Hot House Momma

July 17, 2006

the door to the unknown

You sure meet strange people when you gamble. Maybe because people that gamble are strange. Not saying I am, but it generally seem to hold true. You also hear some stories sometimes that make you think about how you live your own life. How life can be uncertain without warning.

One dealer that we were sitting with playing cards started telling us her life story. In the beginning she came off a bit cold, but then warmed up a little as we sat in played cards. She began to tell us about her dad and how he was a complete and utter alcoholic. How at the age of 13 her and her sisters convinced her mom to leave their dad. Mere girls themselves who knew it was time for their mother to move on.

She went on to tell us of a horrifying night that should have given her mom the green light to pack up and head for higher land. Sometimes it seems we miss these signals especially when we think we are in love. Sometimes it's just because we think we have no other choices in our life.

The dealer told us about growing up in a bad suburb outside of Compton. How life there was unusually tough growing up Caucasian in a predominately African American neighborhood. Her father was a late night drinker. Which meant that her mother was home to tend to her and four sisters. Because they were home alone all the time her mother was almost obsessive about keeping the door locked at all times. Apparently her father had a drinking problem. ( at this point in the story the dealer is laying back in the patient chair and I am taking notes) We are no longer enjoying a leisure game of cards. No hourly charge for my services at this time.

It was a typical night and her dad was out drinking. The girls were nestled in their beds. Her mom had decided to leave the door unlocked while her father was out for a night of binge drinking. Meanwhile she was up doing some late night ironing and other household duties. Suddenly without warning a man came through the front door and held a knife to her neck. He told her that he was going to rape and kill her. She shouldn't have left her door unlocked. This man has been watching her all day and knew that she was home alone with her girls.

From the other room a baby started crying. This baby was the youngest girl of about 6 months. The man told her she better shut the baby up or he would kill both of them.

The woman decided she need to do whatever she could to get this man to leave. She started talking to the man about god and her religion. She was able to get the baby back to sleep during this time. After serveral hours of talking this man opened up to tell her that his wife was leaving him and he didn't know what to do. She convinced him through religion and showing him some love that he should go back to his wife and try and fix his marriage.

In their talks she was able to convince this man to leave. The man left. He didn't rape her and didn't kill anyone. He walked out the door and told her to never leave her door unlocked again.

How is this for scary? The most unbelievable part of this story was that when her dad finally came home, he didn't believe her mother was telling the truth. He just dismissed her.

Lesson of the day: Always lock your door so your not the one telling this story

1 Comments:

Elleoz said...: That is a scary story. So glad it had a somewhat happy ending.

Aren't casino dealers some of the most interesting people in the world? If I could count I would love to do that. I'm sure they have enough stories to tell to last a lifetime.

And to answer your question on my blog. I'm not sure when we are going to Tahoe. Hopefully sometime in the late fall. I'll let you know.; July 18, 2006 6:13 AM