Free The Switch by John Sullins Page A

forgive that evil man.”
     
    John laughed, “That man is on
his way to hell.”
     
    The man stood up, “GOD will
forgive all sins.”
     
    “GOD might, but not me. That
man got what he deserved. He would have killed you, your wife and your
daughter.”
     
    The man held out his palm
indicating he wanted John to be quiet. “I thank you for helping us, but GOD is
judging us all every minute of every day. You killed that man so I have to ask
you to please leave us now. I need to pray for you and the man you killed.”
     
    Renee’s chin lowered in
disbelief. She looked at Lynn who took a step towards the man.
    David reached out and
squeezed Lynn’s arm.
     
    “Leave him alone. He took a
few hits to the head. Just let them get on their way.”
     
    He moved the man’s bike to
his side, “Let’s see if you can ride.” Cameron pushed one of the bikes to the
girl and then got the other one for the wife.
     
    John and David held onto his
handlebars and helped balance the man’s bike during his first few pumps of the
pedals.  He was shaky, but he did not fall as he rode slowly away. His wife and
daughter followed.
     
    “Get everything back together
and let’s go,” said John.
     
    As they were about to get
moving, John called for Lynn and Renee to step away from the kids. He quietly explained
exactly what had happened. When he finished, he asked them for their thoughts
about shooting the rapist.
     
    Renee said she thought he had
made the right decision. Lynn said, “Nice shot.”
     
    The group stayed closer
together after the shooting incident. John rode at the front of the group and
David brought up the rear.
     
    When they stopped at the top
of one of the long hills just north of Nashville to catch their breath they
found the black family leaning on the guardrail resting. The blood on the man’s
head had tried leaving what looked like a faded rusty spider web on his face.
     
    John asked, “Are you folks
ok?”
     
    The wife answered, “Yes, just
tired.”
     
    John sat on the road and
leaned back on his elbows, “Do you folks know Nashville very well?”
     
    The mother wiped sweat from
her forehead. “We’ve never been there. We are on our way from Kansas City to
Atlanta. I guess we should introduce ourselves; I am Barbara Thomas, my
daughter is Sandra, fifteen, and my husband is Samuel.”
     
    “I’m John, this is my family.
We are on our way to Alabama.”
     
    Barbara said, “Thank you
again for what you did back there.”
     
    Everyone except Samuel gave a
fast nod or wave to each other. He sat staring at the concrete.
     
    Renee took a drink from a
water bottle, “I suggest we think about not riding through Nashville until the
morning. I think it will be safer if we pass through as early as possible. If
something happens this late, we might be stuck in the city all night. I am
afraid to do that.”
     
    David agreed, “That is a good
idea. I think it would be best if we could ride through Nashville as close to
dawn as possible.” He pointed to a flat grassy area down the slope of the right
side of the highway. “We could camp right there.”
     
    John walked back to Barbara,
“Listen, we are within sight of Nashville but it is getting late in the day. We
are going to make camp here and get up early so we can get through Nashville as
early as possible. Would you like to do the same and ride along with us for a
while tomorrow?”
     
    Barbara looked at Samuel who
continued to stare at the concrete and then to Sandra, who nodded yes. “Yes, we
would. I don’t want to get stuck in Nashville after dark.”
     
    The moved their bikes off the
highway and began setting up their tents at the bottom of the hill. Barbara
moved about twenty yards past their tents to set up hers. She smiled at David,
“Samuel snores really loud. Maybe you won’t be disturbed from over here.”
     
    Samuel said nothing.

 
    Chapter 10
     
    It had been an exciting and
unusual day. Everyone was tired but happy to be