Evil Twin
Many years after the incident in this post, another scary story inserted itself into the life of my guardian angel.
Cliff1 had retired from the USAFR and was working as a contractor on March AFB. One morning, as he approached the front gate, the security forces personnel noticed him and became agitated. One of them nearly drew down on him causing him to stop and hold his hands up. They approached both sides of his black SUV in readiness mode and one requested his ID. They relaxed when they read it.
“Mr. Peterson, we apologize for frightening you, but have you looked at the news in the past few days?”
“No.”
The security policeman pulls out his phone and shows Cliff a BOLO notice, causing him to gasp at the sight of the accompanying photo.
“Oh my God!”
“Yes, sir. I suggest that you not go to work today and that you stay home until they catch this guy.”
“That’s what I’ll do.”
Cliff then called his boss and his wife. In the midst of this, he started getting calls and texts from friends far and wide - including from me. Some of these friends he hadn’t heard from in a while; all of us had the exact same concern.
The guy in the bulletin killed himself a few days later following a fire-fight with the police. Cliff said that he was almost sorry that it was over because he was enjoying his mini-vacation.
And who was the guy in the bulletin? Remember the Southern California law enforcement fiasco that surrounded the hunt for Christopher Dorner? (USAF security forces are much better trained than the LAPD, et al., but that isn’t surprising.)
In one of Dorner’s photos he’s wearing BDUs and that one really freaked me out.
Cliff is a ringer for Dorner, but, blessedly, not a dead one.
Not his real name.
I saw "Cliff" a few months after this and shouted "Oh my God! It's Chris Dorner! Run!"
Cliff was not amused, but I was!
They say that everyboby has an identical twin somewhere in the world.
Who exactly "they" are I have no idea because I have never encountered the people who say that. But I have met people who tell me what "they" say. They also say that red cars get more tickets and that hospital emergency rooms are always extra busy on nights with a full moon. On the other and, actual statisticians say this is nonsense, so "they" better settle that with them.