A Fighter's Miracle Part II

Twenty minutes later, Orville and Jack entered the store. Moses wasn't there!

With their masks on, glancing around, not seeing Moses, Orville alerts, hoisting the M16 assault rifle in the air, shouting, "We don't want to kill anyone. We want your money, not your life. So don't give us a reason to. . ."

Suddenly the sound of a single gunshot alerts Moses. He quickly replaced the box he was packing away and head towards the back door. He halted at the exit, turned around, and walked back into the store, snatching two cheap bottles of wine. Entering, Orville was about to gun butt Mr. Nickleson. Moses sailed one of the bottles hitting him in the back of his head. He fell to the floor a few seconds before the bottle smashed, alerting everyone of his presence. Jack pointed the gun away from Mr. Nickleson's son and fired at Moses, but not before the second bottle hit him in his face.

In minutes the police came, and Orville and Jack were taken away by EMS, in handcuffs, bleeding from different parts of their heads.

Before Mr. Nickleson could thank Moses, he said, "please, don't thank me. Not yet."

"I don't understand?" Mr. Nickleson said, confused.

Moses walked towards the door as he saw more police officers entering. He was handcuffed and taken away in protest of the four people in the store whose life he saved.

Five days later, he was charged jointly with Orville Brown and Jackson Hill. Mr. Nickleson didn't believe the charges against him and hired his nephew, a criminal attorney, to defend him. Moses sat inside the courtroom in silence. He refuses to answer or defend himself from all of the allegations against him. He didn't even enter a plea. Finally, after both the defense and the prosecution said their closing arguments, Mr. Nickleson begs, "Your honor, I know this is unusual, but can I ask Mr. Moses Swift one question. Please, your honor."

"This is highly unusual but go on," the Judge allows.

Moses took the stand, and Mr. Nickleson asks, "Why?"

"Why what?" Moses answeres.

"Why didn't you rob the store?"

"The sign at the front that the Nun put there as she exited."

"What sign? And Nun?" Mr. Nickleson asks, glancing around anxiously.

"The one that said, 'You can live your life as an example or as a statistics.' I have been living my life as a statistic since birth. The lady at the boy's home said that. She said all of us are statistics. I want to change that. I was to enter the store, then signaled them to come in. After reading the sign, something touched my heart. I hid the gun in the silver umbrella stand at the door. I ask you for a job, and you hired me without question. I was in the back when I heard the gunshot. They weren't supposed to fire any shots."

Mr. Nickleson alerts, "They didn't. The gun went off by accident!"

Moses continues nodding with understanding, "I took the back, but the sign was there too. So I turned back, and here we are."

"What did the Nun looked like?" Someone asks.

"She was tall and too beautiful to be a Nun. The blue habit didn't hide her curves, and her uni-brow complimented her kind light brown eyes. Plus, that mole under her lower lip makes her unforgettable."

The entire courtroom gasp.

Another voice said, "She is still trying to save souls from beyond the grave."

"From where?" Moses cried out.

The judge alerts, 'Her name is Sister Margaret James, and she has been dead for more than twenty years."

"But. . . . .. but she was real. I saw her," Moses protests. “She winked at me as she walked away, and I turned, staring at her. Wondering, what was a Nun doing in a liquor store.”

The Judge quickly said, "Why didn't you say so?"

"No one asked me anything. Not even my lawyer, Mr. Nickleson's nephew," Moses explained close to tears.

His words touched every heart in the courtroom, and one of the arresting officers said, "Your honor, I just sent one of my men to Nickleson's Liquor store. If the gun is in the umbrella stand, he is telling the truth. That sign that says, 'you can live your life as an example or as a statistic' was put there twenty-five years ago by Sister Margaret when I attempt to rob the place. She and your wife was the one who encouraged me to be an example, not a statistic. I am glad someone read it and decided to change as I did."

Mr. Nickleson uttered, "That sign was posted on the glass door. When the glass broke, we replaced both the back and front door. The sign was never reinstated.”

The entire courtroom gasp and someone said, "It's time to put it back."

Seeing Moses' tears, the judge consoles, "Son, what you experience was a vision because you have a good heart. That's why she chose you. You did a good thing."

Everyone inside the courtroom was marveled by what has just unfolded. Then, before they could recover from what has transpired, a rookie entered the courtroom with the 9mm Glock Pistol!

Can you change Fate?

I think you can. All of us have the power to live the life we want, no matter the resources and opportunities available to us. It's how much or how bad you want it. And how much you are willing to pay for it. Life has its own ways of helping us to be good or bad. It's called 'CHOICES.'

Be an Example, not a Statistics!

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.