Edit by Willyb & Kanga

It was Sunday when they woke me up. They say I woke up a few times earlier that day and then went back to sleep. Well this time I was awake and could remember things a little. A Doctor, John Chann, and a nurse, Donna, were talking to me. Dr. Chann explained that they had me in an induced coma since Wednesday because my brain had swollen and they had to remove part of my scull to make room for the swelling or I would have died.

Dr. Chann explained to me that I had been shot in the shoulder at my house. He told me that I fell as I was picking up one of my kids off the couch. When I fell, the child landed on the couch as I dropped her. It seems that my momentum carried me up over the top of the couch and I hit my head on oak table behind the couch. The kids called 911, and that saved my life.

He said the head injury was the worst of it. The bullet had gone straight though my shoulder and hit nothing vital. It did nick a vein and I bled a lot, but it was taken care of in the hospital. The main thing was the swelling of my brain. He said it all looked good now, and he could replace the piece of my scull on Tuesday. He said I would be as good as new in a month or two.

My kids and wife came in and held my hand while hugging me. I don't remember if we talked or not as I fell asleep. I woke up every two hours or so when the nurse checked on me. She would give me more pain medicine because my head was pounding and I also wanted to scratch my head. That's when I found out they had my hands tied down so I could not scratch my head.

At four in the morning, Mac, my neighbor from across the street, who was a technician and ran different tests on patients at night, stopped in to see me. He works the eleven to seven AM shifts at the hospital during weekdays.

He told me he heard the fire truck going to my house and he ran over when he saw my daughter Tracy in the road signaling for the fire rescue team. He found me in the basement with blood all around me. My head was bleeding like a stuffed pig from the fall. Blood was all over me so they scooped me up and rushed me off to the hospital in their rescue truck.

Mac said in a matter of seconds when he was in the basement the place was filled with fire rescue men. They were all over the place working on me and checking the kids. The kids had so much blood on them from hugging me rescue all thought the kids were hurt, but soon found out they were ok.

He told me my wife passed the rescue truck going to other way and they had to explain it to her that I had fallen. Mac's wife Mary stayed with the kids while my wife Jane drove up to the hospital to check on me.

At the hospital is when Jane found out that I been shot. She was surprised when the doctor told her. No one knew about me getting shot at the house. The fireman thought all the blood on my shirt came from my head wound. The only thing she knew was that I fell and hit my head ... It was a just matter of minutes when a cop was there asking her questions. She told him she didn't know anything as she was not there - she had gone shopping.

Mac said the cops came back and roped off the house as a crime scene. He told me they had a big truck that said crime scene on it. Cops went all through the neighborhood till three in the morning, and then they all came back at nine the next morning doing the same thing all over again.

Well when Mac left, I started to remember a little. Jane left to go shopping and the kids went down to the basement game room to watch TV. We have a nice den or game room in the basement. It is a walk out basement with an 8-foot opening that has a sliding glass door in it. It also has a screen door in it, which I had open because it was warm out.

I was watching TV with the kids and then I told them they had to go to bed. They both pretended to be fast asleep, so I reached down to pick up Tracy and I guess that's all I remember. I guess that is when I was shot and dropped her. I continued to fall and hit my head on the oak dinning table. As I bounced back, I fell on the floor hitting the back of my head.

Monday, a Detective Lance Jackson came into my room wanting to ask me questions. The doctor asked him if he could come back Wednesday because tomorrow they were putting my skull back together. Wednesday I would feel better and be more alert. He told the detective I would be released sometime Friday.

When Jane came up to the hospital I told her about Detective Jackson and she told me she has talked to him already a few times. He wanted to know whom she think shot me and who had it in for me. She had told him she knew of no one who was an enemy of mine. She told him it could be just a drive-by. Detective Jackson told her a drive-by is at the front of the house. Not in a back yard. He said who ever did this wanted me dead, which scared her.

Well I never got a chance to talk to Detective Jackson while I was in the hospital. A patrolman was shot and I guess everyone was out looking for the shooter. I got my skull put back together and they discharged me Friday. I had to wear a helmet like the hockey players wear in case I should fall. I felt weak, but by Monday I had most of my strength back

Monday I was home alone as the wife went back to work and the kids went in to school. I was looking at the hole in the screen door where the bullet came through. I was trying to figure where the guy shot me from when I heard the doorbell.

I had my 40-cal Glock in the small of my back as I looked out the window and saw Detective Jackson standing on my porch. I open the door and invited him in. He apologized for not seeing me sooner, but he was tied up with the officer shooting. We sat and had coffee together.

"So how are you coming on the case?" I asked.

"Not to good. Fire rescue kind of screwed our crime scene up on us."

"Maybe that's not too good for you, but they saved my life."

"Oh yes, that's what they are good at. But I think one of them carried off my bullet on me. Probably got stuck on his boots and who knows where it is today."

"Do you know where they shot from?"

"We know about where he did shoot from, well within a few feet anyway. But not what kind of weapon it was and we didn't find a shell casing out there either."

"Well then it's a revolver, isn't it?"

"Well it could be a rife or an automatic and they picked up casing."

"Any leads on who it could be?"

"Well not so far. That's why I wanted to talk to you. Your wife Jane can't come up with anyone who would have reason to kill you."

"Well I don't think I can either."

"Is anything going on at work? Do you have any trouble with anyone there? Even if you think it is small, give it to me. Let me figure out what is small and unimportant, that's my job."

"Nothing going on at work, not even small things. I've been working by myself getting a project ready for a company. I'm not in competition for a job with anyone else. I just do my job and leave. I don't hang with them, except every now and then, about once a month, we all go for a beer. We were going that Friday. No one is stealing at work that I know of, and there is no way I would know anyway. I could give you names of people from work, but I know it wouldn't do you any good."

"No, your wife gave me the names from work and I already talked to some them. What about friends you go out with or drink and party with? Here is a list of friends your wife gave me, is anyone missing from the list or anyone we could add?"

"Yes a couple names are off the list, Joe and Eddie Black and Tom and Jane Pike. Can't figure how she left them off. It makes me wonder."

"Is there anyone else?" he asked.

"No, that's it."

"She didn't leave them off. I took them off her list. I wanted to see if you would add them. Just checking up on you."

"Well good. I just couldn't figure how she slipped up on them."

"Well how are you and Jane doing? How long you two have been married? Either of you cheat on the other? You know cops always check the wife on things like this."

"Fourteen years in the fall. No, neither of us cheated on the other. Well you know how a wife and husband have a fight every now and then that lasts for a week or a month."

"No I don't, I'm not married tell me about it."

"Well you fight with you wife over something, but after a awhile you just make up. Neither one of you knows how it started or what it was about, you just know you were mad and you aren't going to give in first."

"Don't sound like fun to me."

"It happens in all marriages."

"Ok, I'll take your word for it. So how long has this one been going on?"

"Well, three more days and it will be a couple of months, I think."

"Wow a couple of months with no sex. No wonder why I don't get married. You sure neither one of you been cheating on the other?"

"I haven't."

"But you're not sure about her?"

"No, I didn't say that. Her time is always accounted for. No overtime, no weekend work, nothing."

"Does she ever go out by herself?"

"No, well she goes out once in a while with her girl friends."

"Yes, she told me and gave me a list of her girl friends. Here is the list, is anyone missing from it?"

"Wow, ten names. Yes, two names missing. I think she mentioned they went with her, Jane Adams and Betty White."

"Guess that's me always checking on people. Does she have any old boyfriends that live around here or near by? Or do you know any guy she's been playing up to since you two have been mad at each other?"

"Well, she has been playing up to all of them since we've been mad at each other. She is trying to piss me off and I do the same thing with the other women, but I don't think it is someone on the list. You're welcome to check, but I think you will be wasting your time."

"What time do they go out and what days does she go out?" he asked.

"They only go on Thursday nights. They say its lady night's night so it's free drinks at one place and lady's night is half price at the other club. But from what I hear, the guys buy the drinks anyway. She said if they stay together as a group they are safe, and she said they never spilt up. They go after seven or seven thirty and come home around midnight."

Detective Jackson finished his notes in his book and left. I was making myself lunch when I heard the doorbell ring. I reached for my gun again as I looked out the window. It was a guy from the store where we bought a new rug and couch for the basement. I told them to carry it around the house to the basement.

They took the old rug and couch out. The couch and rug had all kinds of blood on it so we had to throw it out. Then they brought the new ones around and set them up for me. After they left I looked at the screen door with the hole in it. I then checked the mark the cops had circled where they think the bullet hit.

I sat on the couch looking out the back window wondering where the sniper was standing when he shot me. Lance had told me about where he thought he was standing, but I guess he could have been just about any place in the yard.

My back yard was 100 feet long and a 100 feet wide. So was my neighbor's back yard. There also was a strip of 50 feet that the town owns as a right-of-away for the sewer lines between the two rear yards. So from house to house it was over 250 feet, almost a football field between us.

As I sat there, I was thinking that I haven't seen Johnny, who is 15 and lives with his grandma behind us. His parents are split and neither one wanted him. He has been with his grandma for over five years. He and his friend Jerry, who is 13, are always playing in their backyard. You could always tell what sport season it was by what type of game they played. At least there was enough room where they couldn't break any windows. Now that I thought of it, I haven't seen either of them since I came home from the hospital, which was unusual.

Tuesday right after the wife left for work, the phone rang. It was Jane Black from my work and she laid right into me.

"What the hell did you tell that detective? He interviewed all of us in the office about you."

"I didn't say anything about anyone in the office. He asked me who would want me dead, and I told him no one from the office would. That's all I told him about anyone there. Why what happen?"

"Well when he interviewed me, I cried thinking of what you and your kids had to go through. He only talked to me a few minutes and I couldn't go on."

"I don't know, maybe when you cried, he though you had feelings for me. I don't know what to tell you. Why? What is happing anyway?"

"Well he has been checking all my friends, hinting that I had feelings for you and may be carrying on affair with you. He thinks maybe Jack, my husband, did it to you, or that I did it."

"Gee, I'm sorry Jane to bring you and Jack into it but there is no way I led him to you. I'll try to talk to him, but that might just lead him to think I have something to hide."

"I know. I'm just too emotional I guess. That's what everyone is telling me. Everyone here told him he is way off base and there is nothing there, so I guess I'm starting to believe them. I'm also starting to feel better."

After I got off the phone with her and had some coffee, I was thinking that Detective Lance Jackson sure was a pit bull when it came to investigations. It seems that when he checked something, he bit in and wouldn't let go. I had to laugh, when something happens to a mate they always go after the other mate. Well watch out Jane, here comes Detective Lance to bite you in the ass.

As I sat there, I thought about what he would check on to see if the wife had anything to do about it. Hell, she was out shopping at the time, and I don't think she would be able to shoot that well. Because I was too close to the kids, she would never take a chance like that. She might hit one of the kids.

I tried to think who the hell it might be. I got a pencil and paper and listed everyone I knew. I then graded them on who it might be. I graded them on a scale of one to ten, ten being the killer or attempted killer. When I was finished, I had sixty people on the list and the highest person I had scored a three, and I had many like that.

Three of the guys I had on the list were ones I beat badly at golf and I figure they had it in for me. A couple more were guys I borrowed tools from and lost or misplaced them. I looked at the list and it was a waste of time.

The only ones I could come up with that were solid was the wife or someone who was banging her and wanted me out of the way so he could move in and have her full time. But then, the only time she is away from me is when she goes out with her girlfriends. I knew there is no way the other girls she goes out with would let her fool around. The whole thing was a waste of time. But who the hell was it?

The guys get together once in a while to go to a sport bar to enjoy a big sporting event. We also golf or hunt and fish. That's when the girls decided to go out and enjoy themselves once in a while. Well, it was when they had a nude male review is when they went out the first time. They took a cab and came home at two AM, and I think all the guys got a little that night.

From then on they would go out and have fun. The husbands did set down a few rules. We told them they could dance with guys, but we didn't want any of the guys sitting at their table or bringing them home. They would only go with the other girls and come home in a group. We told them we better not get hang up calls or calls from guys. We also told them not to take drinks from the guys unless the waitress bought them over straight from the bar, so the guys couldn't tamper with the drinks. The women all agreed with our rules, so we were all happy.

So that just left me with the wife wanting me out of the way. But I still couldn't believe she had anything to do with it. If it were her, she would have me taken out away from the house, where the kids would not see it.

It then led me to think it was some guy who liked her, some crazy son-of-a-bitch who didn't care about the kids. He wanted me out of the way. Was it from her going out at night, or someone from her work? Or was it just someone who saw her out shopping or just out on the street? There are a lot of crazy people out there. I tried to think if the detective took a list of people from her work. I just didn't remember if he did or not.

I wondered when the girls go out, if they mess around or just behave. I could see them dancing with guy and maybe a guy felt them up a little. Maybe even push a dick into their belly. I know she has come home horny sometimes, wanting to have sex. Hell I would have to follow them some time when I felt better.

Friday Detective Jackson came to the house in the afternoon to talk to me. As we sat drinking coffee, Lance started in talking to me.

"Well, I talked to the two women that your wife left off the list of women that she goes out with. The first one said she quit going out with them when she saw the way some of the girls were acting. She said too many horny guys were trying to put the make on the different girls and she could see no good was going to come out of it, so she just quit going out."

"Wow! That surprises me. My wife never said anything happened. She would tell me they just had a good time. She always said they could handle the guys and they were not that much trouble."

"Well the other wife told me that some of the guys got too horny and would push the old meat a little too hard into her. Once, she said her drink tasted funny and she dumped it and got a fresh one. She also said some guys followed them home one night to see where they lived. That is when she made up her mind not to go anymore."

"I guess they are having a little more fun than us husbands want them to have."

"Yes. I talked to the bartender and it was hard to get information out of him. He wants to protect his clients and doesn't want good customers in trouble. He likes the girls to come in, as it is good for business. He told me a few of the girls went outside with guys. He doesn't know what they did outside, if they had sex, or just necked or even just talked. He can't keep that good track of them while he is busy working, but he did notice them a few times. They all are grown women, so it's their choice what they do. He told me he sees lots of fresh rubbers in the parking lot every day."

"Oh my god, is one of the women that go outside my wife?"

"Well I took pictures of all the women and showed it to the bartender. It seems all of them have gone outside at one time or an other with guys. He picked one of the other girls as the one who goes out the most. I had another guy check on them last night, becasue they knew what I looked like. He said he saw one of them actually having sex in the back of a car. I can't give you any names, as it's not your business. What I want is the guy who shot at you."

We talked to about a half-hour till the wife was about to come home, and then he left. I had to tell him my wife wanted to stay home with me last night rather than go out with the girls. Lance told me not to say anything to my wife till after my case was settled. He wanted me to get her to go out next week so he could see if she met a certain guy or was she just friendly with all the guys. He also wanted to know what days she goes shopping so he could follow her.

From what I gathered from Lance, his strongest lead was my wife. I don't think he himself felt she had anything to do with it, but maybe the creep she played up to did. I remember him telling me he checked her work out, and that was a dead end. That didn't sound good to me, that just left the nights she went out then.

What the hell would I do about her cheating on me? Well that is if she is, the rotten bitch. Then I laughed at myself. I have cheated three times on her. Each time it was just a quick bang, bang thank you. I did it once with her cousin at a camp where we all stayed. It was the third time cheating for me. I have been scared ever since that her cousin would tell some one, but so far she hasn't told on us.

The second time was when I went to a super bowl game and stayed away for four days. I got laid by a young girl that stayed at our hotel. The other time was while my wife was away. I picked up a girl in a bar and we went to her place. I left when she fell asleep because I was ashamed of myself. That was the first time I cheated.

Shit, I guess I could forgive her if she wasn't having a big affair with this guy. Guess I will just have to wait and see how the whole thing turns out. I sure hope it doesn't turn out that she is the one trying to knock me off.

Well, Saturday Jane went shopping for groceries in the morning. In the afternoon she went out again to shop for clothes for the family while I stayed home with the kids. Each time she left I saw Lance drive by the house right on her tail. I guess he was waiting right down the street, as he knew approximately when she would leave.

Both times she was gone for about three hours. I didn't think anything about it, as it all seemed routine to me. She always came back with enough things to make it look like she was gone for that length of time. I even got smart and checked the receipts out to make sure they were for that day. Nothing seemed unusual.

We rented a few movies for us to watch as a family that weekend. I wanted to watch them in the game room, but Jane was afraid to watch them there. She still was having trouble when the kids wanted to go down there. She would try to talk them out of it.

During the week we talked about the shooting when we were alone. I told her it was just some freak thing and wouldn't happen again. But she asked if I didn't think that it would happen again, why was I carrying a gun in the small of my back.

I asked her if she wanted to move. She didn't, she said she had too many friends here but she didn't want to lose me either. I asked her whom she thought shot me and she agreed it was just a freak thing that wouldn't happen in a million years. She knew no one that would want to hurt me. We talked some more about the shooting but not in any real depth.

I was wondering during the week what I could say to her so she would go out on girl's night out, but then out of the blue she asked me if it was all right for her to go out that night. I agreed that she needed to get out to calm down some after the shooting. Well, that was out of the way, and I didn't have to figure how to talk her into going out.

During the week I though about how I was going to tell the husbands what the women were doing on their night out on the town. I know from talking to the guys that we all loved having the girls go out. The girls all seemed more relaxed. We all agreed that the sex with them has increased too. But, the girls were breaking our rules, big time and it had to be stopped. Maybe it was even too late for some of us.

As I sat in the basement game room on different days I would see the school bus pick up Johnny and Jerry on the next block. It would also drop them back off at five to three every day that they went. I tried to walk up and talk to the boys a few times but by the time I got there they were gone.

I wondered if Jerry's grandma was doing ok but I saw her out doing her garden work, so I knew she was all right. I guess I would have to talk to her about the boys if I wanted to know anything. They are always in the back yard three or four times a week playing some type of game. Sometime more but since I've been home they have not been out. I now wonder if they got in trouble at home or in school. I have always talked to the boys and I have helped them out quite a few times with their bikes or other equipment.

I was planning on stopping at the bar the girls go to. I remember Lance saying what the bartender's name was so I wondered if I could pump him for any information or not. I would go when the girls were not there; I would go during the day.

I came up with a plan of making a fake id for a cop to show people so that I could get more information. With my gun strapped on my side they would hardly look at the id and would assume it was real. I got on the computer and started to make the fake id up. I knew how Lance acted and I figured I could pull it off.

I made more than twenty ids' and still was not satisfied with any of them. Then I settle on the fifteenth one I had made. I went to the store and got it laminated. I kept looking at it from different angles. I wasn't really satisfied with it but it was going to have to do. I was going to buy a badge but Lance never showed me one, he just flashed his id to me real fast.

I stopped at the post office and took a wanted poster down when no one was looking. From there I stopped at a video store and went inside. I flashed the ID and made sure he saw my gun on my hip. I then showed him the poster and asked if he saw this guy. He looked at it awhile and said, "No, I don't think he has ever been in here." I thanked him and got the hell out of there fast. I laughed all the way home. It was a first test of the new id. Maybe I will just keep it after all this is done with.

When I got home, I called Lance to see how he made out Thursday night. He said she didn't dance with any guys. She did go to the pay phone to make some calls but he didn't think she made a connection or left a message. He said she called every half-hour but didn't talk to anyone.

I checked the photos we had in the house and made four pictures of girls I knew that went to the bar. I finally cut and pasted them so that it looked well enough to show the bartender to get some answers.

When I got to the club I went to the end of the bar away from the other three people that were in the place. I flashed my gun so that the bartender got a good look at it. Then I showed the id and asked if he was the night bartender. I found out he was the owner. He told me the night guy didn't come in for two more hours. I told him I would be back. He asked me for a name and I gave him Captain Keene. I figured I would out rank Lt. Lance Jackson. What the hell, why not?

I came back later and Al was already tending bar. Mac yelled from his office that I was the guy looking for him. I reached for my id and he told me he didn't need it. He said I would scare more people out of the place with it and he didn't want to see that happen.

We talked for awhile and I let him do most of the talking. He told me the girls were good for his business. He said he works on commission, and they built it up. He only wished they would come in another night too. Al told me he gets different groups of women all the time, but they seem to break up after a while when hubby or the boyfriends ends it, or the women see the light.

I showed him the pictures and he said they where part of the Thursday night group. He went on to say none of them went out in the parking lot last night that he knew about, but it was a busy night so he couldn't be sure. He did tell me one guy was too drunk so they had to throw that guy out last night.

I asked him if he knew most of the guys.

"Oh yes I know 99% of them. If a guy scores, he is back in bragging to the bar and whoever else that will listen to him."

I asked him for names and he gave me names and place of business for all the guys he knew that hung with her group.

He said, "If you're looking for real good suspect, I would look after the lawyer I gave you. He had charges against him one time for trying to drug a girl. Being a lawyer he got the charges dropped or beat them I hear. That is when he started to hang here. He used to spend his time at the Spinning Wheel. But I hear they told him to hit the road after the drug charge."

"When I heard about the Spinning Wheel thing I had a talk with him, and he has always been good here but I just don't trust him. Shit I gave all this information to the other detective. Don't you guys talk to each other?" he asked.

"Well, I'm his boss and I'm just checking up on some of his cases as he is on probation, and it's my job to do his evaluation," I replied.

I thanked him and got the hell out of there.

We had another normal weekend. Three other couples came over for a cookout and to have a few beers. Looking at the guys, I wondered when I would tell them about their wives, and what the outcome would be. Would it in end up in divorce court, or with a family counselor's help could we all survive?

I wanted to talk to Jane about the whole thing but I knew I had to wait a few more days, or even weeks. The best thing was to give Detective Jackson a few more days on the case. I think Lance was headed in the right direction. I had to know who shot me. It was driving me crazy not knowing. Every time there is a knock on the door or a car going by the house too fast, I reached for my Glock. Damn, if I'm not careful I will end up shooting a family member.

I waited for Friday before I called Lance. I had to see what he found out last night with the girls, if anything. Well what he told me was now he had a suspect but not enough to get a warrant on him to search his house. He said no judge would allow his house to be searched on such flimsy evidence.