• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 865 0

from his home in Manhattan. A successful entertainment lawyer, he had recently become engaged to a pretty Texan named Hillary Roberts, and I secretly longed for my first grandchild. One night about three weeks after Frank died, Bobby agreed to be my date for a quiet dinner with George and Jolene Schlatter at their house a few blocks from ours. Deciding to walk there and back, we set off for what was a relaxed and enjoyable evening. A few hours later, on our way home in the dusk with George and Jolene as our escorts, a car suddenly screeched to a halt at the curb and four men jumped out. Running up to us, they quickly separated us. I couldn’t see what was happening behind me, but Jolene must have sensed the danger before we did because she fled into a neighboring driveway, the only one with its gate open.

“Where’s the park?” the man who’d cornered me barked into my face. “We’re meeting someone there.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, sounding braver than I felt. “There isn’t a park around here.” He began to argue with me and insisted that I must know the place, but I told him, “I don’t know and I’m not even sure it exists. In fact, I’m going to get your license number. There’s something wrong with all this.” I looked at the plate then but noticed it had a piece of paper taped over it. I moved forward as if to rip the paper off, but I didn’t have time because the man grabbed my arm and loomed over me suddenly.

“Give me your purse!”

“You can’t have it!” I cried. “Go away!” He jerked it off my arm anyway and pushed me aside. Shaken, I turned to see that Jolene was at the door of the house she’d run to, banging on it and ringing the bell. She yelled, “For God’s sake, Barbara, come on in here!”

Instead I turned to see what had happened to our men. George was throwing punches at a guy who was trying to rip his Rolex from his wrist. My blood turned cold when I spotted Bobby lying facedown on the ground without his glasses as another robber bent over him, picking his pockets. My son’s glasses lay a few feet away. As soon as I saw that, my anger kicked in. Running at the attacker, I yelled, “You! Stop that! Stop that right now!”

Bobby saw me coming and groaned. “For God’s sakes, Mother, get out of here!” In the end, I think I scared the muggers off. They jumped in their car and sped away.

By this time Jolene had gotten an answer at the house, and a little old woman in curlers and a hairnet, dressed in an old robe and using a walker, let her in to call the police. I saw the woman briefly, but everything happened so fast and the police were there so quickly that there wasn’t time to thank her. The detectives separated the four of us in her driveway to take our statements while Jolene crawled around in the bushes trying to find the jewelry she’d thrown there when the men first struck. Fortunately, I hadn’t been wearing anything special that night.

Standing in the driveway, I watched Jolene’s antics as I talked to a couple of officers. When they found out who I was, they wanted me to give a press conference to publicize the attack, but I refused. I looked up and saw the owner of the house again, only this time she looked quite different. Her hair was combed back, she had makeup on, and she was beautifully dressed. She wandered up and asked, “Which one is Mrs. Sinatra?” She smiled and took my hand as if we’d just been introduced at a cocktail party. “How nice to meet you,” she said. “My husband once conducted an orchestra for your husband.” This was clearly the most exciting thing to happen to her in a while. I couldn’t help but smile at her evident enthusiasm. I knew then that Frank was still watching over me somewhere, making sure that, whatever happened, I kept my sense of humor.

Once I got home, Bobby made sure I was settled in and safe before leaving with the promise to call in the morning. I went straight to bed and fell into a deep sleep but was woken an hour or so later by our house alarm clanging. Pulling on a robe, I ventured out of my room to be met by members of my staff, who assured me the police