After her episode, she was still wound a little bit tight. The next day, she did confide in me that she had a bad dream the night before. It all made sense.
I suffered with PTSD as well; however, I coped differently than she did. When the truck backfired, my body’s reaction was to tighten up, but I was able to associate the sound quickly to what it was. A lot of the coping techniques that I learned were in the support group that I attended. I didn’t attend as consistently as I probably should have, but I did when I felt I needed to.
The one time I brought up Minnow attending with me, her expression let me know that was not an option right now. Like everything else with her, I wouldn’t force or rush her. This kind of thing had almost the same premise as an addict and rehab. They had to be ready to get that monkey off their own backs. The same applied for those who wanted to deal with their PTSD.
One thing that Minnow didn’t lie about was the amount of attention that our joint attendance at movie night had caused. People normally saw us together at the butcher shop or atRosebuds Dinerfor lunch. They took that as two coworkers out. Tonight was a different vibe when we walked out here hand in hand. We hadn’t made the agreement that we were in a relationship yet, but my public display of affection toward her made a declaration.
The fact was that I wasn’t the only eligible bachelor inPlastersthat was worth a damn. Our town bred strong, well-mannered men. Of course, like any place, we had our one-offs, but overall, the eligible bachelor pick was great.
The entire town came to movie night. My parents’ old asses were even out here. I modeled the marriage I wanted based on my parents’ marriage. My mother was the devoted military wife that raised three boys, ran a farm, and loved my father until he came home to her. I thanked God that he came home to her inone piece. Well, almost, because my father was an amputee. He lost his leg on his last deployment.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I spoke more to myself, with my eyes on Minnow. My eyes were always on her.
I spotted Mrs. Cook’s stupid ass sons the second we set our seats down. They had moved since the start of the movie. Her sons were the towns drug dealers if you could even call them that. They were the kind to mix grass in their weed because they were bums.
So many people have tried to intervene, but there was always one issue: their mother. In the absence of their father, she coddled them. She made excuses for them. They were comfortable with their lack of accountability because their mother didn’t require them to have any.
From the first word that fell out of Kevin’s mouth, I was out of my seat. These little niggas were so disrespectful. I prayed my baby would ignore them and walk on by. Her triggers were hairlike, and I wasn’t sure if she realized it.
When her feet stopped and she turned to face the crowd, my feet double-timed. I wasn’t sure what she planned to say to him, but I read his lips. I knew what he said to her. She said whatever she said, then turned to walk away. Like a flash grenade of some sort, he grabbed her arm, she dropped what was in her hands, pulled her gun from the holder under her shirt, cocked the hammer back, and put it to his head.
Everything imploded. The sheriff, who wasn’t far, pulled his gun, which caused me to pull mine. People scattered and screamed. From my periphery, I saw other deputies had gotten into place with weapons pulled.
“Let’s all calm down. I need everyone to calm down. Winters.” My voice was even and calm.
I did a quick scan to see my brother and father both with their firearms raised as well. My father stepped forward. “Iswear, if one bullet hit my boy or my daughter-in-law, Dawsons are laying fuckas out. Victoria, go to the truck and get the shotgun. You know what to do.”
From a distance, my mother called out, “I’m already halfway there, baby. They got the wrong muthafuckas tonight.”
“Winters, baby, lower your firearm,” I said sternly. She was in a zone. I couldn’t be sure what zone it was, but it was a zone.
Minnow was a jumpy person who you could not touch abruptly. Your movements toward her had to be slow and deliberate. Everything I did in regard to her was slow, calm, and deliberate. It wasn’t because she was fragile. It was because I loved her and I cared.
Winters’ head tilted. Kevin hands were in the air, tears streamed down his face, and the smell of urine permeated the air. “See, you’re not this thug ass nigga that you think you are. Touching people who don’t want to be touched. Do you think that’s alright?”
“David, shoot her! She has a gun pointed at my damn son!” Mrs. Cook cried and screamed like a madwoman. One of the deputies held her back.
My mother stepped up next to my father. “Beverly, shut the fuck up! Your son should have been laid out when he raped Lilly’s daughter. David, y’all covered that up though, right?”
Winters laughed, then turned her head to face Mrs. Cook. “Oh, so your son is a rapist. Boys will be boys, right?”
The sheriff knew about Minnow’s past because I told him. He was also a veteran. “Dawson, please have Staff Sergeant Winters to stand down.”
I closed my eyes because I didn’t want to take it there. Yes, she was in a space that was out of pocket for most. In my mind, this was not an episode. She was in a mode of self-defense. “Minnow, baby, he gets the point. Don’t you, Kevin? You get thepoint that your ass could be dead right now if she had pulled that trigger on your bitch ass?”
He nodded his head as much as he could with a muzzle pressed against his forehead. “Yes, yes, I get it. I won’t touch nobody again.”
My brother stepped forward. “Sheriff Crawford, I’m a little uncomfortable with all these guns. How about we, at the least, have your deputies lower their firearms off my brother and sister-in-law. My mama and me will lower ours. Sis, lower yours so everyone else can lower theirs.”
Minnow rolled her eyes, then lowered her gun. “I wasn’t going to shoot his bitch ass. He grabbed me, and I felt that I was in imminent danger. He is three times bigger than me. I had no way of knowing that he was a punk bitch.”
I chuckled as I lowered my gun to put it back in its holster. Everyone’s firearms were lowered.I can’t believe they actually let my mama get that shotgun out of the truck. Dumbasses.
Minnow picked up the bottles of water, walked over to me, then pouted. “He made me drop our popcorn. You think they’re going to charge me for more?”
“David, I swear to God if you don’t lock her up. She put a fucking gun to my son’s head. That’s assault! My baby didn’t do anything,” Mrs. Cook said.
The sheriff was between a rock and a hard place. He had to decide fast. He rubbed his hand down his head. His eyes scanned between me and my father. My father gave him a subtle nod.
