Facing the barrel of a gun.

When I was a kid we gave the crank on the side of the phone (think the antique in our house) and asked the operator to give us so and so, or to connect to so and so in Omaha.

Then when I was a young sailor, and visited Lakeland Fla where my uncle Earl was, I stayed in a hotel. Lakeland had this kind of operation. I got to talking to the young lady who was the operator plugging in the cords, on shift. 

Then when I was a young sailor, and visited Lakeland Fla where my uncle Earl was, I stayed in a hotel. Lakeland had this kind of operation with an operator who took the call when someone rang up and plugged in the cables to make the call go through or connected to another city operator.

I got to talking to the young lady who was the Lakeland operator, on shift.  Proceeded to a date.  I think it was a bowling date.  Later or later day, to her house then walking through a field to a gathering to be at her parent's house about 1/4 mile away.

Ended up facing a revolver in an open field.  There was something very important she had not told me about her status. She had her reasons. She was manipulating her husband into jealousy. I don't know the full deal but he was living nearby, which I hadn't know.

Just in case you wonder:  I was clean in that situation; there was nothing happened that shouldn't.  Looking back, it was funny. She was making sure he could see us together.

That was one instance, and there are many that didn't involve danger to me, that cause me to never lose the fact that some guys who bear guns never forget the power it gives them.  Riding with a guy who was a Shore Patrol, he remarked about some driver, and said he could blow him away. He wouldn't have, but it's the thought that I remark on. Typical of many observations.