An incident happened back sometime in the mid 80s that I’d all but forgotten. We took one of our many trips to Houston to watch the Astros play baseball and let the boys go to AstroWorld.

We were staying at the Holiday Inn, at the corner of Loop 610 and Kirby Dr., which was a short walk to either AstroWorld or the AstroDome.

This particular day we let the two older boys go to AstroWorld alone or maybe they stayed when the rest of us left. They were about ages 10 & 13. This is unthinkable in today’s terms, but wasn’t so out of the normal for those days.

They had been given a time to head back to the hotel, so at that appointed time I went to the lobby and then strolled out to Kirby Dr. to watch for them. Just then they they came running up, excited to tell me they had been mugged. A group of black teens accosted them a block or so up the way, stealing both of their new fitted ball caps.

Someone standing on the corner had seen what happened and said the boys had just boarded a city bus and were headed westbound. My suburban was parked in an adjacent parking lot. The boys and I hurriedly jumped in it and tore out after the bus. We caught up to it before it turned southbound going toward a neighborhood down in the southern part of Houston.

We were able to see the same boys on the bus, creating havoc. They discovered us driving along beside them, with me motioning for them to get off so we could chat. After several blocks of following them, when the bus made a stop, they all got off and ran in every direction.

I was probably like a car chasing dog, I wouldn’t have known what to do with them if I had of caught em. But it was fun watching them run.

Of course back in those days, teens didn’t pack heat like they do today. I would just let it go today, given the same circumstances. I guess at 72 I’m feeling old and I don’t feel bulletproof either.