Running Away and the Jeebies

Sounds like a great song title, huh?  We had a run-in with a man that did just that...gave me the jeebies.  He was a man who looked homeless, so I smiled and so did B.  Backup a bit.  We met Daddy T at Hardees one day for lunch.  The place was empty except for an older couple and this man.  This man kept staring at us.  He would turn around in his chair and stare.  When we would look at him and smile, he never smiled back.  He would turn around and face his table when Daddy T was with us.  However, the moment Daddy T would get up to go wash a paci or refill his cup, the guy would turn around and guess what?  Right.  Stare at us.  I was feeling pretty uncomfortable.  B is the most social boy and likes to be nice to everyone and even he stayed a few tables away.  He would smile and wave at the man, as is his usual routine, but the man just stared. 

We finished eating and I was glad to get out of there.  Daddy T and I grabbed the kids and threw our stuff in the trash.  I had parked next to Daddy T and we were the only two cars on that side of the building so I felt okay knowing that we were safe.  Not so.  We got out the door and I noticed that the man was leaving to.  I just figured he had been there awhile and needed to be on his way so I didn't pay any more attention.  Daddy T had put baby M in the car and was standing by the car waiting for me and B.  Well, B was doing what he does best, which is not listening (I'll give him some credit...it was WAY past naptime).  He started running away from me in the parking lot.  I began to run after him and I heard footsteps behind me.  I turned around and the man was behind me.  When I got to B, the man stopped.  I grabbed B by the arm and talked in a very loud and stern voice about how he never should run away from Mommy in hopes that the man would hear me.  I then hustled back to the car and Daddy T, all the while being followed by this man.  Daddy T made sure all of us were in the car before he left my car to jump in his.  Once Daddy T started to walk away from my car, the man started to inch closer to mine.  That's when I put my car in reverse and slowly started to back out in hopes that Daddy T would hurry and do the same, which he did.  It was so odd.  The man came out with a bag, but as soon as we were leaving the parking lot, the man walked briskly back into the building with a bag.  I really wanted to call my friend and have her tell her policeman husband to check into this guy, but I didn't. 

Needless to say, it did and has continued to give me the jeebies.  Oh...I left out the other part of the story.  That week, in the same vicinity, a man had tried to abduct a 12-year-old girl.  She escaped and got to her step-mom safely.  The only thing that didn't match her description is that the guy I saw looked scraggly (if that's a word!).  The one she saw was clean cut.  I figured he could have always cleaned himself up.  I have no doubt in my mind that if I was by myself, something would have happened.  He could have easily pushed me in my car and grabbed my kids or have done something to me.  I hate going places by myself now because of that.  There.  That's the reason that I now spank for running away from me.  It's dangerous.  Very dangerous.  I don't know what I would have done if Daddy T wouldn't have been there.  I can't stop thanking the Lord for His protection over me and my family that day.  So you locals, beware of the town of ER.  At least, that's where we were.