It was late August and the town of San Antonio was sleepy from the oppressive heat. The sun would beat down on the brick houses during the day and the heat would radiate inside at night. Most air conditioners were overworked trying to keep the houses at 80 degrees, forcing people to sleep under ceiling fans going full blast. The heat and the lack of deep sleep caused the residents of San Antonio to walk around in a trance like state until late September when the evenings began to cool off enough for them sleep at night and function normally during the day. Garner saw this trance like state of late August as the perfect time to pull his con.
In the middle of the afternoon when the sun was strongest and the people were sleepiest, Garner walked into the HEB Grocery Store on Bandera Road. He took a hand basket for his groceries and began selecting some standard items: bread, rice, ketchup, Cheerios, ground round, etc. Then he walked up to the produce counter where he inspected a bunch of grapes and surreptitiously dropped two grapes on the floor before returning the bunch to the counter. He then went back to the dry goods isle and picked up a box of shell macaronis. Next he went to the magazine isle to look over some magazines at a point where he had an easy view of the curved mirrors so he could tell when there were some people in the produce isle. It was a slow day and he had to wait a full fifteen minutes before the produce isle had enough shoppers in it to provide an adequate number of witnesses.
Garner put the magazine he was thumbing back on the rack and walked briskly to the end of the aisle. Then he turned and headed down the produce aisle. He spotted the two grapes and mentally judged how many steps it would take him to get to there. About two steps before the grapes he made eye contact with a young woman who was weighing a bag of tomatoes. Then he felt the grape under his foot. He pushed down hard and then threw his feet out in front of him. At the same time he flipped his basket straight up in the air so that the contents would fall out as the basket rose. He twisted slightly so that he came down on the back of his right arm and then rolled flat on his back. The cheerios, macaroni and rice boxes all flew up in the air like a flock of square cardboard pigeons scared into flight. They all hit the ground in unison and broke, scattering rice grains, elbow macaronis and little round Cheerios all over the floor, generally adding an increased sense of chaos to the situation. The catsup bottle broke as it hit the ground leaving a symbolic pool of blood and the ground round broke open adding to the sense of carnage. The young woman screamed as Garner was pulling his left leg under him at an awkward angle, but was to panicked to notice what he was doing. One of the customers who ran over to help, slipped on the spilled rice adding, once again, to the general sense of danger of the situation. The store manager, who seemed on the verge of hyperventilating, ran over and told Garner to lay still; an ambulance was on the way. The manager was so nervous that Garner was afraid that he might try to exchange places with him to make up for the terrible fall. It was working out beautifully. The only thing that would have made the situation more perfect was if the store manager had tried to straighten out Garner's leg. But all 'n all he couldn't have been more pleased. The ambulance came and took Garner and the customer who had slipped on the rice to the Bexar County Hospital.
Garner lay in his hospital bed at Bexar County for a week undergoing tests and complaining of vague but intense back pains. On the third day, attorneys for HEB Grocery Store showed up assuring Garner that HEB would cover all the hospital costs and even reimburse him for his time off work. Of course, in return, they needed him to sign something called a release that simply said they he would not try to sue them later. Garner took the piece of paper and promised to read it when his vision cleared. On the fourth day, he called Shorty Wilcox.
"Hey Shorty, this is Garner Bullis," he announced when Shorty picked up his own phone. Garner tied not to sound buoyant.
"How-do?" Shorty replied. "You finally need some legal services?"
Garner paused for a moment, but then realized that this was just Shorty's way.
"I slipped on some produce at an HEB grocery store a few days ago and hurt my back. A couple of their lawyers came by offering to pay my hospital bills if I would sign something called a release."
"Now, listen to me very carefully," Shorty began in a serious, detached and measured tone. "Don't sign anything. Don't admit to anything. Don't discuss the facts surrounding the accident with anyone. If your doctor asks you any questions regarding your person, answer them truthfully, but do not get into any discussions. I'll be over within a hour."
"Sure, Shorty," Garner replied. He forced a waiver into his voice. "This sounds pretty serious."
"It is serious," Shorty agreed. "HEB wants you to let them off the hook. But before we do that, we need to make sure that you are fully compensated for their negligence."
"Whatever you say, Shorty," Garner said. He tried to sound vulnerable and dependent. And it was a stretch because he really felt like he had just won an Oscar for his acting.
Garner thought about all the money he was going to make off of this. He felt really good about him self as he thought back over all the things he did in the set up of his grocery store sting - his job at the construction site, his classes at UTSA, his time at the Casa del Norte, and his budding friendship with Shorty. He thought it was all his planning and hard work. He thought he was in control. But the forces or nature were building up again. Garner would receive far more money that he had ever even dreamed of for his efforts. And the money, like the swollen waters of the San Antonio River would wash him away and try, once again, to take his life.