Page 14 of Garr

“What the hell is he doing?” growled Adam.

“I don’t know, but I trust him. Carl is moving around to the back of him. We’ll stay right here. Move the others behind us.” Adam pushed his grandmother, Ruby, and Mary behind him, Sven and George refusing to move from their spot.

“God, y’all are some stubborn old people,” growled Ben.

“Yep,” nodded George.

“Joseph, you’re having a hard time right now. I know it’s difficult, but you’ll find work soon. This isn’t the way.”

“H-how did you know that? How could you know I need work?”

“Why else would you be waving a gun around at innocent folks?” said Matthew calmly.

“I just wanted to get food and get the kids some toys for Christmas, some warm clothes. Is that too much for a man to ask?”

“No, son, it isn’t,” said Matthew, moving closer to him. “Will you sit down on the counter so I look you in the eye?”

Carl, Ben, and Adam were surprised that the man did exactly as their grandfather asked. They watched in amazement as Matthew allowed him to hold his rusted pistol, crying as he whispered to him. His mouth was right at the young man’s ear. As he spoke, the man would nod at Matthew, his emotions bubbling over now.

“Everything will be okay now,” said Matthew. “Don’t look up. Place the gun on the counter, and I want you to take what’s in my hand and leave the store quickly. No one will remember your face. You go on home and take care of your wife and those little children.”

Matthew handed the young man a handful of one-hundred-dollar bills, squeezing his fingers over it. Wrapped inside was the name of a warehouse downtown that needed forklift drivers. It paid well, with benefits.

“How did you know?” he asked the old man.

“God works in mysterious ways, Joseph,” he grinned. He placed a kiss on his forehead, holding his warm lips there for a moment. Joseph set the rusted gun on the counter, and Ben grabbed it, tucking it in his pants. The thing was so old it probably would have misfired.

Now standing on the floor, he looked up at the old man who didn’t appear so old any longer. His whiskey-colored eyes were filled with compassion and kindness. He looked at the women and other men behind him, shaking his head.

“It’s alright,” said Irene. “Do as Matthew said. Take that and go help your family.”

The young man turned and walked out of the store, not even turning to look one last time.

“Grandpa, that man should have been arrested,” said Carl.

“Why?”

“Because he broke the law!”

“So, we send a desperate man to jail that only wanted to provide for his family? And if he were in jail, his family would still be hungry, cold, and desperate. Let me ask you something, Carl. If you had no money, no job, no family, and your children were hungry and without warm clothes, what would you do?” Carl was silent for a moment. He knew he would answer his grandfather honestly.

“Anything. Anything I needed to do,” he said calmly.

“That’s right. And so did that young man. He’ll have a job by tomorrow morning, and his family will have food and a nice holiday. We’ve done what we came to do.”

“Wait? What about all this stuff?” asked Adam.

“Buy it. We’ll find families for it,” said Matthew. “We’ll meet you in the car.”

The three brothers stood gaping at their grandparents and their friends as they walked hand-in-hand to the waiting SUV. Carl looked at Ben and Adam, shaking his head.

“You heard him. Buy it all.”

CHAPTER NINE

“Luke, I’m telling you, it was like he knew we were supposed to be in that sporting goods store. We’d been in a dozen stores before that, and then suddenly, he pointed to the sporting goods store. We could have gotten the bikes, the shoes, all of them in the big box store we were in hours ago.

“That gun would have never fired. I had Montana take a look at it. She said it was so dirty there was no way it would have worked. How could Grandpa know that when he didn’t have a close-up look at it?” asked Carl.

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