Sunday, January 1, 2012

cigarettes and the man in the wheelchair

Happy New Year to all of you!  I am so excited that it is January 1, 2012!  A new year means changes, but sometimes that's not a bad thing.  Yesterday marked three years of having my blog.  Although I went months at a time (several times, in fact) after starting my blog, it's pretty cool to look at my life and how it has changed since then.  In honor of the new year, here's my first post of 2012!

Last night Luke and I stayed home, watched t.v., ate pizza and drank sparkling grape juice.  Talk about partying it up! After that hardcore partying we did last night, the obvious thing to do was to take a nap today!  When Luke and I woke up from our nap (at 5 p.m. tonight) we were both hungry.  I wanted cereal, but we didn't have milk, so we took a trip to the grocery store.  I dislike going to Walmart because it seems like I walk forever before finding what I need, so I choose to go to the little ghetto PriceCutter on Commercial street whenever I get the chance.

Commercial Street in Springfield is known for the homeless people.  I've never been approached by any of the homeless before, so I usually think nothing about going to that store.  Tonight was that exception.  As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a crowd of people standing under the awning.  Immediately I thought something was weird.  We've been at that store a hundred times and people don't just hang out there, so I automatically had a bad feeling.  I pulled into a parking spot right in front of the store.  I wanted to make sure that I had fast access to the front door and to my car when we left.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I have nothing against homeless people, but I just had a bad feeling about going into that store.  I waited for Luke to walk around to my side of the car before I got out.  The men under the awning stared me straight in the eye.  Every one of them.  I grabbed Luke's arm and quickly walked us into the store.  I went to get a cart, and as I glanced up I saw a man glare at me through the store window.  He watched my every move until I disappeared around the corner.

I made my way around the first aisle, and as soon as I turned the corner, the same man that was staring at me as I got out of the car and as I got our cart was standing directly in front of me.  He looked at me.  I glanced and quickly turned down the next aisle.  My heart was racing.  It seemed as though no matter what aisle I went down, he passed me.  I told Luke that I didn't feel comfortable being in the store any longer, so we made our way to the front of the store so that we could pay for our items and leave.

Somehow, the man had made his way to the checkout line right before us.  The only thing he bought was a pack of cigarettes.  He peered at me over his shoulder and then walked out of the store.  As I made my way to return our cart while Luke was checking out, I saw the man again.  He poked his head out from behind the redbox and watched me as I put the cart away and made my way back to Luke.  By the time I made it back to Luke, he was ready to walk out to the car.  My heart began to pound.  I wouldn't have been so scared if that man hadn't creeped me out from the moment we pulled into the parking lot.

We walked out the door, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a man walking towards us.  He began to walk faster saying, "hey, hey."  He had his hands in his pocket and was very scruffy.  He came up to me, not Luke and asked if I had any change.  I told him no, which was the truth because we had paid for our groceries with our debit card.  We continued to walk to the car, which seemed a mile away at that moment, but in reality it was only a few feet away.  The man continued to follow me, walking behind me at first but then caught up to me and walked shoulder to shoulder with me all the way to the car.  At one point, he even brushed against me.  I quickly unlocked the car and jumped in.  I locked the door behind me.  Unfortunately I locked Luke outside of the car, not thinking.  I unlocked the door so that Luke could put the groceries in the car and then asked him to hurry.  All the men that were standing under the awning when we arrived were still there.  They stared at me, not Luke.  Maybe they sensed my fear and wanted to mess with my mind.  I don't know, really.

As Luke made his way around to the passenger side, he went to open the door and a man in a wheelchair made his way down the ramp (next to our car) and basically blocked Luke from getting in the car.  He asked Luke for money for cigarettes, and Luke jiggled his pockets as if he were trying to show the man he had nothing, but his keys rattled.  I'm sure the man in the wheelchair thought he was lying to him.  I would have.  It did sound like he had money after all!

Luke quickly got in the car, and I locked it.  I turned my lights on, pulled out of the parking lot, and got away from that store as fast as I could.  My heart was racing.  I felt like I had escaped a potential nasty situation.  Maybe I over reacted, but I just had a bad feeling.  I don't get those often, you know.  I've heard that women have a sense of potential danger.  It's built into us or something like that.  I guess it's kind of like women with their motherly instincts, I think women have a danger instinct that alerts us when something could go wrong. 

If I had money in my pocket, I probably would have given it to them, but I didn't.  Neither of us did.  As I said before, I have nothing against homeless people, but I just didn't have a good feeling about them or the situation we were in.  Now, had they been like Elisa and played their instruments, I wouldn't have been so worried, but I was.  It is only January 1 of this new year, and I've already been scared witless!

Oh to the joys that 2012 will bring me!  :)

Here's a quote I found online that I thought was interesting: "Being scared and wanting to protect ourselves is a natural instinct, but if we let that go and become passionate about those things that scare us, we will find so much fulfillment and happiness."

Here's to a new year of blogging!
--Alicia Marie

7 comments:

  1. Wow! Not where I thought you were going with that one. lol Glad you left. I believe women do have a survival instinct. It's crazy but I do this all the time. Phil has learned to listen to me cause I seem to always be right.

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  2. My mom always told me to never doubt my instincts! It has helped me out in many occasions! Branden will trust mine too because he knows that I haven't been wrong before and we both believe that women just have that extra sense! I'm so glad you both got out safely!

    ...doesn't make me feel any better going out on my homeless run tonight though...

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  3. There's a difference between homeless people asking for help and a group of men trying to intimidate a little girl. That's not right at all. Sigh...

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  4. I'm glad you followed your instincts. Some homeless people can be terrifying. When we were homeless we always had to watch our backs. You never knew if someone was going to try to knife you etc.--even in Hawaii. We were constantly terrified because our instruments were worth so much and we didn't want them getting stolen. Cade's guitar did eventually get stolen though . . .

    I'm glad you're okay.

    P.S. Thanks for the mention LOL! I loved that :0)

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  5. I agree with you when it comes to sensing danger...it sounded like they were stalking you in a sense.

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  6. That's really scary. I'm glad you're okay and I hope the rest of 2012 is a little bit more peaceful!

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  7. first of all, the title to this sounds like the title to a song, or a movie or something. Very clever.
    Second of all, I would have done the same thing you did. When that man said, "hey, hey" to you, my knees got weak, and my heart sunk to my stomach. I could only imagine being in your shoes. I am glad you and hubby got out of there okay. I totally freak out in public, and am always looking over my shoulder. If a car has followed me for more than 2 streets, I panic. I am always on alert. I totally feel you on this post, those men would have terrified me!! I would have SHIT myself when that same guy popped in an aisle you were in. omg.

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