The Neighbors, II

While standing there between the abuser and his victim, I had all sorts of those split moment thoughts --and the thought of my imminent death also crossed my mind.  But for some reason, I was giving this abuser more credit that he deserved as I thought to myself, "He's not going to hit a pregnant woman."  I knew both she and I were weak compared to this man and so in those split second thoughts, the ones that race through your head at lightening speed, I tried to think of what upper hand I could have.  I prayed  and asked, "Lord, now what?"  Then I dawned on me --I got my answer.  You see, right there in the bushes, dark and late at night --standing there with a helpless abused woman and a strong abuser I had the power of . . . .

THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES ARMY.

You see, when you're a soldier, you're a soldier 24/7, 365 --in uniform, out of uniform, at work, at home, on duty, off duty, in the office, in your home --it just doesn't matter.  The Army has control over you in both your civilian and military affairs.  And --the Army just don't take much of a liking to abusers.  Period.  I knew these neighbors both knew my rank because we had seen each other in uniform several times --coming and going to work.  I knew I out ranked both of them.  The man was a SP4 and the woman was a PFC (E4 and E3).  I was a Sergeant (E5) and though I knew I couldn't or wasn't going to pull rank out here, I still knew rank was going to play an important part.

So wait, are you asking me if I had two entire paragraphs worth of thoughts while I had an abuser standing at my back?

Yes.  Yes I did.  Like I said, it was in that moment of panic when you literally can see your whole life flash before you --so two paragraphs is rather short compared to an entire life.  Can we please continue on with the story now?  Thank you.

So very calmly I turned around and I said to the man, "Hey, what company are you in?"

That's all I needed to say because behind that word "company" I had the United States armed forces on my side.  I knew it.  He knew it.  She knew it.

Abuser Guy:  Uh, why?

Me:  I don't know --I was just wondering.

Abuser Guy:  Wondering for what?  What's that got to do with anything?

Me:  Well, I was just wondering how interesting your 1SG would find all of this.

Girl:  We was just playn' --I tole you.

She walks over to the guy and he puts his arm around her.

Abuser:  Yeah, we do this all of the time.

Me:  (speaking directly to the girl)  One call to his 1SG or Commander and all of this will be over.

Girl:  I tole you --we's just playn'!  Awe, this ain't nuttin.

I walked away and as I did I hear whispering and kissing sounds.  I guess they were making up --or whatever that was.  I got back into my apartment and locked myself behind my paper thin door.  I realized I was trembling and I didn't know if I had just started trembling or if I had been that scared all along.  I was just glad I didn't know, that I didn't realize how scared I really was.  I prayed for protection again --because I had no idea who this guy was or what he was capable of.

After that I didn't hear much more fighting.  I heard a lot of yelling but nothing like before --or even that night; crashing noises and screams of pain.  And then pretty soon I didn't hear yelling either and then I realized, the girl left.  GOOD FOR HER!  I hope she left him for good --I really don't know.

A while later, even after I had my baby, there was a knock at my door one night.  I looked through the peep hole and saw the abuser standing at my door.  I opened my door and he was very friendly --like we had been  lemonade sipping neighbors all along, "Hey uh --I'm moving out and uh --well one of our end tables broke --I'm not sure what happened --but anyway, so the landlord is going to make me pay for it and I was wondering, do you have the same tables as we do?  Because I thought maybe I could borrow one of yours and then after the inspection I could bring it back.  (tries to look over/around me into my apartment) --so do you have one of those brown wooden end tables like . . "

I cut him off, "No--I don't have the same furniture as you but even if I did, that just doesn't sound like a good idea to me."  I start to close the door.  And he pushes the door, gently but still pushed it.

And then I was more frightened than that night standing in the bushes.  This time I had a baby in the house and no other witnesses around.  That's when he did it --

He turned on his charm.  Like I said before, he was a very attractive man --and he knew that.  This guy started smiling and batting his eyes and turning on charm like the waters of Niagara Falls.  All I could think was --UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!  What a jerk.  He was making me sick to my stomach.  I felt like he was a creepy poisonous spider weaving his web and hungrily looking at me to see if I'd just dare to get caught in his trap.  Whilst trying to charm his way to my table, I looked at his hand on my door and then looked at him, "I already said you can't have my table.  Now if you would please take your hand off of my door --because if you don't, I'm going to call the police and when they come I best assure you I'm not going to tell them "we was just playn'".  He took his hand off of his door and then waved it at me saying, "Awe, forget you man!"  Then he walked back towards his apartment.

I again locked myself behind my paper thin door, in my crappy apartment and once again, my hands were trembling.

I never saw the girl or the abuser again.