Home Invasion

William ‘Tex’ Taylor married Carol Watts thirty-six years ago and spent his life working on oil rigs around the world. Carol raised their two children while working part-time in retail. At the beginning of his career, Tex worked for three years in Texas, USA. On returning to Australia with a noticeable Texan accent, he became Tex to all his friends. Carol had moved many times,following him around the world. Wherever the location, they had been a happy loving family.

Tex watched a ball game on TV while Carol was doing whatever she did in the sewing room or office. Around 11:15 pm, she joined Tex to watch the late news before they both went upstairs to prepare for bed. They were asleep at 3:31 when their lives were suddenly changed.

Smashing wood and breaking glass woke Tex with a start. He hesitated a moment to be sure it wasn’t a dream. He reached over and whispered to Carol.

“Carol, someone’s in the kitchen. Get up and go out the front and call the police.”

“Oh no. I…”

“Go now. Hurry!”

Carol drowsily jumped from the bed, grabbed a robe and headed to the stairs.

Tex, in the nude, went from the bedroom past the bathroom to the doorway of the kitchen. To his right, coming in from the deck, were two men. One with a bandana over his face carrying a steel bar and the other with a balaclava waving a machete. The one with the machete kicked a piece of broken door away from his foot and lunged towards Tex, stopping a few feet from his face.

“Don’t move or I’ll kill your fucking ass! Where is the money?”

Tex looked into his dark eyes while being aware the machete was waving above his head.

He spoke slowly, scared. “I have no cash here.”

The machete came down cutting his arm.

“Fuckin liar, I saw you get money from the machine. I want it.”

Tex grabbed his arm. Blood flowed. “My wife took the $3OO to her mother. I drove her. She stayed the night.”

Tex knew that he had to delay whatever they might do for as long as possible to give Carol more time to call for help.

The man backed away from Tex. “Grab those phones and the laptop,” he said to the man standing behind him.

“You.” he was back in Tex’s face, “Give me the keys to both cars. NOW!”

Tex watched as the thug collected the two phones from the chargers on the kitchen countertop.

His heart missed a beat knowing that Carol didn’t have her phone. She would have to go to a neighbor for help. Stalling for time was now his only hope. Tex reached to his left for a dishtowel hanging on a hook. He felt the punch to the side of his face and fell back.

“No fancy moves asshole.”

Tex straightened, “I was just after that towel to put around my arm.”

“Fuck your arm. Give me the keys.”

Tex deliberately reached for the towel while watching his aggressor, half expecting to be hit again. He wrapped his arm as the bleeding continued.

“The keys are in a box in the garage. I keep them there. I’ll get them for you. I want no trouble.

The garage has security. Follow me.”

Carol ran down the stairs and opened the front door, peeking out. A white van was across the end of the driveway at the front of the house. She could see a person in the van. She now realized that in her haste, being half asleep, she’d left her phone behind. She started to panic but then thought of Tex. She gained control realizing she would have to help him somehow.

Luckily, she hadn’t rushed out the door because the sensor light would have come on and alerted the person in the van. She must avoid doing that. Coming to her senses, she reached around the corner and switched the light off at the wall.

Carefully she went out the door, quietly shutting it behind her, while staying as close to the door frame as she could. She eased her body to the left, hugging the side of the house, taking one step at a time, and turning the corner towards the backyard. Her mind raced as she crept as quietly as she could on the gravel path while trying to figure out what to do next.

Tex stepped over the broken door moving as slowly as possible out onto the deck. He could feel the one with the machete breathing on his neck. The other one had the phones and laptop in his hands following behind.

“Move your ass you old fart or you won’t be moving at all.”

Tex felt the push at his back. He started down the stairs. His arm throbbed. He had to think fast.

Once in the garage, they might slash him again or even kill him. He sensed they too were scared and anxious, not sure of themselves or what they would do. Any minute Carol would arrive with the neighbors and the police. Going slow and hope were his best strategies.

The outside sensor light on the veranda had been smashed making it very dark so he held the railing as he went down the stairs. It was only fifteen or twenty steps from the bottom of the deck to the garage door. Time was running out to come up with a plan.

Carol reached the edge of the carport. She heard them coming out of the house and the verbal threat to Tex. She had to do something. Looking into the dark carport, she could make out a rakeand a large broom but figured she couldn’t do much with them. She felt something near her foot.

She stared down at it. She now knew what she had to do and crept behind her car to the corner of the carport. In the dark, she could make out Tex leading the two men towards the garage. She tensed and waited.

Tex was two steps from the garage. True, there was a security touch pad on the side of the garage door that he used when he was working in the garden and didn’t have the remote door opener with him. He could open the door, but the problem was that the keys to both cars were still in the kitchen. Maybe he could escape and run down the driveway before the man could grab him or swing the machete. Maybe?

Carol turned the valve while striking the long-stemmed match she’d found in a pocket duct-taped to the side of the bottle. Flames shot from the end of the hose.

She opened the valve fully and stepped from her hiding place yelling, “Hey!”

The man behind Tex stopped, turning towards the voice. The next second he lit up like a flare.

Carol pointed the hose, shooting a stream of fire, not unlike a military flamethrower, at the man.

His legs, chest, and head ignited. He screamed inhuman sounds, falling and rolling on the ground.

Tex jumped backwards away from the flames with the smell of burning flesh filling his nostrils.

The man behind was stunned at what he saw in front of him and tried to run past Carol. Carol turned the hose onto his legs. With his pants on fire and in pain, he ran at Carol. Carol swung the bottle at him catching him in the chest and chin knocking him backwards and out cold. In doing so she had dropped the hose which in turn burned her leg as it hit the ground. She pulled the bottle towards her and turned off the valve.

Tex, recovering from disbelief, ran for the garden hose turning on the tap and spraying the man on the ground who now was quiet. His body was smoldering with flesh peeling off his arms. Tex turned the hose on the other man who lay still as if dead, blood running from his mouth with his trouser legs burned away showing grilled legs.

Carol ran to Tex and threw her arms around him sobbing hysterically. Tex held her, comforting her. Blood dripped from the towel around his arm. They stood frozen as one in a moment that resembled a scene from a horror movie with whiffs of smoke providing stenches and pongs no one should ever experience.

The screaming had woken the neighbors. Fred from across the street ran up the driveway after almost being hit by a white van taking off at high speed. Lights were on in the house next door with shocked faces peering over the fence. Sirens could be heard in the background.

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The thugs had been treated and taken to hospital with one in a very serious condition with burns over much of his body. The other had regained consciousness, yelling and swearing incoherently. He had burns to his legs and concussion as well as missing a few teeth.

Next came the questioning by police detectives trying to piece together exactly what had happened. Both Tex and Carol gave their accounts as best they could.

The introduction by the two detectives as Inspectors Sullivan and Meade had taken place at the table on the back deck. exactly what had happened. Tex suppressed a chuckle as their mood changed abruptly when they were introduced to the late arrival. Noel Upshaw, a solicitor of fame, was Tex’s friend and personal lawyer. Three hours later the detectives picked up their notebooks and left, advising them not to leave town as they may have more questions.

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“Okay, Noel. Tell me what this all means. What is the law on home invasion in Queensland?”

Noel thought for a minute before answering. “In Queensland, a person is permitted to use reasonable force to defend themselves or their property, but they must not cause grievous bodily harm.”

Carol gasped, looking as if she was about to cry.

Noel continued, “Sections of the State’s Criminal Act permits homeowners to use reasonable force but only if they believe the force to be necessary. Police never encourage homeowners to confront intruders, insisting they instead take steps to secure their houses from people gaining unlawful entry.”

“In other words,” Tex interrupted, “they can come in and shoot you, but you can’t shoot them. That’s fucked. Sorry for the word but…”

“Look, the law in these cases is ambiguous. Across Australia, self-defense laws exist in every state and territory to give homeowners the legal right of protecting themselves, but it will always be up to the police and the courts to decide if the level of self-defense used against a home invader was necessary, warranted or lawful. If not, Aussie homeowners who violently confront people in their homes could potentially face jail time.”

“You sound like you’re quoting a law book word for word. So, what you’re telling us is that if the police decide there was unnecessary force, we could be prosecuted?”

“It means that if someone comes into your house in the night and you wake up, you can’t just shoot them dead.”

“Or toast them,” said Tex almost laughing. “So, does that mean we should be afraid? Are wegoing to be prosecuted?”

“Remember what I said. The State’s Criminal Act permits homeowners to use reasonable force but only if they believe the force to be necessary. Carol acted because she believed you were in mortal danger. She heard the guy threaten you, in effect, saying he might kill you. That’s why sheacted as she did.”

Tex refilled the wine glasses. “Am I right in saying that the police and courts could possibly file charges against Carol or both of us, saying we used unnecessary force protecting our lives?”

“It is possible but not probable.”

“If that happened it could cost us so much money, money we don’t have.” There was an edge to

Carol’s voice. She was angry.

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Over the next few weeks, Tex could see Carol’s stress levels were at a continued high. Flashes of that night were recurring as well as the new menace of a possible prosecution. Carol sat with Tex discussing the possibilities. They went over their options many times during the week.

In the end, they wrote down three possible outcomes from which they could choose:

1. They would sit tight and wait to see what transpired. They would use Noel to represent them in a civil or a criminal case or both if that was the case. It would cost them much of their savings and perhaps even their house.

2. They would leave the country on an extended vacation and worry about the next move when it happened. Maybe come back, maybe not. In the worst-case scenario, this plan could put their assets at risk.

3. They would transfer their property into their children’s names so it couldn’t be touched. Sell their cars and other not-needed assets. Turn their retirement plans into cash. Go on an extended vacation with the assets with no thought of returning to Australia to face any court cases that might eventuate.

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You as the reader have come to know Tex and Carol. They are normal everyday people who most can relate to. An unfortunate incident turned their lives upside down. This is the same thing that could happen to any family anywhere at any time in the world we live in today.

Ask yourself, if it happened to you, which choice would you make?

Think about it. It’s not too far-fetched or preposterous. It could happen to you in your home.

So, I ask again, “WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”

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Home invasion is a condensed version of The Dilemma taken from the book of short stories Tall Tales Three available at:

www.jackkregasbooks.com

Amazon (click)

Thank you for reading.