The Smiths and Joneses Read Online Free PDF Page A

hold out my hand, “Captain; it’s good to see you again too. I have to say, I prefer seeing you in this environment more than the last time we met. What was it, twelve years ago?”
                  “Brad, thirteen, I never forget a face. I’m sorry for the way we treated you that day, if I remember correctly; you were the only one to respond quickly. You beat all of us there. How many of them did you get?”
                  “I got four of them.”
                  “Ron hear that, he finally admitted it, someone get me a set of handcuffs.”
                  All of the color drains out of my face, I just realized I admitted to shooting people in a room full of police officers.
                  The captain breaks out laughing, he says, “Brad, don’t worry about anything, in fact, you were fully cleared of any wrong doing a long time ago, I’m surprised Ron never told you. “
                  Looking at Ron, “You knew all this time?”
                  “Hell, I had to have something to hold over your head, and bust your balls with.”
                  “I ought to punch you.”   
                  “Go ahead, I deserve it, by the way, look around, almost everyone in the room is wearing a police or first-responder uniform, whose side do you think they’re going to be on?”
                  We both laugh, “Ron old buddy, no problem, I’m not pissed. And it’s not me who may call the security office at Dulles to tell them you’re carrying drugs on your flight to Vegas.”
                  When it dawns on Ron what I said, everyone around us laughs. The Captain thanks me again for helping with the terrorist attack.”
    “Captain, I’d tried to forget about that afternoon. At the time, I was hyped up on adrenaline. If I’d thought about it, I would have realized you were right, I was acting stupid in trying to stop the attack.”
    “Brad, you must be the luckiest SOB I’ve ever met. I replayed the events of that day many times; to this day, I have no idea how you survived.”
    “Captain, thank you for saving me.”
    “Brad, I’m not sure we saved you. We know you saved many lives, you should have been awarded a medal for what you did. The President’s Chief of Staff turned the request down because you fired on the so called ‘peaceful protestors’ who went shopping with AKs. We should have thanked you versus arresting you. I heard you also ran into a problem along Route 95 when you tried to take on the Russian army. I guess you just attract the wrong kind of attention. Please tell me you didn’t bring any weapons to tonight’s party.”
    “Captain, no weapons, I promise. I learned my lesson when I got shot in the leg fighting the Russians.”
    “That was a stupid and also a very brave move, fighting tanks with the armor of a cotton uniform, how’d that workout?”
    “Not so well. We did slow them down enough for the real heroes to arrive.”
    “Brad, you are one of the real heroes. I’m proud to say I know you. You ran towards the gunfire when most people ran away from it.”
    We shake hands and move towards the bar. I turn to Ron, “Ron, when do the ceremonies begin?”
                  “About thirty minutes, just enough time for everyone to get drunk.”
                  Hugging Ron, I tell him, “Ron, it’s been an honor being your friend. Thank you for all of the help you’ve given Kathy and me all these years.”
                  “Brad, when DHS blew my house up, I had no place to live. If it hadn’t been for the two of you, I would have cracked. You saved my sanity, plus you gave me a free home to live in. The two of you fed me for a year. You never let me pay a penny towards the food.”
                  “Ron, it wasn’t free. You helped us put our house back together after DHS searched it. Who would