DISCLAIMER: This website contains Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, we will receive a small commission.

The first thing that struck me as odd when my father-in-law was abducted right in front of me, was the calm look on his face. Joe did not appear to be shocked when three young mexican men suddenly jumped out of a run down gray, minivan and grabbed him in the middle of a small village eight miles outside of matamoros. He did not yell out to me alex help. Instead, joe just kind of stared at me with a resigned expression from across the crowded outdoor marketplace as they began, yanking him backward toward the vehicle.

Yes, he fought them at first joe did not go easy. His lean arms thrashed against their pulling my father-in-law, was in great shape for being in his late 50s. He still played a lot of golf and tennis joe, had no trouble keeping up with me on our runs together on the downtown trail back in austin, but he was no match for these muzzle-bound men who wore dirty t-shirts, jeans and boots. They looked more like day laborers than organized criminals. Two of the men secured joe by the arms when the biggest of the group grabbed his legs and lifted.

The struggle was basically over with a heavy sack of groceries. Clutched in my arms, i hesitated a moment squinting across the vendor tables against the blinding glare of the late afternoon, sun. What the hell was happening were these men really dragging my father-in-law away? I flashed on the conversation i’d had with taylor joe’s only daughter and my wife about a month ago, when we first talked about taking this trip. Taylor had been concerned about bringing our whole family down here to assist at an orphanage she’d read so many horror stories about kidnappings and other violent crime on this side of the border.

My wife always researched everything to death and then usually focused on worst case scenarios. It drove me crazy. I tended to be the simple idealist. I had assured her. We would be perfectly safe.

We would be only 20 miles south of the border. We wouldn’t even be spending the night inside mexico. Instead, we’d stay at a holiday inn in brownsville and cross over the border each day. I’D had a friend who’d recently brought his own family down to the orphanage and said it was a wonderful experience, especially for his kids. This had also been true for us.

Thus far, our young daughters, olivia and nicole had loved being with the other children this week. For the past five days, they’d done, hundreds of crafts together played games put on, plays and kicked the soccer ball around for countless hours. I’D never seen my girls smile. So much while the kids played taylor, joe my mother-in-law carol and i had rolled up our sleeves to put fresh coats of bright paint on dingy walls of various bedrooms inside the old two-story building joe and i had left the orphanage an hour ago to drive over To the nearest village and buy groceries for dinner tonight, as we’d done several times the past week, my mother-in-law wanted to make a special vegetable and beef stew for all the kids, an old family recipe from her grandmother. My kids would usually devour it.

Everything about this trip had been a dream. Until now, i cursed dropped the sack of groceries and ran toward the van. Unlike joe, i was already in full-on panic. I weaved around other outdoor shoppers who all turned to stare at the frantically sprinting 32 year old white man wearing a paint stained orange texas, longhorns, t-shirt 10 cargo shorts and flip-flops, a small boy pulling a rusty red wagon suddenly stepped out in front of me. I tried to leap clean over him, but the toe of my flip-flop caught the wagon’s edge.

I toppled face first onto the ground scrambling to my feet. I ran forward again while spitting clumps of dirt from my mouth. The men now had joe fully inside the minivan. Again my father-in-law held my gaze staring directly at me through the open door. He mouthed something i’m sorry, brilliance, audio [, Music, ], family money by chad, zunker performed by kris koshewski.

The first thing that struck me as odd when my father-in-law was abducted right in front of me, was the calm look on his face. Joe did not appear to be shocked when three young mexican men suddenly jumped out of a run-down gray minivan and grabbed him in the middle of a small village eight miles outside of matamoros. He did not yell out to me alex help instead joe just kind of stared at me with a result.

More From This Category