Did you see the bank robber?

Today I wanted to tell my bank robber story…
 
When I was about 19, I had my first job with Judge George Scott covering the counties of Roane, Calhoun and Jackson.  I was young and naïve, having grown up relatively sheltered.  One thing my father taught me was the value of picking up hitchhikers – oh, I know, not the safest thing in today’s evil world, but then and now, it is a ministry of his.  I sat in the back seat with random yahoos frequently, and really didn’t mind it a bit – they all had a story to tell, and my parents were showing me how the Good Samaritan of today should act.
 
That said, I’m on my way home from work one day, and it is around 6:00 p.m. probably.  We lived on a country road, Barr Run, that wasn’t frequently traveled really, and I come upon this green car sitting in a curve kind of pulled off the road, heading in the opposite direction of where you would have pulled off on your side of the road.  That should have been Clue No. 1.  Anyway, I pull up beside the car, roll down my window and ask the guy if he needs help.  He says no, he’s just waiting on a friend to come and help him with his car.  This was before cell phones, so I say, “Well, would you like to come home with me to wait on him or to call someone?”  He says no, he’s good, he’ll just wait there.  I say, “Okay, but you’re more than welcome.”  He says thanks, and on I go.
 
I get home, start making supper, turn on the news, and there has been a bank robbery in Ravenswood and they are still looking for the robber!  Driving a green car and may be hidden on a side road!  AAAAAHHH!  I’ve just invited this guy home with me!  I call in to the Ravenswood Police Station and tell them my story, and they ask me to come down.  I go down, and it is the most pitiful interview I have ever seen.  They ask me a few questions and then say, “Okay, that’s it.”  Every question he asked, he wrote the whole thing down and then asked it, then wrote my answer down, so it took forever!  I say, “Do you think you should ask me what he looked like?”  The officer (who isn’t there any longer) says, “Oh, yeah.  What.  Did.  He.  Look.  Like.”  I tell him what I noticed (which honestly wasn’t much and perhaps I shouldn’t have suggested the question), and I am released.  They don’t catch him, and you don’t hear a thing about it again.
 
About three to five years later (A LONG TIME), this FBI officer calls me and says they believe they have caught the bank robber that I spoke to, and he needs to come and see me with a line-up.  I’m like “Oh, gosh, I didn’t even notice that much at the time, and now all these years later, I am sure I won’t be able to ID him.” He wants to try anyway.  I begin to fret and pray, “Oh, God, give me wisdom I don’t have; give me discernment; show me this face that I cannot remember so a criminal does not go free because I NEVER pay attention to anything!”  The FBI guy shows up at my home, I look at the array and they all look exactly alike.  I say, “Could I maybe see the statement I gave at the time to help me remember?”  “No, ma’am, we cannot help you with this – you have to do this on your own.”  Oh, it was awful.  I had to send him away with the news that I had no idea.  I was sick.
 
I don’t know if they were able to convict the man or not – I was supposedly the ONLY witness who had seen his face in Ravenswood, but he had robbed other banks as well, so hopefully they caught him for one of those.  I think our current bank robber isn’t as sophisticated, or he would have had wheels……let’s just say if you think you see or talk to him, TAKE NOTES and PHOTOS!  

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