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Tap, Tap, Tap, I heard as I sit at my desk doing the night audit where my husband and I were relieving the regular motel managers in Southern California while they enjoyed a few days from the motel they cared for all the time. The man at the window was dressed in a military uniform and the uniform held many medals that showed this man was a three star general. The man kept tapping on the window and seemed to be very impatient as I went to answer the night window. "May I help you sir?" "I need change for this twenty!" he said in a gruff authoritative voice. I took his money that he had placed in the night window box and turned to my cash drawer to get his change. The man started banging on the window yelling, "You!, You dummy you, you didn't check to see if that bill was counterfeit." I tried to humor the man and to be patient with him because he was a man to be respected I believed.

The nicer I tried to be to the man, the more he begin to irritate me with his yelling, tapping and demanding ways. Still I felt this man had served in the military most likely for years in order to receive the stars on each shoulder, plus all of the other medals that decorated his uniform. Having a husband, Uncle, brother and cousin's in the armed forces I believed that men and women who wore these uniforms with such pride and cared enough to defend the American people while we each slept safely in own beds at night deserved great respect, and that is exactly how I was treating this man. But his yelling, tapping and demanding ways were becoming nerve racking to say the least.

As I placed his change for the twenty dollar bill in the window drawer he only became more agitated, as he yelled foul words in my direction. I then became a Manager, telling the man to take his money and return to his room or leave the premises after checking to see if he was registered in this office for a room. But this didn't work, so I threatened to call the police. Angrily and yelling he stomped off; heading towards the vending room across the breeze way directly across from the office where I was working. I thanked the good Lord for taking this man away from my window so I could finish my work early. So yes, it was my hope he would get something to drink, eat something or get ice and return to his room. With this thought in mind I returned to my books.

The night audit had to be finished with enough time left over to make out each maid sheet, prepare a list of chores for the maintenance man, make coffee for the early risers and several other jobs; so my time on the books was very limited and I was getting no where fast.

I answered the phone a few times and returned back to my books, when all of a sudden I heard this screeching, banging noise. I looked in the direction the noise was coming from, and sure enough, it was this man in the vending room pulling out the games, washer's, dryer's. tables, trash cans and the ice machine. I was totally disgusted with this man and his degrading the uniform he had on. But thank God, Jim the police officer on patrol that night stopped by to see if all was quite on the home front.

I asked Jim to please check on the man in the vending room and that he did. Shortly after talking to the man, Jim returned to the office and talked to me through the side window where he could sit in his car and talk; since it was cold and misty outside. Jim told me, "The old man is okay, he just had a flashback and was looking for a bomb and I reassured him the area was secure and I took him back to his room and told him to stay there." I felt much better about this now, at least I could get my work done in peace. Jim then received a call, but before leaving he reassured me he would be back to check on the old man and me as soon as he could.

Jim the officer wasn't gone anytime, when the switch board lit up. "Front Desk may I help you?" "Their is someone shaking my door handle and it sounds as if someone is up on the roof. Ma'am someone is trying all the doors and yelling out side." Not one call but the switch board was lit up. Each time I answered the phone it was the same complaint and question's, could anything be done about stopping the noise. And usually I would go out and check the grounds but Jim the policeman would always return before I could get outside to check the premises, he always came in the knick of time to keep me from leaving the office unattended.

This time Jim found the old man coming off the roof as he searched for the enemy. Once again, Jim reassured the three star general the area was secure; taking him back to his room. This happened two or three more times throughout the night and each time I felt happier knowing this man was in his room and away from my office.

Each time an incidence occurred I would have to calm down in order to return to my work and this took added moments from my work.

Around 3:30 a.m. the general returned tapping and yelling at the window more demanding as he yelled, "I want coffee, right now!" But the policy of the motel was not to unlock the front door until 5 a.m. or until the first trucker requested coffee, in which, I could check his name with the registry and wake up calls to make sure he was a guest in the motel, this was another safety factor since robberies occured frequently in this part of town. I told the general the coffee wasn't ready and he became furious. I told him to go back to his room not once, but several times. But he kept tapping, yelling his famous curse words and by this time making me feel very uneasy.

"Fine! if I can figure out a way to get you your coffee through the night window you can have it," I said. My thoughts at that time were to go get my husband up who worked the day shift with a desk clerk; but with him being a heart patient I decided not to go wake him up to handle this problem concerning coffee and this man who stood at my night window; after all I was also the manager of this motel and had to make decisions on my own. With in moments the man's tapping, yelling and the phone ringing brought on the disgust I was now feeling and it was taking its toil on me. "Fine! if you want coffee, meet me at the front door and I will give you one cup but your not coming in!"

I worked in a very large office that had a security door between me and the lobby and then there was the front door. I unlocked the security door and with keys in hand started for the front door. I heard, "Don't open that door," very softly. I kept going towards the door, and heard again, "Don't open that door," this time a little firmer. Still, with the tapping, the yelling and my frustration I continued on towards the front door. I put my key into the lock and heard a click, and then in a very firm voice audible like. It was as if someone was right behind me, almost demanding saying, "Do Not Open That Door!" I immediately locked the door back and moved away from the door trembling. Almost in a run I reached the security door, I opened it, and ran into my private office locking the door behind me. By this time, I'm not for sure what had just took place, "Where did that voice come from? Who was it? and where was that person who had spoken to me?" And right then I didn't care if the man knocked the door down; because I was still wondering who was in the office with me, who spoke to me and I had no doubt now whatsoever, I was calling the police because my terror was undescribable at this point. This time I thought I will demand that the police do something with this three star general who had terrorized the entire motel and me for the biggest part of the night now.

Right on cue, Jim the policeman showed back up. I told him what had been taking place since he last had contact with the three star general, smiling Jim reassured me he would put the fear of God into the man as he demanded him to remain in his room or go to jail this time. The three star general promised to let the troops take care of the compound security wise for it was now their watch and he promised to stay in his quarters until morning. That promise lasted for about an hour or so, and then it to was broken, but this time I ignored the three star general and his insults the best I could, but it wasn't easy.

So yes, I was very happy to see the first trucker of the morning and we discussed the old man and his nightly high time. As the trucker sipped his first cup of coffee, he tried to reasure me that things would be okay. The trucker continued on teasing me and laughing at the nights events even half way reassured me the three star general meant no harm explaining he was just making sure the area was secure. So I let it go at that and tried to finish up my work after the trucker left on his daily run; but the night audit and other work would just have to be put on hold for a while longer as I continued trying to keep the guests happy in order for them to consider returning to our motel on their next visit to this beautiful city of ours.

The day clerk Laverne showed up and I filled her in on the activity of the night and of course other things. Leaving her with firm orders to pass the word along to all of the employee's to keep their eyes open for the three star general in room one-fifty because I simply didn't trust him.

I went to our apartment which was attached to the office and woke my husband up and filled him in on everything concerning this man. This way if there were any more problems he could deal with it because I was going to go take a shower and go to bed thanking God it was the end of my shift.

As each employee arrived they were told the story about the old man and was ask to keep an eye open, the motel guests were our main concern and for the safety of the all of our guests in the motel the staff were to report any movement that wasn't appropriate for this man.

Since I hadn't finished the books that night, I had to answer questions for Laverne and my husband so they could finish up the books properly and quickly as they would have to have things ready for a call in to the Corporate office by ten a.m and this was a call that had to be made on time.

Before returning to the apartment and bed; I was in the back office with my husband, we heard in very broken english, "The man, the man, is at the pool, he is turning over all of the furniture and making a big mess." Since the money from the day before was out in the open on the desk your first thoughts are robbery and precautions have to be taken; so I decided to handle the problem with the man, believing my husband could handle a robber easier then I could if this was the case.

The police was called this time and the day shift officer responded to the call. After he heard what had taken place during the night he went to talk to the three star general. When the officer returned to the office he was very arrogant while saying, "The old man doesn't have the problem, you do! and why didn't you give him coffee when he wanted it? What time does this poster say check out time is?" I told him, "11 a.m." he said, "Leave the old man alone until then! because if I come back out here on this foolishness your going to jail." I was tired, upset and now furious with this arrogant cop who didn't seem to care what was taking place and wouldn't even listen to what I had to say. The Officer wasn't gone five minutes when a maid ran in screaming, "The man, the man, he's tore his television off the wall and is throwing furniture out of his room and he's using our new towels to wash down the outside of the building." By this time, I was furious myself, and knowing the police would do nothing with this man, I had to.

"Laverne call the police!" and out the door I went. But by the time I reached room one-fifty I was calm after talking to the other guests mostly apologizing for the terrible night they had endured with me. As I reached room one-forty nine I called the man by name and said, "Sir, please don't destroy our rooms. If you want to clean the outside of the building that is wonderful, but please use these rags I brought from the laundry. Before I finished talking, the man reached up grabbed something and threw it over my head, down and around my neck it went, even though I had to tried to stop it this invasive thing, the force and strength of this man was too much for me. Within seconds I knew I was no match for this man and I was now fighting for my life.

As I hit the ground, I could see my maintenance man just standing there watching the battle now in place, a maid on the balcony and another one running up to be with her and not one person offered me a helping hand. By this time the man was on top of me, with what was now known as a belt going tighter and tighter around my throat.

My husband was supposed to be on the way to the bank, but Praise the Lord, The Lord had intervened with problems in the office that my husband had to deal with and was still there and even though he was agitated himself, he had to deal with the guests who were now filing complaints. As he was making apologizing's and giving credit for free nights stay was now being taken care of instead of making the morning run to the bank.

Apparently as Laverne check was cashing a check for my husband he glanced out the big window and saw what was taking place and fear shot through him as he prayed for the safety of his wife. He screamed for Laverne to call the police and ran to my rescue along with another motel manager leaving that morning.

My husband thank God was used as an angel that morning as he fought for my life: and he will be smiling when he tells you how good it felt socking that man in the jaw a few times before someone stopped him for fear the old man would be hurt. (Yet, not one person came to my aid.) Danny felt such relief as he realized I was going to be fine and the man was going to jail.

When the police was dispatched the officer who had just left and the one who had threatened to take me to jail if he returned to this motel that morning over such foolishness arrived first; but was advised to remain in his car until other officers arrived. When the officer did get out of his car, he came no where near me period. He returned to his car and waited for other officer's to take the report because by this time all the officers new what had taken place earlier and became apolgetic and very helpful.

I would like you to know that even though Jim was off duty he returned one more time to make sure I was okay. So who was this policeman really? An angel? A policeman? Who?

All I know is that when danger lurked about he was there.

A few months later I appeared in court with my husband, witnesses and believe it or not, with Jim who was off duty when this all took place and not the officer who even took the report. Jim was with us every step of the way. So was he an angel?

Even with a cleared out court room the man threatened to kill me as he was being led into the court room. As I sit on the witness stand somehow the man jumped up with handcuffs and shackles on and over the table he came and lunged for me; screaming that he was going to kill me. The lady judge and the court reporter responded with such great precision as they protected me from the man again. And in order for me to finish my testimony the bailiff and police officers stood around this man, shoving him back down into his seat a couple of times, warning him to stay still or deal with them.

I was terrified of this whole ordeal now and I didn't care if the man went free. I knew I wasn't going back to court, even if I had to go to jail myself. Then a few months later I was ordered with all of the witnesses to appear in court again and this time I flat out refused to go, court order or no court order, I wanted nothing else to do with this man period.

Thank God for a sweet convincing police officer and the leniency of the court, the man was sentenced to four years in prison without a parole option and not a one of us had to ever see him again and I was placed into the victim witness program.

But for several years afterwards my family and I lived in fear, for this man's family didn't take to kindly to the three star general's prison term and they came after me, my husand and children with a vengeance, and all they meant was oppostion each and every time their after.

If the Holy Spirit hadn't of warned me as I went to open the door, I believe I wouldn't be alive today. So to me, the Lord fulfilled his promise of Psalms 91. So may the praise and all of the glory go to my Master Jesus Christ, who proved to me He lives and never leaves nor for sakes us, as He used a policeman and my husband as angels that terrifying morning. And friend when the police told me, "You are truly blessed of the Lord." Danny and I ask, "Why do you say that?" An officer said, "The motel managers down at Yakety Yak Motel wasn't quite as fortunate as you Ma'am. They opened up the door to a madman, and hopefully they'll pull through as they were both beaten with a blunt instrument earlier this morning and their staff found them laying on the floor when they reported for work this morning."

"Are they going to be okay?" we ask, "We don't know we just came from there and it doesn't look good, they were both transported by ambulance to the hospital. So see Ma'am, you sure had someone watching over you throughout this entire ordeal." Smiling, it finally donged on me, it was the Holy Spirit who had been in that office with me, when I went to open that door. I know who it was Officer, it was my Jesus. The same Jesus who watches over you and cares for your every need, if only, you will serve him faithfully and diligently.

This is a true story

Written by:

Erma L. Sossman

aka:

Little Spider

Thanks you Lord for giving me two special angels on this beautiful day. Thank You Jim of Southern California

Thank you Danny for being my special angel, an angel that the Lord has placed with me now for almost thirty-five years and I love you more today then I did yesterday. And one day we'll walk them streets of gold together and see the beauty of Jesus as he stands in all of his glory and power forever more.