Family ties can be complex, especially when they involve a gruff great-uncle who’s stingy on the compliments.

Through early mornings and shared duties, one young woman forged a connection with her uncle.

Although that connection was soon put to the test when one slammed door and jammed lock led to an unexpected rescue mission.

Read on for the full story!

“You’re my Battle Buddy. That means we look out for each other and you’re not to leave my side. Got that?” “Yes, sir!”

This is my friend Belle’s story, and it takes place in the mid-90s when Belle was a senior in high school.

Belle had a cantankerous great-uncle named Todd.

Like many, many, many people in Belle’s family, Uncle Todd had served in the Army.

After being honorably discharged, he took up the family’s homestead and worked as a farmer while the rest of the family lived in town about 20 miles away.

Uncle Todd had quite the personality.

Uncle Todd was a real old salt.

And when I say salt, I don’t mean “salt of the earth” — I mean “saltier than a sailor.”

He was the kind of person who would sit on the front porch with his shotgun and a box of salt pellets, waiting for any neighbor kids to try and steal from his prized apple orchard.

Needless to say, you were either on his good side or his bad side.

Most of the family were, sadly, on his bad side.

But things were a little different with Belle.

Somehow, Belle got on the old man’s good side early on in life, and he didn’t give her near as much grief.

When she showed him her letter from West Point, he had tears in his eyes.

Beginning when she was a freshman in high school, she was hired to help him out as he was getting up in age.

Every day, before sun-up, he’d pick her up in his battered old Ford pickup and drive her to the farm.

The two formed a tight-knit bond.

Every time they arrived, he’d tell her, “You’re my Battle Buddy. That means we look out for each other, and you’re not to leave my side. Got that?”

She’d snap a salute and say, “Yes, sir!”

They’d get about their day, and at the end, Uncle Todd would drive her home, pay her for the day “for a job well done,” and treat her to a Coke and a sandwich from the town grocery store. Belle has many fond memories of that old man.

But even with Belle, things weren’t perfect.

That being said, there were some days that he’d be particularly grouchy.

This particular story takes place on one of these days, right around Christmastime.

Even though most of the family was on Uncle Todd’s bad side, he’d still host Christmas dinner as tradition dictated.

Once again, he hired Belle to help him prepare the house for the family.

The mood inside the house was decidedly un-festive.

Belle could tell the old man was unhappy about something, so she decided to stay out of his way as much as humanly possible to avoid getting chewed out.

That being said, he growled and grumbled at her so many times that day that it got on her nerves, and she wished that she had elected to stay home.

All that said, she was still being paid, so she decided to stick it out.

Little did she know, trouble was brewing.

They were on the second floor of the house, cleaning out the rooms when Uncle Todd went to the storage closet at the end of the hall to get more linen.

Now I say “storage closet,” but it was a small, windowless room that was too small to be a bedroom, so it became a storage closet.

The door was known for having a mind of its own.

The lock on this door was the type that would lock on the outside, and unless you had a clothes hanger or knew how to disengage the lock on the inside, there was no unlocking it.

Unfortunately, it was a flimsy lock, so trouble was bound to happen.

So you can guess what happened next

Uncle Todd was in such a foul mood that he slammed the door to the closet shut after he entered.

It was so loud that Belle jumped.

Unfortunately, he slammed it so hard that it damaged the flimsy lock.

She heard him cursing and trying to unlock the door.

Then she heard him bark, “Belle!”

She stepped out. “Yes, Uncle Todd?”

“Darn door won’t unlock. Can you unlock it from your side?”

So Belle decided she suddenly had a little leverage.

Belle decided to get back at him for his nasty behavior. “You’re my Battle Buddy, remember? I’m not supposed to leave your side.”

Cue a stream of curses from Uncle Todd that would’ve made a sailor say, “Well, I never!”

He then finished with, “You’re fired!”

She decided to let him stew a bit.

Belle had just intended to let him stew for a few minutes while she found a clothes hanger to jab the lock.

But he had sealed his own fate.

“I’m fired? Okay, I guess I’ll head home then. Have a good night! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait! I meant from being my Battle Buddy!”

“Bye!” Belle said.

“Get back here! Right now!”

She was enjoying watching him squirm, but she still had a plan.

Belle snickered as she left to the sounds of him cursing and begging her to come back.

Now she had no intention of letting the old salt stay there all night.

Since he had the keys, she couldn’t drive the pickup truck, so she elected to walk to the neighbor’s house, which was about a couple of miles down the road.

Then she has another unexpected encounter.

She was strolling down the side of the road when a squad car pulled over.

A young man looked at her. “What are you doing out here, ma’am?”

“Oh, my great-uncle Todd Logan locked himself in his house, and I was going to get help.”

“Todd Logan? I wasn’t aware the old man had any family,” he said.

“Yep, he does,” Belle said.

The cop ended up being more than happy to help.

“Well, son of a *****,” the young man said, thinking for a minute. “Hop in. I’ll help you get him out.”

“Thank you. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Nah, I was delivering some things to my grandmother’s. She’ll understand if I’m a few minutes late.”

Belle got in, and the officer turned around, taking them back to the farm.

Unfortunately, the lock was damaged to the point that jabbing the clothes hanger in the door didn’t work.

Luckily, the cop had another idea.

So the officer had to kick down the door.

All in all, he was there for maybe an hour or so.

Uncle Todd was nice and quiet and mumbled an apology to Belle after thanking the officer.

Belle walked the officer back to the squad car, and while they walked, the officer introduced himself as Adam Smith and asked for her number.

She gave it to him, and they started dating after that.

Uncle Todd was a lot nicer to Belle after that.

What a story to remember!

What did Reddit have to say?

Maybe there was a reason for Uncle Todd’s gruff attitude.

He fired his buddy just when he needed her the most!

There’s one part of the story that doesn’t sit well with this commenter.

This user thought battle buddies were supposed to stick together.

He may have been salty as ever, but being trapped in the closet seemed to mellow him out — at least for a little while.

Even Uncle Todd couldn’t escape the consequences of a bad temper!

Those are the breaks!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.