Chapter 6
En Garde!


Note To My Readers

Everything up to this point has been written in the third person, because I wanted you to get to know Ella Winter primarily from her own point of view. The foreword and Part I are the result of interviewing her on a daily basis for the past six months about her early life.

These interviews have been extremely rewarding and I have gotten to know my mother much better as a result. She has lived a long life, and has faced both joys and crushing tragedies. She has travelled throughout the United States, often completely on her own, and has lived a life of effort and reward.

From here on out, the book will change. Although the events following Ella's move to my house on Dec. 22, 2008 were ostensibly aimed only at her, there was plenty of what the military calls "collateral damage." There was no way the attacks on my mother were or could have been precision strikes.

That my entire family would also be affected was a given from the start. So from here on out, I will tell the rest of the story from my vantage point, in the first person.

Everything up until now has been preparatory. This is where the gloves come off. This is where the battle begins.

Ron Winter