Dorsai - Close knit family

His clothes looked like something you'd see on a Skid Row derelict, and I could smell him even from where I was standing; on top of that, he had a not-quite-right look in his eyes, and one of those large folding knives in the hand that wasn't wrapped around Wendy's arm. The look he gave me was one of pure hatred, and I could see him start to turn my direction. I actually hoped that he'd make a move my direction — I'd made varsity wrestling in high school, and figured I could take him easily enough if he tried to hang on to Wendy; if he didn't, then I'd gotten her free of him, and I thought that I still had a better-than-even chance of taking him without getting hurt.

I'd deliberately provoked him, hoping to get his attention on me; as he started to move, I eased myself to the end of the couch, where I'd have a little more room to move.

My "plan" was ruined when Teresa told him "Doug, you stupid bastard! Don't you understand there's no way you're going to get away with any of this?"

Doug turned his attention back to her, leaving me wondering what I could or should do. My mind was racing as I saw him getting more and more upset; he was starting to look like he was going to attack Teresa when I got another idea.

After using my foot to unplug the lamp on the table next to me, I scooped it up and tossed it -

deliberately aiming it so that it would pass in front of him. As I hoped, his attention immediately shifted to it; better still was when he released Wendy so he could use his hand to knock it farther away. Before he could turn his head back my direction, I moved in and hit him with a classic wrestling take-down… one that forced him to drop the knife he held. With his arm locked in mine, I pivoted and almost literally threw him to the floor. That stunned him long enough for me to fall on top of him and get him wrapped up in my arms so that he couldn't move; even though he tried his best, I had him tied up solid. When he realized he wasn't going anywhere, he stopped his struggles — giving me the opportunity to tell Teresa "Call 9-1-1 and get the cops here now!". She shooed the girls ahead of her, and I heard her tell them to go to the neighbor's house and wait there until she told them it was okay to come back. A few seconds later, I listened as she made the phone call. Doug tried to struggle free again when he heard it, but it simply wasn't going to happen; I had a good, solid hold on him.

A couple of minutes later, I heard a siren approach; shortly after that, I saw Teresa lead a cop into the living room. In the few minutes after that, three more cops showed up; with enough of them there to deal with Doug, one told me "Okay, sir, you can let go of him. We'll take care of it if he starts anything else."

I turned loose of Doug, and as I stood up, I saw that one of the cops had a stun gun ready to use if Doug acted up. Apparently, Doug saw it, too, and meekly followed their directions as the cops got him standing, then cuffed.

After a couple of cops got Doug out of the house, the other two started taking statements from Teresa and me — and the girls, once Teresa called and let them know they could come home. It took a while, but the cops finally got everything they needed, and after making sure all of us were okay, they told us they hoped the rest of our night went better than it had so far, and left.

Teresa went in to make mixed drinks for all of us — including the girls, though theirs were appreciably weaker; when she got back, I was sitting on the couch with Wendy on my lap and my arms around her, while Donna and Karen were grafted to my sides and hanging onto my arms. After getting the drinks distributed, Teresa sat in "her" chair and looked over at me to ask

"What in God's name made you think you could go after him when he had a knife?"

After taking a healthy pull off my drink (and gasping — Teresa had made it pretty strong), I told her "I was varsity wrestling in high school, and even did pretty good in State finals a couple times. I never heard Doug say anything about being involved in any kind of sports, so I figured I had that going for me, right off. When he looked at me, I could see he was drunk or on something, so that was going to screw up his reactions, too. The last thing was that I could see that he wasn't in good shape, and I figured that gave me a strength advantage. Sorry about the lamp" — it lay broken into roughly a thousand pieces in the corner — "but that's what was handy to distract him with so I could surprise him."

Teresa waved off my comment about the lamp before answering "I remember now that Judy told us a couple of times that you had a couple of wrestling trophies. He still could have hurt you pretty bad, though!"

I gave her a wan smile as I explained "I don't think so. Like I said, his reactions were pretty screwed up, and he was out of shape. I was stone-cold sober and straight, and still reasonably fit; I know my reaction time is still good, so I was pretty sure I could handle him. I wanted him to let go of Wendy more than anything else, but if he'd dropped the knife, that would have been good enough."

Hearing that I'd been trying to get her free of Doug first made Wendy hug my arms to herself before she quietly told me "I'm glad you were there to save me, Uncle Ted."

Teresa heard Wendy, too, and told me "I'm damn glad you were here, too, Ted.", the tone of her voice letting me know that her words didn't even begin to convey what she really thought and felt. She went on to tell me "I was sitting in here with Wendy, watching TV, when I heard someone at the door. You can imagine how shocked I was when I opened it and saw Doug there!

The son of a bitch pushed me back, and came inside before I could do or say anything, then practically dragged me in here. He started out asking me for money, but when I told him I didn't have any, he started getting pissed off. When I tried to tell him to leave, he knocked on the floor.

After I got up, we had a little bit of a shoving match while we argued. He kept saying I had to have some money because the place looked too nice. He grabbed Wendy and said he was going to take her with him, when you showed up."

"I heard it when you were arguing with him; not the words, just loud voices. It wasn't until I heard you hit the floor, and you and him fighting that I figured I'd better come up and find out what was going on. I thought his voice was familiar, but I couldn't place it until you said his name right before I came in here. Sorry it took me so long to come and find out what was happening.", I said, the last part apologetically.

Teresa waved it off again, saying "No, there's nothing for you to apologize about — you did come up, and you were here when we needed you, and you damn sure took care of the problem!"

"Well, the cops have him now, so he's going to have to face up to the crap he pulled before, and what happened here tonight. I don't think anybody is going to have to worry about him for quite some time; seems a pretty safe bet that he really is out of you life for good, now."

After that, things were quiet while all of us were occupied with our own thoughts. I finally heard Teresa say "Okay, it's way past bed time for you three, so finish whatever is left in your glasses and get going."

When I looked over at the clock, I was surprised at how late it was — it was well past even Donna's bedtime, which was the latest of the three of them. None of the girls made any protest, and Wendy and Karen both got up to take their empty glasses into the kitchen; after draining the last little bit out of hers, Donna followed them. When they got back into the living room, all three of them kissed me on the lips before thanking me for being there, and wishing me a good night. I gave each of them a gentle pat on the butt before wishing them the same.