He sat there day after day, rain or shine, cold or hot, wet or dry, every day on the corner of his intersection. Due to his carefully chosen location for maximum impact, he had great exposure to those entering the freeway and/or coming from a major shopping center. As he sat in a cheap and flimsy lawn chair, his sign would be read by many: “Unfair labor practices at Safeway. Evil management.”
He sat out there for months, the hot sun baking his brains and the freezing rain shivering him. Hundreds of cars passed him daily, all bearing witness to his grievance. He knew that in his heart, he was saving the country from a bad business that had laid him off for performance issues. He knew he was making an impact as he got varied responses from drivers. “Try getting an actual job.” yelled one concerned citizen. “Right on. Stick it to the Man.” Said another. He drew both encouragement and derision from the town residents. He was making his point. He was taking a stand against corporate corruption. His goal? To drive business from Safeway to other nearby stores and/or to get the store manager fired at the very least. After all, he was a U.S. citizen and knew he had the sacred constitutional rights of free speech, free assembly and the charge to stand up against corruption. He sat in his uncomfortable lawn chair (it was all he could afford) for almost a year, holding up his sign, smiling at some, flipping others off. A faded baseball cap, a flimsy jacket, day after day after day.
Until he wasn’t. One day, he was gone, never to appear again. No one really noticed he was gone; others tend not to notice when such figures disappear from the background landscape. A month went by, two, three. Gone. Until.
The man had actually been preparing for this for months. Having had no redress for his grievance from either corporate headquarters or his fellow citizens, most of them had long since written him off. But not today. One pleasant afternoon, he walked back into his last employer’s establishment. Wearing his flimsy plastic raincoat on a hot, sunny day, he strode up to the service counter and asked to see the store manager. When told the manager was off for the day, bitterly disappointed he changed his plans to his backup should such an eventuality occur as it had. For at the heart of his grievance lie the fact that it was still a huge corporation responsible for the abuse of its employees and for hiring store mangers of the type that had thrown him out on the street and therefore he could still make his point.
He slowly meandered down one aisle after another, formulating shape to his idea. He wanted maximum public impact to air his grievance. It was thus that he finally walked up to the long line of customers waiting to pick up their medications at the store pharmacy. This too he was sick of, knowing that Safeway could do better under new management. He planted himself at the end of the nearby aisle facing the line, pulled out the fully loaded Glock semi-automatic handgun from his raincoat he’d stolen, calmly faced the line and began squeezing the trigger.
An elderly woman and her young grandchild were the first to go down at point blank range. Then a construction worker followed by a child care assistant, a retired farmer, one of the store clerks, two young teens planning their first post-graduate adventure, a city councilman and a registered nurse. He didn’t know any of them but it didn’t matter; such is the nature of collateral damage. It wasn’t his fault they’d chosen a bad day to pick up their medications.
As the screaming and mass chaos ensued, a middle-aged man sporting a red MAGA hat had a clear line of sight on the shooter. Shaking from the adrenaline, he squeezed off a shot. It missed, hitting the pharmacist square in the chest, killing him instantly. At the same moment, another concerned and brave citizen who could only see the MAGA man firing his revolver, quickly reached into her purse, pulled out her own pistol and fired, taking him down with a hollow point to the abdomen. At about the same moment, the primary assailant placed his Glock to his temple, pulled the trigger and ended his earthly misery. Once the police arrived, the tally was taken: twelve deceased victims, all of them having met their untimely end needlessly. The two funeral parlors in town had business for weeks.
Driving home from work, I thought how fortunate I was to live in a town this size. Not too small, just large enough, it’s a peaceful place out in the middle of nowhere where real excitement is a rodeo. I was listening to the radio, to a favorite Blood, Sweat & Tears tune. David Clayton Thomas’s beautiful, deep and rich baritone gave meaning to the day. “What goes up must come down/Spinnin’ wheel got to go round/Talkin’ ‘bout your troubles it’s a cryin’ sin/Ride a painted pony let the spinning wheel spin/You got no money and you got no home/Spinnin’ wheel all alone/Talkin’ ‘bout your troubles and you never learn/Ride a painted pony let the spinnin’ wheel turn …”
For you, Alice, dear friend.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Matt Henry, a native Buckeye, is a Roman Catholic musician, a retired ABC/UMC pastor and a volunteer at the Outreach and the Warming Station. No one should be cold, hungry or lonely.
Your comment has been submitted.
There was a problem reporting this.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Sign up to receive news directly to your desktop. Click the bell icon in the nav bar, at any time to change your settings.
If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
Did you like what you just read? Consider subscribing
Start for as little as $8.25/mth
Receive our top stories in your inbox each morning.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Would you like to receive breaking news?
A weekly note from our editor about the inner workings of the newsroom.
Would you like to receive our headline news?
An independent source of exclusive news and insight about state government delivered conveniently by email each Friday to subscribers.
Would you like to receive breaking news?
A weekly note from our editor about the inner workings of the newsroom.
Would you like to receive our headline news?
An independent source of exclusive news and insight about state government delivered conveniently by email each Friday to subscribers.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Thank you. Your purchase was successful.
A receipt was sent to your email.