People think Ethel Armstead must be crazy to face the young people who sell drugs outside her house. But Ethel had enough. She summoned up her courage to go out and talk to the gang. The following is the story that happened.

1 Leave My Block Lynn Roslini Ethel Armstead fell in love with this gray townhouse at once. There is an extra bedroom in the house and a big backyard where her little grandson and granddaughter can play. That marble porch will be an ideal place to enjoy the cool in summer.

But the first night after moving in, when Armstead came home from work, she found a group of fierce people sitting on the steps in front of her house.

She was surprised and said, "Sorry, I live here." The group of seven young people stood up reluctantly and stared at her with ruthless eyes. As soon as he entered, Armstead locked the door and looked out of the window. She was surprised to find that the young man was sitting on her doorstep again.

In the next few weeks, Armstead learned that her house had been vacant for a long time and was used by some drug dealers to hide drugs under the front steps. When cars and pedestrians pass by, drug dealers do business on the porch. Drug addicts inject drugs in the alley behind the house and urinate everywhere in the backyard.

Armstead has no illusions about those who occupy her front door. During the ten years she lived in Oliver, a crime-ridden and violent area in eastern Baltimore, almost every night, she lay in bed and could hear gunshots in the fierce drug war. However, in this house, drug dealers often haunt her porch, which is the worst.

Sometimes she has to call the police several times a day and beg the police to disperse these drug dealers. But once the police car disappears on the street corner, the drug dealers will come back one after another.

As a mother in her fifties with an adult child, Armstead never imagined this battle. But this is not the first time she has risen to meet the sudden challenge. In the mid-1990s, when her daughter was addicted to drugs and her little grandson and granddaughter needed adoption, Armstead took care of three boys and a girl.

One night in September 2000, about a month after she moved into her new house, Armstead prayed to God, "I will talk to those guys tomorrow. Please help me. "

The next day, she went directly to the leader of the gang, a young man in jeans and a white T-shirt. Armstead's heart is rolling, but she knows that she must never show fear.

10 "This is my place," she said quietly and gently, with a fake smile on her face. "When I enter my home, I don't need to say' Please forgive me'."

1 1 She told the young man that she didn't want him and his friends to sell drugs in front of her little grandson and granddaughter again. They must leave her house, the empty house next door, and the corner.

12 The man was silent. Armstead's heart has jumped into his throat. Then the man nodded. The gang left. But a few days later, they came back. Armstead repeated her request. I said it again the next day and the third day.

13 Then an interesting thing happened. These people began to listen. They moved to the next block. When winter came, they cleaned the snow on the road in front of her house. When she was ill, they came to visit her. Soon, they began to call her "Aunt".

Her grandchildren can play ball in the street now. Sometimes, those young people also play with them. If a child talks back to his grandmother, a young man will say, "You can't talk like that. She is your grandmother! "

15 Armstead kept whispering, warning them that easy money is dangerous. "You will be beheaded!" She said to them. "Let's do something serious!"

16 People told her that it was foolish for her to talk like that to those thugs. Especially after another aunt who took a stand just five blocks away was killed. This aunt is Angela Dawson. She single-handedly fought another group of drug dealers, but failed. The Dawsons' house was set on fire, and Angela, her husband Canel and their five children all died. This tragedy became news that shocked the whole country. A man nearby was accused. Armstead doesn't know Angela Dawson, but she knows her children. After the deadly fire, she was more careful-but she didn't stop.

17 and she's not just talking. She has always been the driving force behind the community organization Baltimore Leadership Development Association (BUILD). Together, they drove drug dealers away from an open space and built a children's playground there. They started an extracurricular activity at school to keep children away from the streets. They urged cities and local churches to speed up the pace of rebuilding abandoned houses.

18 Not long ago, Armstead met a man who often swings in front of her house. "Hey, Auntie!" The man gave a cry and hugged her tightly. He told her that he had found a job, and then said, "I really want to thank you for what you whispered to us."

19 Armstead had a gentle influence on her. She just said, "It makes me happy to know that my words have convinced at least one young man."

What would you do to the man who tried to steal your wallet? Mrs Jones undoubtedly gave the boy a fright when he tried to steal her wallet.

1 Thank you, Mrs. langston hughes. She is a tall woman, walking alone with a big wallet on her shoulder. It's almost midnight 1 1. A boy rushed up from behind her and tried to take her wallet. The strap of the wallet was broken, and the sudden gravity made the boy lose his balance. He fell on his back on the sidewalk. The tall woman turned and kicked him, then leaned down, grabbed the boy's shirt chest, lifted him up and shook him hard.

Then the woman said, "Little fellow, pick up my wallet and bring it here."

She still clings to him. But she bent down to let him pick up his wallet. Then she asked, "Aren't you ashamed of your behavior?"

"I'm ashamed, madam," the boy replied, his shirt chest still tightly pulled.

5 "If I let go, will you run away?" The woman asked.

"Yes, madam," said the boy.

"Then I won't let go," said the woman. She didn't let him go.

"Excuse me, madam," the boy whispered.

9 "mm-hmm! Your face is really dirty. I really want to wash that face for you. Didn't anyone at home tell you to wash your face? "

"No one, madam," said the boy.

1 1 "Well, you have to wash your face tonight," said the tall woman, striding forward, dragging the frightened boy behind her.

12 The boy looks fourteen or fifteen years old, weak and thin, wearing a pair of tennis shoes and jeans.

13 The woman said, "You should be my son. I want to teach you the difference between good and bad. I must at least wash your face at the moment. Are you hungry? "

"I'm not hungry, madam," said the boy. "Let me go."

15 "What stopped you when I turned the corner just now?" The woman asked.

16 "No, madam."

17 "You found me yourself," the woman said. "Now that I have found it, it won't be finished so soon. Sir, you will never forget me, Mrs. Louerat Bates Washington Jones. "

18 The boy's face began to sweat and he began to struggle. Mrs Jones stopped, grabbed him in front of her, grabbed him by the neck and dragged him on. At the door of her house, she dragged the boy in, crossed the hall and came to a big room with furniture at the back of the house. She turned on the light and left the door open. The boy can hear the laughter of other tenants in this big house. Some doors in other rooms were open, so he knew that this woman didn't live alone. In the middle of her room, the woman still clutched his neck.

19 She asked, "What's your name?"

"Roger," the boy replied.

2 1 "Well, Roger, go to the sink and wash your face," the woman said, and finally let him go. Roger looked at the doorman, then at the woman, then at the doorman, and then walked to the pool.

"Put the cold water out first, and then wash it when the hot water comes," she said. "This is a clean towel."

23 "Are you going to send me to prison?" Asked the boy as he leaned over the sink to wash his face.

"With your face, I won't take you anywhere," said the woman. "I want to go home and burn something to eat, but you came to rob my wallet! You probably didn't have dinner either? "

"There is no one at home," said the boy.

"Then let's eat together," said the woman. "I think you must be hungry, or you have been hungry, so you want to steal my wallet!"

"I want to buy a pair of blue suede shoes," said the boy.

Mrs. Louerat Bates Washington Jones said, "Well, then you don't have to pay for suede shoes." "You can ask me for it."

29 "Ma 'am?"

The boy looked at her and water dripped from his face. A long silence. There was a long silence. After the boy dried his face, he didn't know what else to do, so he wiped his face again. The boy turned around, not knowing what to do next. The door was open. He wanted to go straight to the door and sneak out along the corridor. He's getting away, getting away, getting away!

That woman is sitting on the bed. After a while, she said, "I was young, too, and wanted something I couldn't get."

There was another long silence. The boy's mouth opened. Then he frowned, but he didn't realize it

The woman said, "Well! You think I'll probably say it next, but I didn't rob someone else's purse. Well, I didn't mean that. " Time out. Silence. "I did something that I don't want to tell you, son-I don't want to tell God if he doesn't know yet. People always have something in common. Sit down for a while and I'll get us something to eat. You might as well comb your hair with that comb to make people look better. "

Behind the screen in the other corner of Room 34 is a gas cooker and refrigerator. Mrs Jones stood up and walked behind the screen. The woman didn't pay attention to the boy to see if he still wanted to escape at the moment; I didn't pay attention to my wallet and put it on the bed behind her. But the boy is very careful, sitting on the other side of the room, far from the wallet, but if the woman wants to see it, she can see where he is sitting from the corner of her eye in the blink of an eye. He doesn't believe that women will trust him. He also doesn't want women to distrust him. Besides, he doesn't want people to doubt himself now.

She heated the ham and beans, and then set the table. Regarding where the boy lives, who is at home, and so on, the woman never asks any questions that may embarrass him. At dinner, it was the woman who told him that she had worked in a hotel beauty salon for a long time. What kind of job is a beautiful woman? There are all kinds of women in and out of the store: blondes, redheads and Spanish girls. Then, cut his cake and dessert in half for him.

"Eat more, son," she said.

When they finished eating, she stood up and said, "Hey, take this 10 yuan and buy yourself a pair of blue suede shoes. Don't make such a mistake again next time, grab my wallet or someone else's purse-because crooked shoes will burn your feet. I have to rest now. But son, I hope you will be a good person from now on. "

She led him across the hall to the front door and opened it. "Good night! Be a good man, son! " She said she looked at the street when the boy walked down the steps.

Besides "thank you, madam", the boy wanted to say something to Mrs. Louerat Bates Washington Jones, but when he turned to look at the tall woman at the door at the bottom of the steps, he couldn't say "thank you" even though his lips moved a few times. Then she closed the door behind her.

Is this what you want? Give me the best answer. Thank you.