Another Incident On The Homefront .....

Last night on our way to our daughter's house for dinner, we stopped at Braum's on Sheridan near 15th to pick up ice cream for dessert. I parked near the door and Sheila went in. After a couple of moments, a thin, twenty-ish, meth addict looking white male came up the sidewalk to the door, staying close to the wall as he approached before entering the store. At the time, I thought he looked hinky but decided to just watch the door.  Half of the people in that area look hinky now.

After a while, I began wondering "What in the world is taking Sheila so long just to buy a half gallon of ice cream?" Eventually, she came out and as we drove off she told this tale. She said that as she was getting ready to check out the suspicious looking man in question came in the door. When he did, the checker said, "Oh my God, that's the guy that always robs us."The checker then headed to the back and hid until he left. The perp apparently decided not to rob the place after the clerk fled and locked herself up in the back.

But, SHEILA JUST STOOD THERE through the whole thing. She said she thought about

texting me to come in with my gun. By this time, my mind was screaming, "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LEAVE?" She said she was in a hurry and was just thinking about getting checked out and on her way to dinner. This is what I told her after I got my emotions under control:

(1) Take armed robberies very seriously. They happen every day in our neighborhood. The fact that you haven't been caught in one yet doesn't mean that it can't happen to you. If the clerk is afraid you should be too. If you don't like the way a situation looks JUST LEAVE. 

(2) If you can't leave, hide. Go to the bathroom and lock the door. Follow the clerk into the office. At least get down behind something out of sight. Get as many barriers as you can between you and the trouble. Stay quiet and try to make yourself small.

(3) After you have done everything you can to flee or hide THEN call for help. Don't TEXT unless you have no other option. It takes too long and I don't always look at my text messages immediately. This is a life or death situation CALL the nearest help available unless speaking would put you in further danger.

In 1980 when Sheila and I moved back to Tulsa from St. Louis, we were incredibly relieved to move away from a big, dirty old city where street crime, random violence and a blase' attitude toward it all especially by law enforcement and city leaders the order of the day.  Unfortunately, Tulsa has become a big, dirty old city that is just as tough and just as dangerous as St. Louis or even New York. We Tulsans who live north of 51st Street can no longer afford the luxury of letting down our guard while we go about our daily lives. 
Sheila and I are going to have a long talk about personal safety soon.  Our hometown has lost its innocence and now unfortunately, we all have to as well.