully bloomed.

“Look,” Jonathan said. “I know we met awkwardly, but I really am one of the good guys. Either take my money for the truck and let me drive off, or let’s all go inside. It makes no sense for Jilly to be shivering like that.”

“So, I’m just supposed to trust you. The stranger who was about to steal my car.”

“I’ll introduce myself, then. I’m Leon Harris.” He considered reaching out to offer his hand, but worried that it might come off as aggressive. “Look. I’m going to step away from the truck now, and when I do, you’re going to see a holstered pistol on my thigh. Don’t freak out.”

She didn’t freak out, exactly, but the business end of the shotgun lined up closer to his chest. She’d still miss if she fired, but Jonathan didn’t think she knew that.

“Put it on the floor,” she commanded.

He pushed the truck’s door closed. “I can’t do that,” he said. “First of all, it’s an expensive weapon, and second, it’s modified to have really sensitive parts. It’s not a weapon that other people should handle.”

Her eyes remained locked on the weapon.

“Ma’am, I know that this is stressful and confusing, and to be honest with you, there’s a lot of it that I can’t explain. What I want you to understand-and the reason why I didn’t just continue to hide my weapon from you-is that if doing you harm were on my agenda, I’d be doing it, and with all respect, there’s nothing you could do to stop me.”