Owls and Orchids

image from pattykikos.com

Sometimes things happen when we least expect it and in ways we could not have dreamed. This was one of those times. Intuition has guided me many times and this was one of those times.

On a lazy Sunday afternoon in the early summer, just before  school was due to finish for the year I was at home doing the usual things getting ready for the week ahead.  My son had walked to the local coffee shop to meet a friend…. for an iced coffee. They made really delicious iced coffees, perfect for a hot day.

About an hour or so after he had left there was an ear splitting screech of tires followed by a solid thump and then silence. An accident.  Something tugged at me from the moment the noise began that my son was ‘in trouble’. I knew he wasn’t hurt, so I knew he could not have been involved in the accident itself. Yet I also knew, beyond reason that the accident was the reason he was ‘in trouble’. My intuition was working overtime and screaming at me to get around there.

I grabbed my bag and keys and jumped into the car and drove around to the coffee shop. Without consciously thinking about it I had driven in the direction which would bring me to the opposite side of the road to the shopping centre which was not the usual way I would have gone.

As I drove up I could see a car, the passenger side on the road and the drivers side stopped against a small wall at an angle to the road. There were dozens of people standing in a semi circle back from the car.  I could see two heads above the  car, furthest away from where I parked. Walking quickly forward I recognised my son and his friend (D) standing in front of it, on the pathway, almost as though they were protecting it or the person inside.

About fifteen feet away from them was the biggest mountain of a man I had ever seen. He must have been seven feet tall and almost as wide. His arms were as big as small tree trunks and he was enraged.  Blood suffused his face and his muscles were knotted in cords in his arms and neck. In his hands was a large tree branch which had been broken off a small tree in the garden.  He was screaming at the boys to get out of the way or he would take their heads off too. He wanted the boy in the car (J) who was semi conscious and looked terrified.

I had never felt so proud of my son and his friend, who were facing down an enraged giant, protecting their friend and in real danger of being seriously hurt. The crowd, were silent and making no move to say or do anything to help. It took moments to assess the situation, and what could happen if it was not defused, and quickly. I was furious that the men  in the crowd would allow two teenage boys to stand in front of this enraged idiot and do nothing to help.

image from blogs.fanbox.com YES! He really was this big!

I marched (literally) between my son and this giant and stood there looking up at him. I could almost feel myself growing taller by the second as my blood pounded in my head.  I stared him in the eye and said. “Put that branch down, NOW”, in a strong but quiet tone.

For a moment he looked at me without an ounce of understanding in his eyes. Then he began shouting. “He could have killed a child”, “He could have hit another car”, “He had no business driving”, “If a child had been in the garden they could have been killed or hurt”. Each shout seemed louder than the one before, reverberating like thunder in the garden. Silence reigned elsewhere.

I said. “Put that branch down NOW, you are not going to hit anyone”.

He shouted,”If they don’t F****king move out of the way I’ll take their F***king heads off too, that goes for you too!”

My son tried to get me to move out of the way but that wasn’t going to happen. This man had lost any vestige of rationality and was not going to stand down for two teenage boys and the young fellow in the car was definitely going to be hurt if things did not change, and soon.

I took a step towards this giant, raised my finger and pointed it at him. Surprised he took a step back and looked a little unsure of himself. I said,”Put that damned branch down IMMEDIATELY, or you’ll be the one having his head taken off with it!”  Admittedly this was delivered with quite a bit more force.

There was silence for a minute and no-one moved. Again I raised my finger and he stepped back once more. “Drop it NOW, I said, RIGHT NOW!” The last word raised in a commanding tone.

With mumbling and muttering he dropped the branch, still shouting that children could have been hurt.

The only person hurt at this point was the young driver who was my son’s friend. There were no children in the street at all, none in the garden and the giant did not live there. Seeing him move off the two teenage guardians moved round to the side of the car to help their friend (J). He was awake and had been sitting petrified inside the car in the event this gargantuan man had taken out his friends and whoever was standing in front of him. He had no idea at that time that it was his friends mother.

The tragedy had occurred simply because J’s mother had asked him to go to the local shop for some milk. Instead of tying his joggers he had simply opened the laces and slipped them on. As he left the car park his foot slipped in his shoe and the laces wrapped around the accelerator and brake pedal. He could neither stop from accelerating nor brake. Fighting the car he swerved across the road and up onto the footpath making a semi circle on the front of the garden and clipping the small tree breaking off the branch our giant wanted to use. Hitting the tree caused him to hit his head on the side window and knock himself senseless for a few minutes.  His mothers new car was quite a mess.

The crowd was still there as the police drove up. Statements were taken from everyone, including many of the onlookers. I knew many of them. So did my son. All our children attended the same school and yet no-one was willing to talk to this half crazed lunatic once he picked up a branch. I was ashamed for them, embarrassed that they did not have the moral fortitude to defend two young boys, even if they were tall teenagers.

I understand that the situation could easily have ended differently. There was no telling how he would react to my commands, although I’m told I was a fearsome sight standing there.  Not bad for someone only five foot seven.

There is no logical explanation for the feeling I had which prompted me to go to the shop. Nothing happened to tell me my son would be defending his friend that day. What might have happened if I hadn’t heeded my gut instinct, my intuition?  It  has never led me astray, not once in many years. I think I will continue to listen to whatever guides me in these times. Intuition, angels, spiritual protection, whatever it is, it is powerful and wondrous. I am grateful it comes to me when needed.

image from http://www.bevcrossman.ca

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. “    – Hamlet (1.5.166-7), Hamlet to Horatio