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THUGGING TOWARD BETHLEHEM
Tyler Dilts
I had a decision to make. In my back pocket was a brand new pair of pruning shears.1 I removed them and held them up for Josh to see. He immediately raised his right hand, palm out, in a defensive gesture and made a fearful grunting noise from behind his duct tape gag. I reached out with my left hand and took his right down to his lap and held it there with a simple wrist lock.2
"This is a warning, Josh."
His eyes were locked on the shears.
"I'm not going to lie to you. I came here today fully intending to take your right thumb."
He began to cry.
"My experience, and I do have a great deal of experience in this area, tells me that this is the most effective way of making men such as yourself take my warnings seriously."
A rhythmic, whimpering noise came from his throat.
"But I'm not sure I need to do that with you. You seem to understand the situation here fairly well. Is that true? Do you understand?"
He nodded.
"I'm going to take the tape off your mouth to ask you a question. Will you scream?"
He shook his head.
I yanked the tape and he managed the pain with only a quiet yelp.
"Do you understand that this is the only warning you'll get?
"Yes," he said, his voice barely a whisper.
1 To be more specific, they were Fiskars Ratchet Anvil Pruners, which not only have a three-quarter inch cutting capacity and a very comfortable ergonomic design, but are also, in my considerable professional experience, simply the most powerful and effective pruners commercially available.
2 The lock itself was a variation of kotegaeshi, a foundational technique of the non-violent martial art Aikido, that in other circumstances can be used to throw, pin, or even break the wrist of an attacker.