Mike had a great couple of posts this past week and it gave me the idea about something that happened to my family… could not swear to the year this occured in but I do know I was in school at the time. This was in the 60′s I think. I will recount this as best I can from my memories…
My Uncle Stan (Mothers brother) used to fill in at the local pub in what used to be a small town in Florida before Disney bought land and built the theme park. You know it today as St. Cloud, Florida. My uncle was called to fill in one night for the regular bartender. My mother’s boyfriend at the time was there as well, but I am not sure if she was there or not. The local gun shop owner and his wife were on the outs and she was there that night talking with someone. Her husband came in and saw this and went into a rage.
He left the pub and went back to his gun shop, picked up a gun and loaded it and came back to the pub. He then proceeded to shot his wife several times and left before anyone could stop him. My uncle called the police and my mothers boyfriend rushed her to the hospital. She had been hit three times in the arm and torso.
In the meantime, the gun shop owner went back to his gun shop, got another gun and headed back to the pub to finish the job. By the time he got back he was dismayed to find she was gone. He pointed his new gun at my uncle and demanded to know where she had been taken. My uncle supposedly refused to tell him. This angered the gunman and he shot my uncle in the chest and stomach… hitting him three times.
The gunman now crazed beyond reason, went back to his gunshop again, picked up another gun and headed to the local hospital. My mothers boyfriend was in the parking lot in his car and the gunman remembered him from the bar. He shot him in the neck and preceeded to shoot himself. He did not die instantly and in his pain went running through the hospital. He exited the hospital and died in the parking lot.
I was told there was blood everywhere by my aunt (moms sister). She and my mother had gone up there as soon as they found out about it. My Uncle, my moms boyfriend and the wife of the gunman are all in emergency surgery. They had given my Aunt all of my uncles effects; jewelry, wallet and watch. Not thinking about what she was doing she put his watch on. The wait was on.
Now here is where the miracle comes in. My Aunt, at the time, was a pediatric nurse. Used to timing everything. Heart rates, etc. While they were waiting in the emergency waiting room, she was fidgeting with the watch. She said it kept getting tight on her wrist and was uncomfortable. So without thinking much about it the first time, she switched it to the other arm. It did it again.
This time she looked at it. The watch had stopped. She thought it was funny because it was working when she put it on. She mentally noted away the time and was sitting there watching it. Suddenly the watch started again… and she mentally put the time in her head again.
This happened once more before the doctor came out and said it was touch and go, but he had survived and would recover. He then explained that my uncles heart had stopped twice while on the operating table. My peaked my aunts curiosity and she asked the doctor if they could give her the times this had accured. He said he would find out and let her know. He then told them that my uncle had suffered 18 holes in his intestines and the reason his heart had stopped was because one of the bullets had come within an eighth of an inch from his heart. They could not remove it without risking his life. They repaired what they could. Now all they could do is pray.
Everyone made it out that night alive and reasonably well. My mothers boyfriend had almost lost his voice as the bullet hit his voice box. The wife came out ok. My uncle ended up with 2 new bellybuttons and lived to a ripe old age.
The times on the watch? They matched exactly with what my aunt had in her head and what the operating room had written down. Miracle? I think so. I think my uncle was not ready to leave us that day and that was his way of hanging onto life. I think he was the one that stopped that watch that night. What do you think?
