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'How about this one?' my
husband suggested; slowing down as we drove past the small diner
on
route
40 out of Los Angeles. I took
a look at the small restaurant and
quickly said, 'Yeah, looks good.'
Gerry turned
into the parking area and we
found a space. It was a
perfect sunny day and we were on the start of our holiday. We had flown
from London to LA and intended
to drive east out to Santa Fe, then up
to Denver - a beautiful journey of desert and mountain scenery.
The diner was almost empty,
with the smell of fresh coffee in the air, and we took a seat and
started
looking at the menu. Then I saw that Gerry was looking at something
behind
me, so I turned around and saw a young woman sitting alone. She was
facing
the other way, but it was obvious
that she was crying. 'Should
we see if she's okay?' I asked my husband.
'No. Best not to get involved.'
he replied. 'We're on holiday. We're here to relax. It's
none
of
our business.'
We ordered our lunch and ate in
silence
as the girl cried over her coffee.
She left the diner just before
us, and when we got outside we saw standing by a big white car with
black windows. There was an
angry looking man holding her arm and shouting at her. She was crying
even more, and looked scared.
'Gerry, we have to do something.'
'I know, I know,' he said. 'I'll speak to them.'
'Be careful.' I said as my husband walked towards the car. I watched as
he stopped and bent down
to speak to the driver. I
could see them arguing.
Gerry grabbed the man by the shirt
and
pulled him out of the car. My husband was a big and strong man with a
black
belt in karate,
but the other man pulled a gun out
from his jacket and
pointed it at Gerry's head.
Everything went silent
- the
girl stopped crying, Gerry stopped shouting, and I held my breath. The
man squeezed
the trigger of his gun, but
suddenly his girlfriend
grabbed
his arm and shouted, 'No! You can't... I won't let you kill
him. Leave him alone.'
I ran towards them and also grabbed the angry man's arm. All four of us
were now wrestling
for the gun, which was swinging
around, pointing at
anyone. Then behind us we heard a siren.
It was a police car.
It screeched
to a halt behind us and two
LAPD officers
jumped out of the
car, 'Freeze!
Drop the gun and
put your hands on your heads' one of them shouted.
We all did as he said.
The officers walked slowly up
to us, still pointing their guns at us. 'Are you folks
okay?' One asked
me and Gerry.
'Yes.' I replied.
'Then get in your car and leave.' he said.
'But we need to tell you what happened,' said my husband. 'That man
just tried to kill us.'
'Sir.' the officer continued, 'Get into your car and leave right now.'
'But... but...' The officer pointed his gun at us. 'Leave. Get out of
here!' he shouted.
We got into our car and drove off along the road out of town. we were
so shocked,
we couldn't talk for a few hours.
That night, we reached Santa Fe
and booked into a small motel
just off the interstate.
On the
television we saw a face. It was the man with the gun and the crying
girlfriend. He was wearing a smart
suit and giving a speech
in front of
hundreds of people. He was standing in front of a giant
cross,
holding
a bible,
and telling all his followers
about God. His followers had no idea that
the man they loved was a fraud.
Gerry picked up the phone and dialled the operator. 'Give me the number
for the biggest LA television news station, please,' he asked.
The operator gave him the number. After a long wait, someone answered
the phone, and Gerry told them our story. He expected the news people
to be thankful and excited that he had told them about the religious guy, but they
didn't want to listen. Over the next thirty minutes, we tried many TV
stations and newspapers, but none of them wanted to listen to us. Then
suddenly someone knocked on our door. It was the sound of a loud angry fist.
Adjectives
obvious:
Clear and easy to see or understand.
scared:
Thinking that something very bad has happened, or is going to happen.
silent:
With no sound.
shocked:
Very surprised.
smart:
Looking clean and in good condition. Perhaps expensive.
giant:
Here meaning 'very big'.
Verbs
turn
into:
Here meaning 'to change the direction of your car and enter a place'.
intend:
To plan to do something.
face
the other way:
To be pointing in the opposite direction.
get
involved:
To take part in an activity, situation, or event.
eat
in silence:
To eat but not talk to each other.
bend
down:
To move the top half of your body so that your head is lower.
argue:
To speak in a loud voice with someone because you think what each other
is saying is not correct.
pull
a gun out:
To quickly take your gun from a hidden place.
squeeze
a trigger:
To use your finger to make a gun work.
grab:
To quickly and suddenly take hold of something.
wrestle:
To use the strength of your arms and body against another person.
swing:
To move from side to side.
screech
to a halt:
To stop quickly and making a lot of noise.
jump
out:
To move from place quickly and by using
energy.
Nouns
a
diner:
A cafe.
route
40:
The number of an important road.
a
black belt:
A belt given to someone who is good at judo, karate, etc.
karate:
A sport of self-defence from Japan, using punches, kicks and
blocks.
a
siren:
A thing that makes a very loud noise to show that there is a problem.
Here meaning 'the loud sound that comes from a police car'.
folks:
A friendly word meaning 'people'.
a
motel:
A type of hotel which is by a big road and used by people travelling by
car.
an
interstate:
A name for important roads in America that are very long.
a
speech:
A long talk in which you give people information or make a comment.
the
bible:
The important book of Christians, that tells about God and Jesus.
a
follower:
A person who believes what you say is true, and perhaps does what you
tell them to do.
a
fraud:
A person who is cheating and lying but no one knows that he/she is bad.
a
fist:
Your hand when you make the shape of a ball by folding your fingers
inside.
Expressions
"None
of your business":
Used to say that you should not ask questions about something because
you do not need to know the answer. Here used to say that they should
not enter into the bad situation because they are strangers.
"Freeze!":
Used by police officers when they want you to stop moving.