- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
Years ago I read Gavin de Becker's book "The Gift of Fear." If you haven't ever read it, you really should. I had seen him on the Almighty Oprah and listened intently to her interview with him. He talked about the presence of a sixth sense, and said how when something is wrong, people can sometimes pick up on it if they allow themselves to trust their gut. He said that women have an uncanny ability to do this, and that it is largely responsible for saving the lives of many women who have been in bad situations and figured a way to avoid or get out of it, simply by paying attention to that inner voice.
This week, my inner voice was talking loud and clear to me while at the grocery store.
I was at the grocery store during the middle of the day with Lil C. One might think that the middle of the day is a safe time to go grocery shopping. However, when I was pregnant with Lil C, a woman was abducted at 3:30 in the afternoon from my previous grocery store. Two men approached her in the parking lot, held a gun to her back and told her to get in the back seat of her own car. They then drove her around for nine hours, showing her off to their friends, as if she were some type of trophy or something. After nine hours, they parked the car and walked away, never to be caught. She was shaken, but physically unharmed. It terrified me because this was also around the time that the news media was buzzing with stories about crazy people cutting babies out of women's stomachs. Needless to say, I made Mr. BBM go to the grocery store for a while after that and I was even more aware than usual of my surroundings whenever I found myself in a parking lot.
This week, I was hyper aware of a young man who seemed to be following me around the grocery store. The thing that brought him to my attention, besides the fact that I could literally feel him looking at me, was the fact that my cart was loaded with groceries as I grabbed a couple things from each aisle. He lacked a cart or even a basket and instead just carried a bar of soap and deodorant around the entire store.
It seemed odd to me that I was running into him in each and every aisle when these were the only two things he was going to buy. Something was definitely not right. I kept my purse tightly on my shoulder, and my cart right with me at all times. I made sure to make eye contact with him a couple times. I wanted him to know that I was aware of his odd behavior. He would always look away quickly, but yet there he was, in the next aisle.
As I finished up and picked a checkout aisle, there were several aisles open around me. Yet, despite a full cart, he got in line behind me. There were at least three other aisles where he could have checked out faster. I was starting to get nervous.
Then it got worse. I noticed another young man, dressed much like the guy behind me, standing out in the grocery store lobby. He was holding the pay phone in one hand and staring into the store in my direction. My checkout girl was taking her sweet time, plus they had to run a check on one of my products, yet the guy still stayed behind me. I kept an eye on the guy in the lobby and noticed that despite the fact that he was holding the phone receiver to his mouth, he wasn't talking at all.
I turned around and looked at the guy behind me again. I wanted him to know that not only did I realize he was acting strange, but that I suspected something was up. I gave him a steady look. I also wanted him to know that I would be able to identify him if he tried anything.
Meanwhile I was trying to figure out what exactly I should do. Usually when I'm at the store, there's a very nice guy who takes care of the carts who will offer to walk out with me and help load my car. He's a total sweetheart and I looked around for him but didn't see him anywhere. It figured that
