They're Really Saying, "I Love You"

Preston is "Not talking to you right now!!!"

On Friday, a relatively ordinary guy, married with kids, was arrested for the BTK murders.

Nothing had been officially released on Friday, but a press conference had been called for 10am on Saturday. Family of the victims had been invited to the event, as well as several Kansas congressmen. "A source" had told local media that the police were "90% sure" they had arrested BTK and were simply awaiting a DNA test.

I was working on Saturday during the press conference. There were very few customers at the bank that day until about eleven, when we were packed full. It appeared everyone in town had put their lives on hold to watch the press conference. The quote everyone was using was "Bottom line, BTK is arrested.

Usually when we have long lines at work, everyone is really grumpy. But on this day, all the customers generally seemed in good spirits and without complaint. They all wanted to stay around and tell us about everything they'd heard about BTK and how happy they were he'd been caught.

Several of us had planned to go to lunch after work on Saturday. The traffic on the way there was crazy! Not that everyone was driving wild, they were in fact driving quite sanely for once. It was just that there were so many people out and about.

The restaurant was just as packed as the roads. We had quite a wait for a table (since no one had called for reservations--hey! I wasn't in charge!) and it seemed that everyone, once again, was happy and discussing BTK's arrest.

At lunch, Tonya's son Preston was quite entertaining. He's very animated and not shy. He'll talk to everyone, whether or not he knows them.

He's so unbashful, that at one point, he decided that I should be the one to take him to the bathroom.

He dashed in and handled the first part of his mission quite well, then hollered "I'm done!!!" This was my cue to come in and help him pull his pants up. As I'm doing so, he asks "What's your name?" Atta boy, show her what you've got then find out who the girl is.

I took the long way home, driving on Douglas through Old Town and Downtown. There were tons of people just walking around aimlessly. Couples holding hands, people with their families, everyone had a bounce to their step.

As cheesy as it sounds, it seems that the whole city feels a little lighter and happier now that this sicko, Dennis Rader, is now in jail and unable to harm anyone anymore.