Creepy-ness

A quick story. Well, I wish it was a story. Today we went to Blockbuster and we were standing in line behind this man. We were also in line beside a huge framed pic of Indiana Jones. So Charly was asking me all about him (Indiana Jones): who is he, what does he do, can I watch that someday. Things like that. So the man turned around and asked her if she thought that movie looked good. Of course she says yes. And let me tell you, Charly will talk to ANYONE. So she starts asking him questions, about the movie. Like "What's that by the man's side?"

"Oh that's a bullwhip."

"What's a bullwhip?"

So I jump in and tell her it's like a rope, before he can answer. "What's it for?" She then asks.
And again before he can answer I tell her that Indiana Jones uses it to reach things that are far away. See, I'd rather not give the man the opportunity to add anything violent to the conversation. Plus, Charly wasn't asking ME these questions, she was asking HIM, and he was a little too attentive to her, in my opinion. So I wanted to keep myself in the conversation, for her, and for him. To remind them both that I'm there.

So we get up to the counter. He's being helped at one register and I'm being helped at the one right next to his. So of course Charly keeps talking to him. The woman behind the counter starts asking me questions like, "Do you still have an out of state driver's license?" Why did she ask me that? And then she had me tell her my WHOLE address and my WHOLE telephone number. Meanwhile, Charly and the man have discussed the bags of pretzels covered in white chocolate that they have sitting on the counter. Like a typical kid, Charly must have said that they look tasty. So apparently while I was talking to the clerk and inspecting a very scratched kids movie, the man said he would buy the pretzels for Charly. I missed that part of their conversation. So I tell the woman I want to go pick out a movie that isn't very scratched, and tell Charly to come with me. The man, who is about to be finished with his business is like, "Hey, don't forget these pretzels!"

And I was like, "Oh no thank you."

And he said "I told her I would buy them for her, and" he looks at Charly "a promise is a promise. Right?"

So I just walked away from the counter with Charly, who of course protested. The man was trying to get our attention. I picked Charly up and carried her to the kids section, while telling her in her ear all about how we DO NOT let strangers give us food or candy. And we DO NOT let them buy stuff for us. I think he got the hint from my body language and just left, because he didn't try to follow us or talk to us anymore. Thank goodness! He did leave the pretzels at the counter for us, and the clerk confirmed that the man DID pay for them.

Okay, so now after that LONG synopsis, here's what gets me. The man paid enough attention to Charly that I was a little creeped out. Enough to have a VERY long talk with her about saying "no thank you" when people do stuff like that, and to say "My mommy said no" if they persist. (She was worried she'd make them sad by saying "no thank you," so I told her to blame it on me.) And I also made sure she understood that he made a bad choice and should have known better than to buy treats for a kid he didn't know. But that man, if he was paying attention, could have our address and phone number because for the first time EVER the stupid (and I know that's not a good word, sorry!) woman made me say the whole thing OUT LOUD. So please pray with me that he was just some guy who was trying to be nice because Charly is such a cute kid; that he was being completely innocent. And if he was actually a creep, I'm hoping that maybe he'd be too intimidated to try to find our house on the military base. And I really hope I didn't overreact by being a little freaked out about the whole address thing. But I guess you never can be too careful, especially nowadays.

So that's my story that I wish was a story. G'night, and God bless.

-S