Strange Things | Fear of the Body Snatchers

Fear of the Body Snatchers

erratic_prophet | 18 May, 2005 13:10

I've brought up before-- several times, I'm sure-- that we, my cousin Den and I, were not allowed to go anywhere unescorted. This wasn't due to fear that we might get lost somewhere, but fear that we might get kidnapped.

I know that sounds overly dramatic. It does. Even I thought it was ridiculous when I first heard it. (And, believe me, I nagged until I heard the why of it all-- so that's where The Girl gets it from.) I even snuck out on my own a few times because I was 16 and stupid and quite sure I was invincible.

Why did they worry about us getting kidnapped? Well, my uncle*, at that time, worked in the government. He worked in Parliament. This is why we got through customs without being stopped. It had its perks. But it also had its downfalls. He'd gotten numerous death threats, had been shot, even held for hostage at one point. His sons had also been threatened.

This is why we were usually with a body guard, who also played our driver sometimes. This is also why we were never permitted to ride in the same car as my uncle. It was always separate cars and we were always to be kept away from him unless indoors. They also feared that since we were Americans, it would be an added incentive for someone to harm us. A feather in their cap, you might say.

I never took it seriously. I couldn't. It all seemed too unreal and soap opera-ish. Things like this did not happen to girls from the Jersey suburbs, fer chrissakes. So I only appeared to follow along meekly, but was sneaking out a lot of the time. Den was even worse than I. He was noticably gone a lot of the time.

One thing changed my mind about the whole death threat / kidnapping thing. One day, my cousin A, my father, Den and I were out walking. On our way back, we cut through the alleyways between all of the apartment buildings to get back to my uncle's apartment. I hung back a bit to retie my sneaker and when I straightened up, I jogged a bit to catch up. Just seconds after I moved, a rather large cinderblock crashed just inches behind me.

Needless to say, I was shaken. I looked up at the nearest building and saw no one. Den remarked on how odd it was that the cinderblock had fallen so far from the building. I knew it hadn't fallen, it had been pushed.

Later, I told my father that I knew it had been pushed and was meant to hit one of us. That's when he told me the entire reason why we were not to be left alone. After that, I stayed home like a good girl. Den, of course, was still clueless. I sometimes wondered if that boy was a moron. He had booksmarts, but was generally without a clue. My father told me not to tell him because it would make him only more stupidly daring and I agreed, but did tell him often not to sneak off like he did.

Thankfully, he was not only a fool, but a lucky fool and nothing ever happened to him. And that was the only time-- that I know of anyway-- that I'd had an attempt on my life.

*- Unfortunately, my uncle recently passed after a long, painful battle with cancer. Of all the things that tried to kill him, this is the only one that succeeded. He was a wonderful man. Kind, funny, sweet, and gentle. I'll miss him.

[Reply]

Awesome story "R"! Comiserations on your uncles passing, but what an amazing life he led :)

Michelle — 19 May 2005, 00:34

[Reply]

Thanks, Michelle. He was an amazing man who lived an amazing life. I hope that I managed to celebrate that life with this story, rather than mourning his death. He would have liked it that way.

Erratic Prophet — 19 May 2005, 16:47