We lived in the country behind the Big M shopping center In Middletown Pennsylvania. It was quite handy, they had a grocery store at one end and the store had everything else you would need including furniture. You could see part of the store from our bedroom window at night because it was lit up like a Christmas tree. 

 

One night our dog wouldn’t stop barking so we hopped out of bed to see what the problem was. We thought it might be an animal of some kind but as we gazed out the window into the darkness, we saw a truck in back of the Big M and we knew it shouldn’t be there, especially that time of night. 

 

They were being robbed! My husband went into action. He put on his holster and guns over his underwear grabbed his boots and out to the truck he went. It was pretty cold outside for it was late-November and the truck windows were all frosted up. He yelled for me to call 911 as he pulled out of the driveway with his head out the window. “Gosh, he’ going to get his head shot off,” I thought, as I watched him drive down the street.

 

I did as he said and called 911 not knowing if he caught up with the bad guys or not since I could no longer see their truck behind the store. I imagined all kinds of things, especially as I remembered him driving down the street with his head out the blasted window. He was gone an hour now and still no word, no police, no truck, and no barking dog. I was really getting scared.

 

About an hour and a half later I saw lights in the driveway and it was my crazy husband pulling in. Flying into the house at breaking speed, he started telling me all about his adventure chasing the bad guy’s truck for miles. The police finally caught up to them and eventually they arrested the bandits. There my husband stood, still wearing his underwear and pistols. It was really hard to take him seriously dressed like that and I bet the police had a hard time deciding on whom to arrest. The Big M owner was so appreciative that he gave us a whole patio set for a reward.

 

A few weeks went by since the robbery and our dog started barking again. It was very late and dark outside but I ran down the stairs and out back to where our swimming pool was and could hardly make out anything. All of a sudden, I saw movement in the tarp covered pool. Oh no, I thought, it’s our dog, Duchess, who happened to be a 200 pound Newfoundland. I screamed for Jim and dove in the icy cold water. Duchess was tangled up in the tarp and the only thing that stuck out of the water was her nose. I yanked and yanked at the tarp trying to free her and got twisted up in it myself. With all the twisting and yanking, somehow I lost my nightgown. Oh my, I can read the headlines now, “Nude Lady and Her Dog, Drowned While Skinny Dipping in a Covered Pool at an Ungodly Hour.” 

 

In between yanking at the tarp and screaming for my husband, I managed to get the dog freed. By this time, I was exhausted and wasn’t sure I had enough strength to get myself untangled. Somehow I made it to the side of the pool, put my head down on the edge of the pool and tried to catch my breath so I could climb out. As my breath was becoming normal again, I looked up. 

 

You will never guess what was standing in front of me or then again, maybe you will! Yep, you guessed it; my husband was standing there bigger than life in his underwear, boots and his holster with pistols drawn. “I thought someone was being robbed,” he sheepishly stated.

 

What a big help he was, even the dog wasn’t impressed.

 

Written by,

Bonnie May