By Any Means



  By Any Means

  By Any Means

  Terri J. Haynes

  Copyright 2012 Terri J. Haynes

  ISBN: 9781301558797

  Love Simplified: A Tempest Day Production

  DANA COLT LET OUT A PRIMAL scream as she lifted the 20.25-pound turkey above her head, the savior of Thanksgiving. The scream came from a place in her that she didn’t realize existed before that moment. Her triumphant display didn’t last long. Her fingers were numb from digging through frozen turkeys for the past hour, and exhaustion only left her enough energy to get through the long checkout lines. Neither of them as important as they were thirty seconds ago. She had her perfect turkey and all was right in the world.

  The shoppers around her continued diving for turkeys in the waist-high freezer case. Her scream hadn’t startled them. It seemed to stir hope in those still searching, urging people to dig deeper and faster into the frozen tundra of poultry. The crowd had thinned since Dana began her search. Only the faithful remained.

  The others had been satisfied with the first thing their hands fell on. Not Dana. She had to have a twenty pounder. Her mother-in-law had insisted. With this being the first Thanksgiving she’d hosted at her house, Dana wanted everything to be perfect. Besides, she’d seen when the wrath of her in-laws was directed at one of the daughters-in-law who didn’t live up to the Colt standard of perfection. One disappeared never to be seen again. She wasn’t going to be next.

  A halting smattering of applause broke out as she lugged the turkey into her cart. She greeted her well-wishers with a wave as she passed. All except one man. He had been digging next to her and shot her a scowl. She averted her eyes as she passed him. He probably needed a twenty-pounder, too.

  The crowd in the store testified to how intense the quest for essentials had become thanks to the ice storm that hit exactly one week before Turkey Day. Three days without power meant that whatever was purchased would have to be discarded. As soon as the power was restored, the rush to replace food began. Dana glanced back at the man who scowled at her from the freezer case. His face remained contorted in anger. Dana quickly looked away. Maybe she shouldn’t have come alone. Shopping had grown more and more dangerous as the days marched towards Thanksgiving.

  She’d lost count of the number of fistfights in grocery stores that had been reported on the news. In the season of gratefulness, the police were busy with breaking up altercations and arresting thieves. One man snatched a turkey right out of another man’s cart just after he paid for it. The police had caught the thief before he reached his car. Dana could understand the desperation, but her understanding only went so far.

  She fished her iPhone from her purse and dialed her husband, Matthew.

  “Tell me you got one.”

  She grinned. “I got one.”

  She heard his shaky exhale and heard the weight lift from his tone. “I can’t believe it. We’re saved.”

  She laughed and cradled the phone in between her shoulder. Even her husband knew that there was no return to his mother’s good graces once someone had been ousted. “A twenty pounder.” From the corner of her eye, she saw the scowling man’s head snap up, his attention shifting from the turkeys in the case to her.

  “Do you need me to come to you? Are you tired?” Matthew asked.

  Her flu had distressed Matthew and he’d been extra caring the whole time she was sick. He’d even offered to do all the shopping so Dana could rest an extra day. Dana had convinced him that they would have better chances if they went to separate stores in search for a turkey. It paid off.

  “No, go home and start cleaning. I’ll be there soon.”

  He let out a groan. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”

  She laughed at his aversion to cleaning. “Nope. I’m fine.”

  He grumbled something and then said goodbye.

  The lines in the store were long enough to make Dana reconsider Matthew’s offer. She rolled her shoulders. She would be fine, especially if Matthew got most of the cleaning done. She could sleep well tonight and finish all that he didn’t in the morning.

  At first, Dana rejoiced that her bout of flu had delayed her from doing any of her Thanksgiving shopping. She had nothing to throw out. If the power hadn’t gone out, she would have sailed through her shopping. Unfortunately, the outage put her right along with all the people with empty cupboards that had to replace everything on short notice.

  None of this would be an issue if she had resisted being volun-told to host Thanksgiving by her mother-in-law. If she had just said no. They were her family now. A very large, loud, controlling bunch who operated more like a wolf pack than a family unit. For the two years of her marriage, she felt more like fresh meat than a relative. At least she got the right size turkey. That would be one less thing for them to harass her about.

  She steered her cart into the express check out line, which gave off the illusion of moving faster than the other lines. She knew it wasn’t. It never was and she was horrible at picking lines. As she leaned over to count the number of items in her cart, just to be extra sure, she noticed the angry man from the freezer case in the line next to her. He stood watching her, expression hard, until she made eye contact with him. He looked away and focused his attention on the rack of magazines behind him.

  Shaken, she lifted the turkey and the few other items she’d picked up onto the conveyer belt. As the cashier rang up her purchases, she found herself watching for the man. He stood behind her, almost in the same spot he’d been in since he’d gotten in line. Maybe her line was moving faster.

  The man was forgotten by the time she pushed her cart with her newly purchased turkey to her Honda Civic. The sun had already set and the parking lot’s lights created intermittent circles of brightness on the ground. Her car sat in the shade between two poles. The chill in the air would create a nice contrast to the warmth of a house filled with people and wonderful scents. This would be a good Thanksgiving. She would have to just keep reminding herself of that no matter how nervous she was about her in-laws.

  She stopped at the back driver passenger door, balancing the turkey in her arms like a baby. She would not be like the man who got his turkey stolen from the cart. She looped the straps of the bag holding her other purchases onto her wrist and pulled her car keys out of her coat pocket.

  Footfalls sounded behind her. Someone headed down the isle at a quick pace. Probably someone frustrated by their shopping and as ready to go home as she was. She resumed looking for her keys, but a strange whisper of worry swirled in her stomach. By the time she realized that the footsteps had slowed to a stop, something cold and hard pressed into the back of her head. Fear washed over her and she sucked in her breath.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” a man’s voice rumbled from behind her. She should have jumped, but fear held her still. Her mind however, went to work remembering all the safety tips Matthew had drilled into her. She’d listened, recognizing that his childhood in the inner city made him weary, but not believing she would ever need it. Crime didn’t happen often in their neighborhood…except for the rash of turkey thievery.

  “In a carjacking, you throw the keys one direction and run the other,” Matthew had sternly admonished her. “Don’t fight, Dana. Give them what they want.” That last piece of advice he didn’t have to give. She wasn’t a street-savvy fighter like him. She was a pushover. Besides, her mother had taught her that anyone could be won over with enough sweetness and compliance.

  In one quick movement, she dropped her keys on the ground. “You can have the car. You take the keys and I’ll walk away.” She frantically scanned in front of her for a way of escape. She didn’t have many options. She could always drop to the ground and try to crawl unde
r the car.

  The man’s gruff and wild laugh surprised her and she shuddered.

  “Please, take the car—“

  The laughter stopped. “Shut up!”

  Dana winced. Other shoppers in the parking lot looked in her direction, but quickly jumped in their cars.

  The man bent down, picked up her keys and pressed them into her hand. “I don’t want your car. Give me the turkey.”

  Fear twisted into shock and then to outrage. Was he really robbing her for a turkey? She glanced down at the turkey in her arms. Matthew’s words filled her mind. Just give them what they want. She should drop on the ground and run…but it wasn’t fair. She had dug in the case for an hour for that turkey. She had to host Thanksgiving against her will, which wasn’t fair, either. She pulled the turkey closer to her chest. What about her mother-in-law? She’d never hear the end of it.

  “Sir, you can’t be serious.” She kept her tone soft but firm.

  “Lady, I have a gun.” He pressed said gun harder into the back of her head.

  Dana shuddered. The gun did add a level of gravity to the moment. Fear sharpened her thoughts as she tried to think of something, anything that would result in her going home with her turkey. A flicker of a conversation came to her mind. A conversation she and Matthew had had about their menu before her mother-in-law invited herself.

  “Have you thought about serving Cornish hens instead?” She turned to face the man only to have shock overtake her again. The man from the freezer case. He must have followed her out. The man’s harsh expression hadn’t changed.

  Dana swallowed. “Cornish hens are less expensive than turkeys and more elegant. They add a little something special to a Thanksgiving dinner. Breaks up the monotony of having turkey every year.”

  The man stared for a moment and then his expression softened to thoughtfulness. “Hmmm, I didn’t think about that.” Then he pulled out his cell phone, pressed a button and put the phone to his ear. “Hon, what about Cornish hens?”

  Almost before he could finish the statement, Dana could hear yelling coming from the phone as he held it away from his ear. Her mother-in-law wouldn’t yell if Dana had decided to serve Cornish hens. It would just be a deep, Artic cold shoulder for years.

  “Okay, honey. I’ll get the turkey. I know, 20 lbs.” He snapped the phone closed and brought his attention back to Dana and thrust the gun at her.

  “No, that won’t work. It has to be the turkey.” His voice held a lilt of desperation, the same one she’d heard in her own voice when her mother-in-law reminded her again not to burn the turkey.

  She studied the man. He wore a brown leather jacket and a button up shirt, ordinary except for the wildness in his eyes. “Sir, you don’t understand. My in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving for the first time and I have to have a 20-lb turkey.”

  “No, you don’t understand.” He drew out the word you while jabbing his finger at her. ”My brother-in-law and his snooty wife are coming and nothing we ever do is good enough for them. If I don’t have a turkey, I have to suffer through a whole day of their complaining. I can’t live through that. I just want to watch the game in peace.”

  A pang of pity pinched her heart. He was in the same predicament she was. But if she gave him the turkey, she would suffer greatly. Too great for any momentary feelings of goodwill towards the man. Besides, he probably wouldn’t shoot her. He was just an ordinary guy.

  She clutched the turkey tighter. “Why not buy a turkey breast, slice it, and serve it on a platter before they get there?”

  He shook his head. “No, no no. Shelly’s spoiled brat of a son has to have a drumstick.” They both grew silent, no more bargaining to be done. A small crowd had formed around the door of the grocery store.

  He inhaled, his shoulders drooping. “Look, I don’t want to hurt you, but I have to have that turkey. I have a gun, by the way.” He shook it at her. “Aren’t you afraid?”

  “You’ve never met my mother-in-law,” she mumbled.

  They stood facing each other, neither of them moving or speaking. The man lowered the gun a little. Dana stared at it as another brilliant idea surfaced in her mind. The man’s plight saddened her, but she gritted her teeth and squashed the compassion she felt for him.

  She put on her best smile. “How about one of those pre-cooked turkey dinners?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Hang on.” He pulled out his phone to call his wife again, exactly what Dana anticipated he’d do.

  She waited until his wife answered before she sprang into action. She dropped her bag, slipped the loop of netting around the turkey over her hand, hefted it and swung. The turkey connected with the gun knocking it out of the man’s hand.

  “What the—“ The man stumbled backwards, giving Dana enough time to regain her balance. She planted her feet and swung again. The turkey slammed into the man’s midsection. His breath rushed out like he was blowing out birthday candles and he doubled over. Dana brought the turkey up again and swung again, but missed. The turkey hit the back of her car, a meaty thump echoing through the parking lot.

  She heard cheers, but she didn’t stop to process the fact that they were coming from the people standing in front of the store and in the parking lot. She snatched up her groceries, opened her car door, and threw everything into the front passenger seat. The man had not straightened as she ran past him to the driver’s door. She climbed in, shut and locked the door, jammed the keys into the ignition and started the car.

  The man appeared, banging on her window. Dana let out a scream.

  “Give me the turkey!”

  She threw the car into reverse causing the man to dive out of the way to avoid being hit. He barely made it to safety before the front end of the car crashed into the cart return. Dana put the car in drive, nicking a grocery cart as her tires screeched when she sped off. The man hit the trunk of the car with his hand and ran halfway down the parking lot aisle before giving up. Dana laughed hysterically and rolled down the window and as she sped out of the parking lot.

  “I hope you find a turkey!” She yelled with delirious cheer. “Happy Thanksgiving!”

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