Chapter 4

The Rodeo Came To Town

Cassie and her mother strolled down the street that was crowded with mobs of rodeo fans.

"Mother, I think I need a cell phone. It would be easy for us to get separated and a phone would be a way for us to find each other." Cassie said.

She had no fear of losing her mother. She could see her no matter where she was in this crowd but this would allow her mother to contact her daughter. As they walked along, someone shoved her mother while a second person grabbed her purse and started to run.

Without really thinking about it Cassie stepped to her right and reached out with her cane sliding it between the runner's legs causing him to do a head over heel flip. The other person who had been following the first saw what happened and reached toward her behind her back. She squatted as if to pick up something and he stumbled over her. She brought her cane up and rammed it into his solar plexus. Then she stepped forward and leaned on her cane with its tip just below the first man's Adam apple.

"Cassie!" Her mother screamed. Cassie saw her mother fighting to get back on her feet and rush to her side. The crowd around them got quiet. She could hear the murmur as they talked among themselves. One man lay doubled up, gasping for breath. The second lay perfectly still as she shifted her weight pressing on her cane.

"Cassie, what happened?" Her mother was looking at her and then at the two men on the ground. Cassie shrugged.

"I'm not sure mother."

She bit her lips. She did not know how she had done what she did. It was like a slow motion movie. She had been a puppet that just moved.

That was as far as she got.

Two police officers arrived and began asking questions. The consensus of the crowd was that the two men had knocked her mother down, grabbed her purse and then tried to flee. One man had stumbled over Cassie's cane and then fallen. They thought that Cassie had turned trying to help the first man and the other one had fallen over her. Then she had stepped over to help the first and that's where things now stood.

One of the police officers was examining the scene carefully and kept looking at Cassie. "Who purse is this?" He pointed at her mother's purse which was still being gripped in the first man's hand.

"Oh my, that is my purse!" Sarah stated. Cassie looked like she was staring at the man who she was still pinning with her cane. She noticed that the man that had shoved her mother was slowly getting himself together. His breathing was steady and he was beginning to move to get to his feet.

"Where is the other man sir? I think he knocked my mother down." She asked the police officer who had asked about the purse. He turned just as the one who had knocked her mother down tried to take off running. The police officer's night stick got there first and the man hit the sidewalk again.

"Cuff him Jeff. I don't want anyone leaving till I say so." The officer turned back to her. "Miss, are you blind?"

"Yes sir for the last two years."

"Do you know where your cane is sitting?" He asked.

She had noticed that he did not sound upset that she was just a couple of pounds from crushing the man's throat. She raised her cane and tap to the left side of the man's throat then to the right side. She then tap him right on his Adam apple. She noticed that the man under her cane did a little gagging. "Sir I think I am right on his throat."

"Would you mind if I cuff him?" He asked.

"Not at all sir I would appreciate it." She waited until the police officer was squatting by the man and removed her cane. The officer flipped the man over on his face then gathered his hands behind his back and cuffed them together.

Cassie was suddenly being hugged by her mother. She could see the tears in her eyes. "I'm fine mother." she kept saying to her. Her mother released the hug but then grabbed her hand and held on to it.

The police officer who had been talking to Cassie returned after dragging his prisoner over where Jeff could watch both of them.

"Now madam, I am Corporal Antonio Garcia of the Sonora Police Department, may I have your name?" He asked her mother.