Messages (Tara Taylor Quinn)

Posted by ttquinn | Filed under Uncategorized | Jan 25, 2012 | 5 Comments

I’ve always been a firm believer that things happen for a reason. We might not know the reason; we might not even know when things are happening that will effect us, but there is reason in everything.

Yesterday, Tim and I stopped by Mom’s. She mentioned that she was out of Diet Coke and waiting for the ads to know where it was going to be on sale.

Half an hour later, Tim and I stopped at CVS. I noticed that Diet Coke was on sale. 4 12 packs for $10. That’s a good price around here. Good enough that I called Mom from the store, told her about the sale, and told her that I had no idea how long it would be on sale for that price.

Half an hour later, on her way to meet my aunt, Mom stopped by that very same store to pick up the Diet Coke I’d sent her for. She gets a call from my aunt, who lives just down the street, telling her to get back to her car. Shots were being fired.

This morning, the parking lot across the street from where I’d sent my mother to shop, was blocked off with Crime Scene tape. The parking lot of Fry’s Food and Drug Store – a Kroger company store – the chain where we all do all of our shopping. This is a nice neighborhood. Filled with snowbirds and churches and kids and elementary schools. Last night it was the scene of an undercover drug sting operation gone bad. Right here in suburbia.

A Mesa police officer had been working undercover. He’d made an appointment for a drug exchange. When he got there, the drug dealers – one of whom had just been released from prison and was already wanted for other violations – started firing shots rather than exchanging drugs. I can only imagine that they’d been tipped off that they were dealing with a cop. There were two other officers on the scene. As I understand it, the undercover cop was shot in the leg. One of the drug dealing suspects was killed. Another injured. The third surrendered without further fight. And two female suspects were also arrested. There were reports of 14-16 bullets fired.

Mom could have been in the line of fire. Tim and I had just been there half an hour before. It wasn’t our time. But we never know when our time will be. Something as innocuous as a trip to the local store for diet coke, could be the incident that changes everything.

The laws of attraction say that you attract to you the things that you put energy into. I’m wondering…is it time to stop writing suspense???

5 Responses to “Messages (Tara Taylor Quinn)”

robyn in iowa says:

01/26/2012 at 12:23 am

Oh, please don’t, Tara! Some of your best books have been suspense novels!!!

I’m glad that all of you are safe, as well as the cops at the scene. I think what you, Tim and your mother attracted was safety.
Cheryl says:

01/26/2012 at 1:42 am

My two cents is that you need to continue writing suspense because I don’t think this had anything to do with the laws of attraction. Glad you are all safe.
Darla says:

01/26/2012 at 7:51 am

Bah, to the laws of attraction! You are all still here, therefore, it was NOT your time. The incident was not your fault…it was the fault of the lowlife dealers!
Don’t stop doing something you love because of some supposed laws of attraction. PS…hugs to you all, glad your safe!
Lynda K says:

01/26/2012 at 9:29 am

Yowza! Glad to hear all are safe!! Moments like those can certainly challenge your sense of safety. Every time I hear a story like this (a shooting) or a car accident, or… or…. or…. I remind myself how deceiving our sense of “safety” truly is.

As for writing suspense? Please keep at it. It’s kind of like the original purpose of fairy tales — not so much to create a “good world” but to teach how to handle the not-so-good in the world that is already out there.
Anonymous says:

01/26/2012 at 8:25 pm

Robyn,
I love your take on it! We attracted safety! I told my brother about it tonight and he didn’t sound all that pleases tha I had sent our mother into danger!