Tommy’s way out of it was the ultimate bluff. He knew he was going to get his ass kicked, or get killed. For us, getting knocked down is getting killed.

Tommy said to the guy in charge, “You know, you guys got me.There’s no two ways about it. Maybe I can hurt somebody, but I’ll tell you what. I’m going to bite your fucking nose off your fucking face. I’m taking your nose.”

And he bluffed his way right out of it.

I went into the park. It’s one o’clock in the morning by now. A guy was passing in the street on a bicycle. He sees me. He just kept going back and forth in front of the park I think, I’m going to have a problem with this guy. I call my dog and put her on the leash. We’re walking out the only entrance to the park.

Now we’re on the city street, he on one side of a car, me on the other, right under a light. His back is to me, he’s still motoring on his bike. He sticks his hand in his pants. I think, he’s got a gun. When he turns around, he didn’t have a gun. He had his penis in his hand and he was masturbating. I got so mad. I wasn’t frightened. What if it was my niece walking the dog, or it was someone’s daughter? A housewife? Someone’s who’d be frightened. I remember when I was a young girl and that happened to me I was terribly frightened.

Now I knew what he had in his hand. I pulled out my gun. And he knew what I had in my hand. I stuck it straight out, and said to him, “I’ll put a bullet in your eff’ing head.”