How Comfortable Are Those Shoes?

Chapter 32 Keep the Wheels Turning I called Mike the following morning to thank him again. He downplayed his part in the whole thing. I knew differently, though. J. C. had really listened to him and opened up to him even more than I’d thought he would. I told Mike about going to J. C.’s house afterward for a little bit. What I’d learned about the situation was beneficial to know. I asked Mike what his original opinion of J. C. had been and what he’d thought after we talked. Mike had seen and experienced things I had no need to ever know about. He had left his past in the past and become at peace with it. Still, I wasn’t ready for his answer about how he felt about J. C. “My honest opinion is that he scares the shit out of me. I got that feeling almost immediately. I haven’t gotten that feeling in a long time. I’m not judging him by any means whatsoever, but he carries an energy around him as if he feels indestructible. He doesn’t seem like he fears anything. He was very respectful, though. That being said, I did like him.” I’d felt the same way Mike did when I first met him. He said, “You know, it’s more than amazing how far you’ve gotten with him, but you have to consider that something could go wrong at any time with the whole situation. It’s like with everyone else. We’ll all go through different things. He has some things going on that not many can say they’re prepared to handle. I don’t think he’s always ready for what can happen.” Mike was worried about my safety more than anything else. I knew he was right. I knew it because in all the time I’d been working at the clinic, I hadn’t said much to my family about working so closely with J. C. What could I have said to anyone close to me about being around someone with his background? There was no way that would have gone over well with anyone in my family. I couldn’t deny that mentoring J. C. had already cost me one relationship. I felt as if I were walking on eggshells in not telling my family about it. It had crossed over the boundary of being just a work thing. It was on my own time now. Learning what I had made me nervous about how things really were. That being said, I was glad to know the truth. The next following months went surprisingly smoothly. J. C. and I spoke every day. He passed his drug tests, with the occasional marijuana positive in his system. I felt comfortable enough to ask J. C. to come into my new group I had on the day he was there. I was still seeing about thirty-five to forty-five people a day but now was doing it five days a week. Having J. C. come in to talk to everyone not only helped me out but also showed the new people there was hope. I was impressed with him. I knew I had a resource with him to use to help others. He had experienced a fair amount of the topics I’d brought up with his group, so he was well versed in adding to what I was attempting to get across with the newer groups. We would try to talk about the day’s topic the morning or night before if possible. He was comfortable with what I had asked of him. He was an excellent communicator when he wanted to be. It seemed to the new groups that he just walked in and was ready to go. He would stay for ten minutes and then go back to his group. He was helping someone else now, which made him accountable to do his best. He never bragged about it either. He still had some issues, but compared to where he had been, he was a new person. He had even quit wearing his colors. He wore gray. He said it was neutral. That was when I was convinced he had turned the corner. I wasn’t sure how the change in him was seen in his other world he lived in, but it made me worry about him more. Little did I know that in between Christmas and New Year’s, something would happen that would change the entire dynamic of what was going to play out. It was a rainy forty-plus-degree day—not a normal winter day. I was leaving the parking lot of a supermarket, when I saw I was getting a call from J. C. I thought it would be a normal conversation like the ones we’d had for the past few months. It was anything but. “What’s up, buddy? How are you doing?” I asked. “You getting ready for New Year’s Eve?” “Hey, Mr. Jack. Well, I’m okay, but I’m starting to see where things are at.” I could sense in his voice he was starting to get angry about whatever had happened. “I was walking home through the field near my house last night, and a guy I knew from the past was standing there. I hadn’t seen this guy in years. He just got out of prison. I’d heard he was out, but I never expected to see him there.” I asked, “What time did this happen, and where were you coming from?” He slowed himself down. “I was at my buddy’s. It was a little after midnight.” His voice picked up again. “I was wondering, What the hell is he doing here confronting me? Then he pulled a gun on me! I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ He replied, ‘You got a price, and I’m getting it.’” I was glad I wasn’t driving while he told me that. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. However, the fact that he was alive to tell me meant that something had happened to prevent a fatality. “Mr. Jack, he pulled the gun up and aimed it at my face. I looked right down the barrel. It was a full moon too; it was as bright as could be. Then the bastard pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed. He lowered it for a second, so I punched him in the face. It gave me enough time to get away. This was a couple hundred feet from my house! “I ran as fast as I could. Then, this morning, I heard from my buddy that the police got the guy last night to top it off. He got pulled over in a car with a busted taillight. He’s going away for good now. He’s on parole, and they found him with a gun. He’s gone!” The way he saw what had happened surprised me even more. “Mr. Jack, it reminds me of you wrecking in your truck. Something didn’t let me get shot. Something protected me. There is no way I shouldn’t be dead right now. I guess somebody is watching out for me.” His voice had changed again. He sounded relieved he was alive. Now, my first thought about what he’d said wasn’t the same as his. Mine was Somebody wants you dead. You were being hunted by someone. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. In the face of certain death, he’d survived. He’d dodged death. I had to ask him some questions to ease my own thinking. “Do you have any idea who set this attempt out on you?” I didn’t expect his answer. His voice was calm again. “I actually think it could be my own people. This guy knew me. It wasn’t one of those things that one of my enemies would try to do quickly and get away. This was personal. He found out where I was and waited. He knew I’d be coming that way.” I knew he already had been thinking about who was behind it. “Well, are you afraid of something happening again to you or to your family? What’s your next move? I guess that’s what I’m asking. I’m really happy to know you’re okay. I mean that. I’m just taking in all you’ve said so far. You’ve reinforced in me the ‘something bigger’ aspect of this.” For him, being afraid was different. He wasn’t. “I’m not afraid of anything—well, maybe my mom and my wife.” He laughed. “Seriously, I’m not afraid of anything. It’s either good or bad, and I don’t put up with bad stuff for me or my family. Someone will pay if anything happens to my family.” I asked more questions, and as always, he was straight up with his answers. He said, “I do think someone will try something again. It may be tonight, or it may not be for a while. I just have to be on point like I always am. Even with my own. There aren’t many people I trust now.” The two of us had developed an interesting friendship. We had the ability to learn from each other and also help each other. We could also make each other laugh, so that was what I tried to do before I hung up with him.