It was a few days before
Christmas and Dan Ruffert lived in a house without a wall.
As might be expected, he arrived home one day and found he had been
robbed. He had been an easy hit, as his small kitchen window had
no bars. He assumed rightly that the thief would soon return for
whatever he had missed the first time. He knew that this was often
the case in these matters.
He went to his friend Rosanski, who he felt, also correctly,
would have some specific ideas about how to proceed in this sort
of situation.
Rosanski, who had seen combat in Vietnam, explained how they would
set up a watch system in Dan’s kitchen, one sleeping and one
on guard. All the lights in this house would be left off, and the
kitchen window left ajar.
Sure enough, in the wee hours of the night, the thief came through
the window during Dan’s watch. Dan hit him on the top of his
head with the flat side of a machete, the ruckus brought Rosanski
to his feet and the two of them managed to hog-tie the dazed intruder.
Dan said he was going for the police, leaving Rosanski to keep an
eve on the captive. When Dan returned Rosanski was busy lecturing
the robber on the evils and risks of burglary, while whacking him
on his now bare feet as an example of what he was talking about.
When Dan objected to this Rosanski looked hurt at the criticism
and mumbled that that was the way they had done it in Vietnam.
The police brought Dan and his robber to the police head quarters
on the jardin. The municipal building and the jardin were gaily
decorated with Christmas lights. The captive was put in a holding
pen at the station. Dan sat at a desk in the police station and
explained about the robbery the night before, the ambush, and the
capture.
 A
police officer, working on an old-fashioned typewriter made out
a full report of everything Dan said. After that Dan went home,
passing through the jardin, he didn’t pay much attention to
the Christmas lights on his way to his truck.
When he got home he sat staring and thinking. After a while he got
up and drove his truck back to the police station.
He went in and sat down in front of the same police officer and
told him he wanted to drop the charges. The officer told him that
it was too late. A crime had been committed and reported and the
wheels of justice had started to roll. It was too late to stop them.
The next day Dan went and got a lawyer $ 2000 pesos and some time
later, the thief was free. Dan taught him how to make frames and
stretchers, and for a few years he worked for Dan doing this and
whatever else Dan could fix for him to do.
Years later the thief-turned-carpenter died in a swimming accident.
Dan stopped calling his gallery “refuge” after that
and changed his sign so it just said “gallery”. He never
stopped trying to help others though, even when it wasn’t
Christmas. |
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