Ready for Action

Forewarn’d, forearm’d.

~Benjamin Franklin

My heart was racing, and I was trembling with fear as I stood at my back door looking out into the yard. I heard a voice say, “You have to get him out of your house!” I felt like I was in a life-threatening situation although it wasn’t clear who was in my house or what exactly was happening. I didn’t know who was speaking, but I knew instinctively that the voice was right.

At that moment, I awoke with a gasp and in a cold sweat. I lay awake and wondered where the dream had come from. I hadn’t watched anything on TV that night that would have affected me that way. I tried to figure out if it was a premonition or warning of some sort, but couldn’t make sense of it. I finally drifted back to sleep, but the memory of that dream haunted me for several days.

Weeks later, I came home in the afternoon after running some errands. I carried my groceries into the house and shut the door behind me, not bothering to lock it since I needed to make another trip back to the car. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I assumed, being that time of day, it was one of the neighbor kids wanting me to buy something for a school fundraiser, so I just opened the door without looking out the window first.

Without warning, a tall, muscular young man abruptly pushed his way into my house and shut the door behind him. All of a sudden, I was standing face-to-face with a stranger who said, “You have to help me! There are people with guns chasing me!”

I was stunned and speechless for a moment, thinking, This is how it happens on a TV crime drama, and usually the homeowner ends up dead or worse.

Finally, I summoned my voice and said in a strong, authoritative manner, “You have to get out of my house.” He just looked at me for a moment and seemed shocked that I didn’t want to save him. I knew I needed to get him out of there as soon as possible. Somehow, I spoke fearlessly even though I was terrified. I said again, “You HAVE to get out of my house!” My palms were sweaty, and my heart was racing just as in my dream, but I looked him in the eyes and stood firm.

He peeked out the front window to see if his pursuers were coming, and then he said to me, “Do you have a back door?”

“Yes!” I showed him where the back door was. The back fence was low enough he could get over it and, if they came to the front door, he could be long gone before they realized what happened. So, he bolted out my back door and over that fence.

With shaking hands, I dialed 911 on my phone but was frustrated when it was answered by a machine and I was put on hold. I thought to myself, I could have been dead by now!

Then there was another knock on my front door! Apparently, the pursuers figured out which house he had gone to and were trying to find their prey. I was dismayed that my drama wasn’t over yet, but for whatever reason, the pursuers went away and didn’t even try to come in, even though the door was still unlocked.

My 911 call was finally answered, and when the police arrived, I learned that my big adventure was due to a “drug deal gone bad” in the neighborhood. There were indeed people with guns chasing my intruder. That the pursuers didn’t even try my unlocked door made no sense. After all, whoever heard of polite bad guys? But maybe they just figured he wouldn’t be hiding so close by.

When things calmed down, I said a prayer of thanks. I know I was protected that day by the premonition/dream that gave me strength and the right words to say to convince my intruder that he needed to leave, and by keeping the people with guns from entering my unlocked house.

— Stephanie Pifer-Stone —