I gave this title because the details of my story make for a long story. I have told the details many times, but have not personally written it down. I plan to give all the details so that my children and my future generations will have my personal account without anyone else's slant to it. This has been written about and published in newspapers, but each one has misinterpreted things I have said one way or another. So.....here goes!
It was April 6, 1979. One month to the day before my wedding! Life couldn't have been more exciting at the time! I had just graduated from college the year before and I was working as a substitute teacher since I moved in the middle of the school year. I was just one month from marrying the man that I knew God had for me and we had found a darling little house to live in after our wedding. I was living there and he was living with his parents.
We were attending his family's church where he was the treasurer of their men's ministry. The church had a little wooden box on the wall next to the entrance of the church called the bereavement box. People would drop money into it at will to be used to minister to those in need. We were having our monthly church meeting that night and he needed to give a financial statement at the meeting. He had not counted the money in that box, so I volunteered to go by, get the money out, count it and make a deposit. I had subbed at a local school that day, so right after school, I dropped by the church. No one was in the office that day, so it was quiet. I had parked across the side street from the front door. The church was one block off of a main street in Augusta, GA but wasn't very busy. I entered the church, got the money and crossed the street to go back to my car. As I looked both ways to be sure I could cross, I saw a young man dressed in a white tee shirt and army fatigues walking up the sidewalk toward me. Since there is an Army fort in Augusta, that didn't seem out of place to me.
I crossed the street, unlocked my car and got in. As I started to close the door, someone was right there and stopped me from closing the door. Honestly, I thought he might be trying to sell me something. Instead, he told me that he needed a ride out of town. I offered to take him to the bus station. But he just wasn't open to that. Instead, he told me to get over and he would drive. So many thoughts were going through my head. How can I get out of this? Is this man really going to drive MY car? Can the lady walking right next to me tell that I am in trouble? Is there any way that she and I could over power this man? Why, oh why can't I just jump out of this car and run for my life? Is there any way that I could actually get away from him if I did get out? What would happen to me, if I tried to run and he caught me? Before this moment, I had always said that I would kick, scream, hit! I would fight back if anyone ever tried to hurt me.......but in reality, you don't know what you will do in a given situation.
My car was a Mercedes diesel and you had to pull a throttle to crank it. And it was also a manual stick shift. He didn't know how to drive a stick. I was worried that he would ruin my car. I tried just sitting there and not answering his questions about how to drive it, then, I told him how I didn't want him to mess up my car. He told me how he thought I was more concerned with my car than myself. I was concerned with my safety, but I didn't want my car demolished either. So, I finally gave him instructions and we started off.
That morning I had taken something to drink on the way to work, so I had a glass in my car. He drove to an empty lot and parked. I became very anxious about his reasoning. He opened his door, picked up my glass and broke it on the frame of the door. He pointed it at me and said, "If you don't believe that blood is red, I can prove it to you." Being cut is one of my biggest fears. So, even though he didn't know it, he just guaranteed my cooperation!
Stay tuned!
