Sanguine Tenacious Tidings

Leaves are beginning to Turn

Write about a memorable encounter with a stranger.

Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known-- by Carl Sagan

Hmm, O.K. Since we have one discussion of an encounter with a drunk this month I'll tell you this story. It is as accurate as I can presently remember.

It probably occurred sometime between 1967 and 1969. My first husband and I were the caretakers of a small horse stable on Randolph Air Force Base. The owners of the horses had all gone for the day the stable was officially considered closed by dark. We had guard chains that prohibited entry to the stalls and the base military police did a regular drive by on their rounds every night, about every couple hours.

One night some owners showed up after the horses and the stable had been put to bed. They had all been drinking and they had a friend with them who was out of his mind and into the depths of inebriation. He wanted to ride a horse after he realized where he was and was very loudly proclaiming all kinds of rather dangerous ideas. I took the owners aside and asked them to please control their guest. They did not know how to convince their acquaintance to leave.

So, I stepped up to this uncouth person and simply stated he would leave immediately because the stables were closed for the night. I told them they all had to leave because we had a curfew. When he argued I said I would not argue I would simply call the AP's if he did not leave right then. He looked to his friends who were startled but, suggested I might be right and they all left.

Lucky for me the AP patrol car came through and did their regular drive around the circle at the entry of the stable.

The next day the owner of the horses approached me and said they had never heard of a curfew at the stables. I had to admit we did not have one and they were free to ride at any time as long as they turned the lights out when they left but, I needed to stop a bad situation before it started. Horse back riding and extreme inebriation can be as dangerous as driving drunk.

They laughed and thanked me for stepping up. It's not pleasant to be on the end of threats from a person who is not in their common sense mind.

It was only a simple encounter. Never saw the man before or after so my only memory is of someone about 3 times my size. Hope he wasn't brass.

See Ya!