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I found myself alone late at night in the house my brother was housesitting while he finished college. (Everyone had concert tickets but no one had expected me home.) The owner had passed away some months before and his wife didn't want to stay in it alone while her family tried to sell it. It was free rent for my brother but it came with some baggage. Mainly, dead animals. The owner had been a hunter and the house was filled with big game trophies. The den was a huge room, done all in wood paneling and heavy timber, with a river rock fireplace, hearth and mantel. That's where I was sitting that night, surrounded by dozens of dead beasts, reading the ultra-violent novel A Clockwork Orange. A real horror show, as you can imagine.
I'd mellowed into my bag and was sipping a brew when, from only half a block away, I heard the gut-wrenching sound of a siren heralding a policeman in danger. If you've ever heard it, it stays with you forever. It starts low then builds to a sharp point: "whooooOOOP! whooooOOOP!" From miles away, from all directions, I could hear dozens of police cars racing to the sound. "whooooOOOP! whooooOOOP!" And suddenly, I was back in the war. Shotgun blasts boomed through the neighborhood, followed by rapid small arms fire from an untold number of weapons. Screams punctured the night.
I reached over, flicked off the reading lamp, then made my way quickly to the solid oak wet bar built into the corner of the room. Last thing I wanted was to be caught in the crossfire or taken hostage in some desperate fool's escape attempt. The firefight raged for what seemed like 10 minutes, police cars pouring into the neighborhood throughout from all directions, lights flaring, sirens blaring, an increasing cacophony of gunfire and guttural screams.
Then all the weapons went silent, almost at once. And slowly, one after another but in no perceived order, the sirens went silent. It was hours before the colored strobe lights went out. Eventually, I crawled out from behind the bar, brought the bottle I'd cracked open with me, and returned to my reading.
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