An Escaped Convict
	Shortly after I moved to the swamps just north of Tampa to build my jungly, Tarzany, Louisiana bayou type house in the trees I was sitting on the front porch one day just savoring the sounds of the woods. It was my day off around noon and I didn't have a care in the world. What had prompted me to leave my two story studio in Tampa was a trip to Disney World where I climbed the high boardwalks and swinging bridges into the magic of the Swiss family, Robinson's treehouse! Like everyone else that's ever done that I thought "Wouldn't it be incredible to live like this?" That is...without the "packed like sardines" crowd moving through barely being able to shuffle their feet. I remember at one point tucking in the back of my shirt and it turned out to be the front of the guy's shirt behind me. "Sorry!" The quietness of this place in the woods was perfect. I had just had a six foot high chain link fence installed around the perimeter of the entire property because soon I would be keeping on the compound rheas which are the South American version of ostriches and the males are very aggressive. There would also eventually be Florida Panthers, and Bobcats. I was able to have big cats here because of my work with twelve Bengal Tigers at Busch Gardens. At this point however the only thing here were peacocks. As I was enjoying the peacefulness of the day the calm was broken by a public service announcement on the television that said that all the people in our area were to stay inside their homes with their doors locked until further notice. There had been a prison break at the county prison that was located about ten miles straight through the swamps on the other side. The escaped convict was considered armed and dangerous so not to take any chances. Well, I was high enough up where I could see my front gate that it was closed and locked. I thought "Well, if a prisoner had escaped from behind high chain link fences I'm sure the last place in the world he'd want to go is back behind a chain linked area with barbed wire on top, no less. As I was peering down at the front gate to make sure it was secure and I was safe, all of a sudden a man appeared outside. He checked the lock on the gate and saw that it was locked all the while constantly looking over his shoulders. It was very obvious that he was making sure that no one was trying to get him. Then as easy as could be he jumped halfway up the gate and right over the top, barbed wire and all and landed in the middle of my driveway inside the gate. It's like my eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. He came briskly walking down the driveway which is very long, periodically still looking over his shoulder and all around. I went inside real fast but I could still see him down below. I couldn't see his face because he was wearing a cap and the bill was hiding his face. He was looking all around. Then he yelled real loud "Lynn, are you home?!" I thought "What the?" It was Terry Anderson the chain link fence guy who had installed my fence. When he put up the fence he thought the place was really cool and we became pretty good friends. He was in the area when he heard the announcement about the escaped prisoner on his truck radio and said "I better go warn Lynn. I'd hate for him to be scared." Lash Out Loud Side Note: When I did get my rheas, the males, being so aggressive during the spring protecting the nests, have a very severe bite. They stand about six feet tall, even taller when they loom over you. When I'd go down the driveway to the mailbox I would have to take a piece of rubber hose or a cattle prod and a garbage can lid, like a gladiator, to defend myself. Once someone asked me "How's everything going?" and I said "Fine, but my rhea has gotten really mean. I'm not sure what I'm going to do." and they said " Who's Maria, your maid?"