I first met Eddie at a Stop-n-Go in Hampton, Georgia. He was trying to scare me by waving a gun in my face. He was succeeding. His girlfriend introduced us:

"Eddie, you promised no gun. You said we were just gonna grab the cash and go."

Normally, I don't even go into the store. I just gas up and leave. Today, I had decided I was thirsty. A bottle of iced tea in hand, I was walking up the aisle to pay. At the end of the aisle, I found Eddie. Or he found me. He was facing away from me at the time. I didn't even register that he was robbing the place until I was right behind him.

I startled him as much as he startled me.

I wasn't trying to defy him; he had the gun. I was simply trying to tell him that I could not comply with his order to "get over there by the counter," because he was standing in front of me, blocking the aisle. He started to say something more but didn't finish it because there was a tremendous boom and all hell broke loose.

I dropped to the floor. I could feel a wet stickiness on the side of my head and thought, "I've been shot." There was another boom and from my vantage point, I had an excellent view of Eddie's ankles in motion. I waited, ears ringing, curled up there on the floor for something else to happen.

I don't know how long I laid there but it couldn't have been too long. When I got to my feet, the young clerk was still pointing a handgun at the door where, presumably, Eddie and his girlfriend had fled. As I moved, he turned his whole body and now the gun was pointed at me. I noticed two things, his eyes were big as saucers and unfocused and the cannon in his trembling hands was a 357 Magnum. That explained the noise. I managed to convince him to put the gun down and call the cops.

The stickiness on my face and shoulder was Karo syrup. The kid had blown up the top shelf of baking products with his first shot. His second shot had gone into the ceiling.

Eddie didn't get an Emmy for his starring role on the store video; he got three to five in Reidsville.

My next interaction with Eddie was when he got out of prison.

I hired him.

'Why hire Eddie?' you ask?

Well, to start with, he didn't shoot me. I always regard that as a plus. And then, I saw something in his eyes, when he was waving the gun in my face. Desperation, yes. But also resignation, like this was just one more thing that life was dumping on him.

I wanted to help him.

I run a not-for-profit business called Pros & Cons. It is a rehab/placement service for felons. Often, we can convince the judge to release a convict early into our care; we have that kind of reputation.

Of course, we are selective in who we accept into the program. We have a very low rate of recidivism and we value that. In fact, that is the very first lesson we instill in our new employees.

"The difference between Pros and Cons is that our Pros don't get caught a second time."