Article June 14, 2004 Issue

'Father, what will I do?'

When a robbery attempt threatens to paralyze a dinner guest with fear, she turns to God for a way out.

By Lucille H. Gregory

At one time , I worked in the tourism industry on St. Croix, one of the US Virgin Islands. My duties included having an occasional dinner with clients. One evening, dinner was to be followed by dancing, featuring the rhythmic sounds of steel drums, at a restaurant that was located on the beach.

In the middle of a very pleasant dinner, I suddenly noticed something moving in the darkness on the beach beyond the open-air terrace. I quickly realized that men wearing ski masks and carrying sawed-off shotguns were stealthily moving toward the restaurant. Night darkness had hidden their approach from the beach.

The terror I felt threatened to paralyze me. Everything happened very quickly—but at the same time everything seemed to move very slowly. Screams and shotgun blasts pierced the tranquillity of the night, as if it were a scene from a nightmare. People reacted in different ways. Some threw themselves to the ground; others hid behind the trees and bushes on the terrace.

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