Italianman

This is a love story as much as it is one of heroics.  Its focus is on the man I consider my best friend for the past thirty years.

In September of 2002 my husband and I had travelled with two ladies from our small church located in West Islip, New York, to a conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.    The last night of the week long conference, before returning to our hotel, we decided to stop at a Burger King along the highway. Mind you, it was three women and Craig. You  know who wanted to eat at  Jack in the Box but we outnumbered him, making Burger King the big winner.

It was ten thirty in the evening when we got on line behind a large youth group from the State of Florida, the four of us hoping there would be food left over, never mind getting it customed ordered! Surprisingly, ten minutes later we were sitting in our crowded booth hearing the wonderful sounds ofpaper peeling off the burgers and checking for fries that might have escaped their greasy boxes. I should of known right then something was wrong when I had to ask where's the beef?    Not only was my patty  missing but  I almost knocked over my mega size cola. 

After finishing our meal and quickly chewing on a roll of tums, we made our way towards the exit. It was a few minutes after 11:00 pm and just as we were about to leave, two boys dressed like robbers burst through the fingerprinted doors. I remember being so angry at them for waving toys guns in our faces, scaring everyone. The children from the youth group who ranged in ages from eight to fourteen, were just starting to panic.  This  made me even angrier that these  youth could play such a sick joke on their own!

I turned to the masked young man who was pointing a gun at my chest,

"You should be ashamed of yourself for scaring the children!" pointing my  trigger finger in his face, feeling like Dorothy admonishing the Lion.

I am sure there was more I said, there always is, and after getting that off my chest, I started again for the door until the voice behind the gun growled,

"Lady, I wouldn't advise leaving" in a tone that had me for the first time since they made their dramatic entrance, wondering if this was a real robbery! It was, surprise!

Spiderman, Superman, Batman, eat your hearts out! My husband, a/k/a Italianman, with no thought to his own life, diverted that same gunmen who had turned his attention from me to a group of young children huddled together.  Italianman began to plead,

"Don't do it, God loves you, it's not worth it!" talking as if the gunmen was contemplating jumping off a ledge instead of aiming his weapon at the children who were shaking and crying.

The gun was barely an inch from Italianman's temple. Everyone said a silent prayer for my husband while the pistol remained there, what seemed an eternity before  the gunman's accomplice emptied all the registers.  Then without warning one of the gunmen pulled the trigger as his gun pointed to my husband and a miracle occurred! The bullet fell onto the tiled floor right in front of Craig! Talk about needing to use the restroom! Having collected what they came in for, the two waved their guns a final time around the crowded restaurant and then ran out.

Italian man later told me all he thought about during those fateful moments was, "Is the bullet going to hurt?"

Again, not that there is anything funny at all about a robbery, but it did give me a chuckle when I found out because of the baggy pants they were wearing, it tripped them up while they ran across a field during their botched getaway. Dropping all the booty and having to pick it up, gave the police the extra time needed to to catch up to them before they disappeared. That is exactly what happened, and thank God, no one was hurt!

What we didn't learn until later, the bus driver transporting the youth, needing a "break" from them and ate alone in the bus while this was all going down. The driver called the police the moment they walked into the restaurant. Another hero at Burger King.

Getting back to the theme of a love story (of sorts), I can tell you when I saw my husband risk his life to protect all those children, nothing could have made him look better in my eyes. That is how his whole life is, not just one night of heroics for my Italianman, he never thinks of himself only others. Now that is what I call a real man, a hunk! You may say most men would of done the exact same thing, but maybe not when you learn that the robbery took place  in what the detective
called the "hood".  He added that we were nuts to have stopped for a burger here of all places! I guess we were used to our safe Manhattan, so we never gave it a thought!

As a side note, we were told by two friends that they were praying for us the week leading up to that night, sensing we would need protection of some kind. It took me, not Italianman, a while before I was comfortable going to a Burger King or even a McDonalds. But when the craving for greasy fries overrides my fears, I have it my way and say, Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, and most of all, don't hold me up again!

Author notes
this is a true story - everything exactly as I have written - I used some humor but not to make light of the situation or for the crime committed but for me it helps me deal with it - everyone is different but I pray I offend noone by it. It was a very scary time to see my husband with a gun to his head!