"If I tell you to get down on the floor, you three better race to see who gets there first. Or you'll have me to answer to."

Those words were instilled in me, long before I knew how old I was. Three siblings staring up at their dad, wondering "What tha'???

We all slunk low in the seat, getting a head start, because that was his "meant business" voice and there was no arguing with that.

I don't remember all of the details, but something was transpiring outside of our car and my father had the cognitive sense to warn us long before it took place. We were pulling away when whatever he feared did indeed take place. We sped to the next intersection, where he saw one of his fellow officers and flagged him down. He told him something, and the guy sped off, lights flashing and siren wailing.

Most who know me on a personal level know that my dad is a Justice of the Peace, and before that was a deputy Sheriff for many years. Nacogdoches was a sleepy little town, where not much happened if you didn't know any better. I grew up knowing better, and seeing the seedier side of life in a small town.

"You kids did good", came the reassuring tone from my dad. "Always remember, that if I tell you to get down, no matter where we are, no matter who's around, you do it without hesitation. And stay there till told different".

"Yes sir" answered the young trio in unison.

Later I asked my dad, being the oldest, what that had been about, with the plan to relay it all to my little brother and sister. He told me there was a man who was acting strangely and dad was pretty sure he was "up to no good" as he would always say. He told me how he looked, where his hands were, what his "eyes said" and what his body language was saying.

My daddy is a superman I thought. He looked at that guy and knew exactly what would happen. That's dang near ESP in my book.

But what I had been introduced to that day was what he called "readin' people". Looking at all of the "indicators" a person gives off and deciphering them. This intrigued me early on and it is something I tried very hard to learn from him as I grew up.

So, to break it down to just the nuts and bolts the average person needs to survive, my advice is always "if it doesn't feel right, then it is NOT RIGHT." Listen to those feelings. You have grown up learning how people act and interact with others. There are certain behavioral principles we all adhere to. When someone is out of that realm, they will display what I call negative indicators.

A glaring example of a negative dress indicator would be someone wearing a trench coat on one of our 100 degree days. Either he belongs to the local theatrical club and is in costume, or he's "up to no good". The dress, for that kind of weather, is obviously out of character.

Not so obvious is an example in the group I call negative position indicators. This is where the body is out of normal position, any part of it, compared to how most people hold their bodies. An example of a negative position indicator is what I call the missing hand.

When most of us stand with our hands on our hips, male or female, our hand or thumbs are visible. If a person stands with their palms directly on the hips, the four fingers are visible to the front of the body wrapping the hip bone while the thumb gently disappears behind the back. If a person stands with their palms on their sides the thumb is visibly pointing forward around the hip while the four fingers gently disappear around the back to the kidney area.

What keys me up is if most of the hand is NOT visible. Thumb partially visible but pointing down, or not visible at all. Fingers completely concealed. These are indicators that the hand is being used to grasp something. A knife or gun comes to mind.

When encountering someone in a confrontational manner, some indicators of aggression can be clenched fists, gritting the teeth, pursed lips and jaw muscles tightening, nose flaring, eyebrows frowned, profuse sweating or extreme reddening on the face and ears. Heavy or sporadic breathing may also accompany any of the above indicators.

Lack of eye contact, accompanied by other indicators may foreshadow aggressive behavior. As an example, when I was in college a friend and I were sitting outside a store waiting for another friend to show up. We had been there for awhile because the third friend was late as usual. A man walked around the corner of the store, from behind it in which a run-down apartment complex housed some known drug users. He stopped at the corner and surveyed the entire parking lot. It looked strange, but he could have been looking for someone as well. There were some vending and ice machines lining the front of the store area. The sun was setting and the outside lights came on. One of the lights did not come on, and made a dim little hole between two machines. The man walked over to that little hole, looked around again, and melted into it. He was still visible, but not much.

We witnessed him "eyeing" several store customers. He would glance at them and quickly look away. I told my friend, he is sizing up a target. My friend said "no way, not here". I said "look at him. He's wearing a jacket (it was around 80 degrees), smoking with one hand and the other hand is inside the jacket and he is leaning against the wall in a dimly lit hole sizing people up as they pass." My friend thought I was crazy.

Then this young girl drove up and got out of her car to his right. She would have to pass in front of him to get to the door of the store. She proceeded down the walk and then she saw him. Startled, breaking eye contact and visibly nervous she CONTINUED TOWARDS HIM. She had no sooner passed him when he jumped toward her and grabbed her. Instinctively I reached for a shotgun in my gun rack and stepped out. As I hit the pavement, two undercover cops pounced on the guy from nowhere. They materialized from thin air. I never knew they were anywhere around. I quickly threw my shotgun in the floorboard and jumped back into the truck. I looked at my friend and he was wide eyed and his jaw was dragging the floorboard.

"Told ya," I said.

"Uh... yeah," was all I got in return.

When that girl stepped out of her car, everything in her being told her something was not right. We could see she was sensing it from a distance. Yet she ignored all the little indicators that were telling her to stop and go somewhere else. Luckily she was not the least bit hurt. In fact we watched in amusement as she kicked him and spit on him a couple of times while he was cuffed on the ground.

I tend to look at indicators in threat levels. One should be enough to get your attention. The guy in the previous scenario had a jacket on in 80 degree weather. That would cause me pause, but maybe not alarm the way people dress these days. Fashion and trends are important.

Now the fact that he was backed into a dimly lit hole, along with being dressed that way would have done it for me. Then adding the fact that one hand was crossed, not in front of him, but within the jacket would have sent me backpedaling. As it should anyone. As I said earlier, LISTEN to those little voices that tell you it's not right. Those hairs stand up on your neck for a reason. They pull on the motor neurons in your brain that tell those feet to get moving, in the opposite direction. Really. It's scientific fact.

Many around here watched the news in horror when the young woman was abducted from an area Wal-Mart not too long ago. That girl knew it was coming. She made her move, but it was too late. Would things have turned out different had she more time. Put more distance between her and her abductor. Seen and felt the indicators and not gone into the parking lot alone at all. We will never know and it is futile to speculate. But seeing it on the news drove home something that I always tell the wife and kids. Be aware. Be aware of your surroundings. Be aware of who is within reach.

Be aware of groups of people who display the pack mentality when loitering about. Alone they may be harmless. But together, and showing aggressiveness is a dangerous concoction best avoided. Take the time to get where you are going by moving well away from them, and not drawing their attention.

My oldest daughter had asked "Just what is being aware?" The simplest answer is knowing who and what is around you.

If you see things that are not right, avoid them. I'm not saying that we should walk around paranoid and jumping at shadows, but rather using our greatest asset that lies between our ears.