Scars of My Guardian Angel

by Russell L Martin

  To my surprise, he asked me if I would be willing to trade a bucket of worms for a bottle of wine. I didn’t see any bucket of worms, but just so I could get him off my work site I told him, ‘Sure, bring me your bucket of worms tomorrow evening before dark and I’ll buy you a bottle of wine.’

  He turned and walked back into the darkness, and since I had been caught off guard, I decided my pistol would be in my belt every minute from now on.

  The following evening he must have been watching from the shadows, because as soon as the last employee left, he showed up with a five gallon bucket of worms. There were so many red worms in his bucket I could have fished for a month and not used them all.

  Being a man of my word, I drove over the levee to a nearby store and I bought him two fifths of strawberry wine.

  On my return, when he saw I had bought him two bottles instead of just one he was so happy, he was acting like a kid with candy. Apparently he was an alcoholic.

  He didn’t know it, but my reason for buying two was my hope that he would move on. My idea backfired; he spotted my extra fishing pole and asked if he could join me .

  At this point I felt a little more at ease. This giant of a man seemed to be harmless. So I pulled out another lawn chair about the time my wife drove up on the levee with a surprise dinner she had cooked for me. It was one of my favorites, green bean casserole. Noticing it was almost dark; I thanked her and sternly let her know she needed to get out of this part of town right quick.

  After she left, I found myself sitting beside Tall Man on the edge of Rapides Bayou, sharing my extra fishing pole and a large helping of casserole.

  The evening rolled on, but we weren’t catching anything, because there had been heavy rain over the last several days. This was causing the bayou to have way too much current and fresh water in it as the small tributary gushed toward Red River.

  I noticed Tall Man’s countenance rapidly changing as he was almost through with his second bottle of wine. He was repeating over and over, ‘When the man upstairs says it’s your time, it’s your time.’ Over and over, then he would ask, ‘You believe me? You better believe me!’ Then he started telling me about how many people he had killed in bar room fights. ‘You believe me, you better believe me.’ Then he started reaching over every time he would repeat himself and shove me really hard on my shoulder.

  I finally stood up and stepped back a few feet with my hand behind me with my Colt 45 at the ready and told him, ‘It’s time you get down the bayou, ole buddy.’

  He stood up, ‘You get in that truck and you go get me some more damned wine! You do what I say, you hear me?’

  At this point, I’m checking to make sure my safety is off and ready to light him up if he starts coming at me. I reach in my pocket and I pulled out six dollars. This was the change I had left over from buying his wine earlier. I slowly reached out and handed him the wadded up money, then I took a couple steps back. ‘You need to get out of here and I mean right now!’

  He suddenly started talking nice again as he was walking back and forth in front of the lawn chairs that were sitting only a few feet from the edge of the bayou. His feet got tangled on the small honeysuckle vines growing at the edge of the water.

  As he twisted around facing Buck and me, with the bayou directly behind him, he fell almost in slow motion, comically reminding me of the ‘Ice Tea Plunge’ commercial. I couldn’t help myself; it was totally funny to see this giant fall like a huge tree without any expression on his face or movement with his arms, just plainly falling.

  I stuffed my pistol back in my belt, quickly grabbing my handheld light, I ran over to the edge expecting to see him swimming back to shore. This wasn’t the case.

  Tall Man went down like he had bricks in his pockets. I shined the spotlight back and forth across the water. Finally, I saw one hand come up, he was grabbing at thin air… then it disappeared. Realizing he was drowning, I threw down the light and my pistol, slid down the bank and was just about to dive in. But then… total fear gripped me, with a sudden memory of when I had seen my older brother try to save my cousin from an overflowing canal down in Lake Charles. My cousin almost drowned my brother and himself by clawing and climbing on top of my brother’s head holding him under. If it hadn’t been for the help of a couple of adults that jumped in, my brother and cousin would have both perished.

  I knew if I jumped in, there was no way I could have saved this guy. Especially from his enormous size and the way he clawed and thrashed the top of the water when his hand broke the surface. He would have surely pulled me down with him.

  I hurried back up the bank, grabbed one of my fishing reels, and with the river weight and bare hook, I started casting to the location I had last seen his hands come up. After many attempts trying to snag a piece of his clothing, the small sliver of hope I had to save him, quickly faded. Tall Man had now been under for several minutes. He had to be dead by now.

  I loaded Buck in my truck and drove back to the same store I had bought the guy’s wine at. I used a pay phone to alert the police, and within a few minutes it seemed like the whole police force showed up. It actually turned into a circus with cop cars sliding down the levee and each one running up to me asking what happened. After telling my story over and over, finally the genius of the group starts accusing me of murder. He sarcastically asked me, ‘Where is the wooden two by four you used to kill him with?’ Yes, some real screwballs.

  After I finally explained just what happened to one detective that actually had a little common sense, everything was resolved.

  They eventually got a crew down the levee, launched a flat-bottom boat and used a long bar with hooks as they drug the bottom. They finally hooked his long black jacket, bringing him to the surface. It was a ghastly sight!

  After they saw the bucket of worms, the two empty bottles of wine and found the six dollars that I told them I gave the guy, the lynch mob had finally all accepted my innocence.

  After he found out the true identity of Tall Man, the one detective who seemed to be pretty level headed shared information with me that really bothered me. He informed me I was very lucky because this guy had in fact killed several men in his past, some were bar fights and others that were still under investigation. He said during a fight he would get his big arms around their heads and snap their necks and each time he would somehow get out of it claiming self-defense.”

  * * *

  “Okay Chado, now tell me about the one that you thought was going to rob and kill you.”

  “Well, that’s a much shorter story and I didn’t think much about it until after it was over.”

  “Just give me the quick version; we’re not far from your dad’s place.”

  “Sure, it was pretty much the same area, just down the levee and a little closer to the bad part of town.”

  * * *

  “Well Uriel, as I remember, it was pretty cold and had been raining off and on for several days. None of the crews had worked very much the last couple weeks, and we had to babysit the equipment night and day. I remember one evening I was sitting in my truck on top of the levee reading, and every few minutes I would glance up to see if everything was okay. One of the times I happened to look up, there was a black guy standing about fifty feet away from me, straight out in front of my truck. At first glimpse he looked very suspicious. I thought, why would anyone be standing around in drizzling rain this time of evening? I’m sure he was up to no good.

  This guy was acting very strange, as he would stare at the equipment and then out of the corner of his eye look over at me. He finally starts heading in my direction and without showing much movement on my part, I quickly grabbed my pistol, then I tossed the holster over on the floorboard of the passenger side.

  I rolled my window down as he walked straight up within inches of my door. It was like he was trying to see inside my truck. I asked him, ‘What can I help you with? ’

  With a very cocky attitude, he started asking me stupid questions, ‘Wha
t you doing by yourself out here boy? When yo people coming back?’

  I lied and told him the whole crew were on their way back and my boss will be here any minute.

  ‘Ain’t nobody coming back here, you all by yo self Mista.’

  At this stage of our conversation, I figured we were about to do business. I stopped answering his foolish questions and started concentrating on his movements as if I was sitting in a funny car watching for the green light and whoever leaves the line first wins the race; and in this case whoever draws first gets to live. His words faded as I zoned in on everything about him. I noticed he had two small scars above his left eye and a look on his face that was very easy to read; he was about to either rob me or kill me. I also noticed with his right hand still in the pocket of his army jacket, that it was more than just his hand. He was holding a gun, partially concealed.

  I slowly cocked the Colt 45 auto without making a sound and had it pointing at him through the door. At this point I had decided if this guy makes a move, I won’t stop shooting until I blow him to the bottom of the levee.

  He kept edging even closer, looking over in my truck. I noticed a sudden change in his face when apparently he must have seen the empty holster lying on the passenger side. I believe he knew that I had the drop on him and he wouldn’t have a chance. He suddenly backed off, turning and heading back down the levee toward the hood.

  For the next several nights, sitting in my truck was like being behind enemy lines. I even went as far as taking an old quilt and stuffing it into a jacket and placing a ball cap over the make believe head. My thoughts were, if this guy or someone like him tries to ambush me they would take out the dummy instead of me. I would sit it up in the driver’s seat, then I would hunker down on the passenger side. For a bit more insurance, I brought my Browning 12 gauge short barrel shotgun with the plug out. I guess I was as ready as could be for his retaliation that never came. Thank God.”

  * * *

  “Uriel, I was so glad when the crews finally moved completely out of that area. That was definitely a scary place! So why did you want to hear those two particular stories?”

  “Chado, what I’m about to tell you will probably make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. You know when Allayer and Nipper brought you through New Orleans, Chicago and the other cities and you witnessed the presence of darkness with the legions of demons and fallen angels?”

  “Yes, how could I forget? I was really glad you were with us; that was truly a spooky sight around those cities.”

  “Well Chado, you better be glad I was with you on the levee. You see, that section of Alexandria was as bad as, or maybe even worse than, some of the other cities. Lucifer again was notified of your presence in one of his dark zones, and he set several traps that you almost fell in.”

  “What kind of traps?”

  “He knew you were under the protection of God and he had no right to take your life. His plan was to try and get you to kill the thief or Tall Man and have murder in your heart. By doing this, it would be just enough that God would take away your protection. Remember, Lucifer has always known that God has a plan for you; he just doesn’t know what it is. So another attempt was made on your life by his dark forces.”

  “So tell me, what happened in the Spiritual Realm? ”

  “That gun holster you tossed over on the passenger side of your truck was actually the first step in keeping you out of trouble. When you pulled your gun out and tossed the holster, I gave it a little nudge and made sure it landed far enough over that it would be visible to the guy you were about to kill.”

  “Wow, I was sure that’s exactly the reason why he backed off; he saw the holster. So if you hadn’t given it that extra little nudge, my goodness, I would’ve had to shoot the guy. Uriel, it would have been self-defense, right?”

  “This is true, and the courts would have seen it exactly that way. And God knew you would have been right to defend yourself. But here’s where Lucifer would use it against you. When you first saw this guy up close, the way he looked at you and talked to you in a disrespectful way, you immediately hated him. You then wanted to do battle, and finally had visions of blasting him to the bottom of the levee. God knows you were only human to react this way. If you had been walking closer to the Lord at that time, you may have witnessed to this fellow, even while pointing a pistol at him through the door of your truck insuring your protection. However, you wouldn’t have looked at him with hate, but the love of Christ and Satan’s little snare wouldn’t have worked.”

  “I totally understand; you know I’ve always had a problem with any confrontation. Without thinking clearly, I seem to jump head first into a fight. So what ever happened to that guy? I just knew he would have come back and tried to ambush me.”

  “He did have plans, and he was going to bring his gang with him. But that same night, the police had a raid on a local drug den and he and his crew were all arrested and eventually served several years in Angola State Prison for drug trafficking.”

  “So what about Tall Man, you know, the guy that drowned?”

  “Well, that’s where it got a little nasty. Tall Man as you call him had a history of sending several men to their grave. He actually was possessed by three demons and they were very powerful and cunning. Tall Man had tormented so many people, and the Christians in his family had come to a point where they would avoid him like a plague. For years they prayed and fasted for his deliverance, but Lucifer had such a stronghold on his soul that anyone who approached him with the Word of God, he would curse them and threaten them with their lives.”

  “So I was actually fishing with this guy? Good Lord!”

  Uriel chuckles, “That’s right you were sitting beside a man possessed with demons and didn’t know it. Chado, listen to this: Lucifer summoned the demons that possessed Tall Man, with orders to kill you. And from every dark corner of that city, the night sky overhead was filled with fallen angels. They were floating like vultures, circling that whole area. Yes, you were in grave danger that night. God even sent six other Warrior Angels to help me at the hour of need and I welcomed the additional protection!”

  “Goodness gracious, all this was going on just because I wanted to kill that guy?”

  “No Chado, because Lucifer wanted to kill you. He sent a wolf in sheep’s clothing and he was carrying a bucket of worms.”

  “Wow, I had no idea I was dealing with a crazy man, not to mention demons.”

  When you saw his countenance change and he started repeating himself, that was no longer Tall Man talking, it was those demons that dwelled inside him. At the moment you stood, reached around and had your hand on the pistol, there were demons swarming you like bees, lightly brushing your hand trying to prompt you into pulling your gun. You couldn’t hear them but they were repeating over and over, “Kill the bastard, kill him!”

  “Where were you Uriel? Well I mean, what were you and the other Angels doing?”

  “At that time the other Angels were just a couple hundred feet overhead, they had a made a small circle around us and the fallen knew if they dared to cross, they would have been destroyed. I stood beside you and at that very second I reminded you of the six dollars in your pocket, and instead of pulling your gun you pulled the money out and handed it to Tall Man. This action infuriated the demons, so they decided to try something else. They confused Tall Man, and that’s when he started pacing back and forth in front of the lawn chairs. He finally tangled his feet in the vines, and all at once the demons shoved him backward into the bayou.”

  “They actually had the physical power to be able to push him over the edge?”

  “Yes and when you threw down your spotlight while sliding down the bank with intensions of saving Tall Man, that’s when they attacked us both. I stood in front of you with my hands raised to God, praying for Him to stop you from diving in, knowing it would have meant sure death for you. At that point, several demons came out of the darkness, two were behind you pushing and whispering
in your ear, ‘Dive in hero, save him, you can do it, save him!’ The rest were climbing all over me while I was continuing to raise my hands, pleading with God to stop you. Somehow, one of the fallen angels got past the Guardians and struck me multiple times, finally penetrating my armor and wounding me in several places. That’s when God gave you the memory of your cousin and brother almost drowning, and seeing this vision frightened you enough that you froze in your tracks and realized, if you dove in you would surely die. The demons and the fallen angels saw my hands drop to take hold of my sword; they retreated only to run straight into the swords of the other Guardians that were now coming to defend us. They were destroyed along with Tall Man and the three demons that had possessed him for so many years. They were now trapped inside his corpse as he lay motionless on the muddy bottom of Rapides Bayou.”

  * * *

  I hear Moushie and Rex barking in the distance, “Uriel, you know back when Moushie or Rex would tree a squirrel or bay up a hog they both had a certain bark but that sounds like their happy bark. I think they are trying to tell us something.”

  “Yes, they are. We’re almost to your dad’s place.”

  “Awesome, I wonder if he knows we’re coming. Granny knew, so maybe Dad knows also. I kind of wish we could surprise him and see the look on his face. Pop really knew how to kid around. He would have the construction crews in tears with the silly jokes he told… and they loved it.”

  Suddenly I see both dogs trotting back in our direction, yep, we must be close. We top a small hill and behold, I see a huge lake, it must be twenty miles across and the length goes out of sight. It’s just as beautiful as everything else I’ve seen so far. There are homes scattered up the shoreline as far as I could see, each one spaced out at least a mile or two from the other. Some look like mansions and others are smaller but just as beautiful.