Which story is better?
A woman answered the door. “Oh hi. You came.”
“What’s the problem?”
“It’s my husband. He’s been drinking. He didn’t go to work this morning.”
I get her name, her age, the name of her husband. “Has he got any guns in the house?”
“No.”
“Knives of any sort? Swords?”
“No.”
“Where’s he at?”
She says, “Oh, take it easy on him. He obeys the law. It’s just when he’s drinking.”
“OK. Sounds good. You wait here.” Now I start walking down this long hallway. And as I’m walking down the hallway, my gun’s unsnapped, still in the holster. I see an alcove built into the wall. I remember looking into this room, then to the alcove. He’s standing there with a gun.
Mid-step it was, bonk! I said, “Oh, how you doing, man?” We are within a foot or two of each other. I remember looking at him and thinking, “Oh fuck!” Everything is slowed down. I remember looking at the gun barrel, thinking, I don’t know how he’s able to hold that with one hand. That’s a huge gun. The bullet is going to smash me. I felt every breath I took I could feel every molecule of air. I started to perspire. It felt like every drop was an ice cube.
I said, “Man, why don’t you put the gun down. You haven’t got problems now. Why don’t you just put the gun down?”
He said, “Fuck you! I’ll kill you and her.”
“Oh boy,” I says. “Buddy, you don’t want to do that. Put the gun down, and let’s end it right here. Because if you don’t, you’re going to die.”
He says, “I’ll kill you!”
Suddenly the gun went down in size and I remember calculating, “That’s a .22 or a .25. If he doesn’t get me in the head, it’s going to take some time for me to die. Well, I’ll be able to kill him because I carry a .38 special.” My gun was half way up, still in the holster.
I says, “I’ll tell you what buddy. You’ve got your chance. Put it down, because I’m going to count to four. When I reach four, you may as well goddam shoot, because I drawing and I’m killing you. I’m not going to die right way. OK? One… .”
And he put the gun down. I was going to draw on two.
He goes, “Aw fuck!” All I remember is his arm reaching all the way to the floor. He must have bent over, but I didn’t notice.
“OK,” I says, “let’s grab the wall.” I put the gun in the waste can, handcuffed him.
The wife said, “Oh, my god! I didn’t know he had that!”
I get a call. There was a problem at his house. He was inside, wouldn’t come out, had been drinking, and obviously has multiple firearms. I know this guy has a high potential for violence. I call in the response team, but I want him to trust me. They agree that the bulk of the tactical team will be in a parking lot a couple blocks away.
So I have the flak vest on and am walking up to his door, thinking to myself, He’s going to shoot me. I was thinking about the time I was married, about my family, my parents, my friends. I was thinking, I can’t believe that I just can’t turn around and go back. I’m going to get shot.
I get up to the door, swallow, turn around and wave to these guys. I knock on the door.
He opens. My heart is pounding. He opens the door and looks totally normal.
“Scott, I’m glad to see you. You’ve got to help me. Come on in.”
Ha. Meanwhile I’ve got my vest on.
He immediately see that and goes, “God, you know, I’m really sorry that you thought I was going to hurt you.”
“Well, you know George, with your temper.” I’m laughing, probably manic, silly at this point.
He’s huge with two sons bigger than he is, college football linemen, who would get in brawls in the front yard.
Driving home afterwards. I was thinking, I don’t think tactical knows who was involved. We didn’t get into trouble with the district. I didn’t get shot. Nobody got hurt.