Murder at the Famous Door

He took the small leather bound bible out and held it caressingly in his hands. There was a comforting feeling of relief that came over him. As he held the good book he knew that if it was his time to die then he was willing to accept it. Everyone must face this reality at some time in life, even though he had always thought that his death would not come about until he was much older. Regardless of the age though, no one wishes to face death. He was certain that he would have felt the same way had he been much older. He was at peace with himself as he opened the Holy Scriptures and turned to the Psalm Of David. These were the Psalms that were written in the last letter he had received from a close relative that he joined the Army with. He was later killed in action during the fighting in World War 2. He was reading the words slowly when she interrupted him, yelling at him to read out loud. 'I want to hear you read the words because if you're just doing this to stall for time it's not gonna work. Come on and quit dragging it out, finish it. Hurry it up.' She was screaming the words out in a wild rage. As he looked at her he could see she had the gun aimed at the side of his head.

And so he read the fortifying words. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green Pastures, He leads me besides still waters, He restores my sole. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Robin didn't actually hear a shot ring out. He couldn't really tell if there was a shot fired. He just heard some noise, a commotion of some sort, and a sharp jabbing thrust of an object in the side of his head. Then of a sudden he quickly became very sleepy. He fell on his face with the bible still clutched in his hands. His eyes were open but all he could see was a bright white light shinning in his face forcing him to close his eyes. He could feel himself drifting off into a deep sleep which he had determined would be his final sleep. As his mind was wavering between a conscious and an unconscious state he fought desperately to stay awake. In his sleepy state he still was cognizant enough to realize that death was the sandman that had come to get him. To go to sleep now would mean that there would be no awakening. It would be his final sleep. Fighting this life and death struggle within his shattered head he started to hear some faint sounds above him. There was no vision, he was unable to see anything but there was a sense of an apparition that was hovering above him. His breathing was shallow, bubbling and short, making him feel like the final accumulation of air was slowly being released from his lungs. It felt as though his very life was being aspirated from his body. He felt his body being moved slightly then lifted up. His head was being pushed forward and then the low faint sounds he had heard were getting louder and more pronounced. The sounds were now audible and he recognized some words, someone was calling his name. He could hear it although it was almost like a whisper. 'Hang on Robin, hang on, please hang on, please.' He felt a drop of moisture on his face and he thought he was outdoors and it was about to rain on him. Again the voice could be heard pleading with him to hang on. Now the voice was interrupted with sniffles and what sounded like someone crying. The drops on his face were teardrops, the person holding on to him, encouraging him to hang on to his life was crying for him. Robin now strained to identify whom it was but he couldn't see anything, he didn't know if his eyes were open or not. But the voice now became familiar and he recognized it. A tear came rolling down his eye as he heard Sam Shimkus holler out.

'Look, look here, there's tears coming out of the corner of his eyes. He can hear me, I tell you, he can hear me, he's gonna make, he'll make it!' Then he could hear Sam softly telling him. 'There's an ambulance on the way Robin, we'll have you in a hospital in a few minutes, don't give up now, just keep on fighting Robin, fight hard. You're gonna be fine, you'll see, just fine, trust me.'