Predator

Today started out like any other day...well sorta...it was a little different in that last night was one of the worst nights of sleep ever, but that's beside the point. Papajama got up as usual before the butt crack of dawn. Did his morning thing, and then let me sleep in a little (afterall we did have a marathon of night time parenting last night). I even had time to tie my full turban with little extra rush. I remember admiring it this morning...thinking that I had done an exceptionally good job considering the shortness on time. Anyway, the only thing really different about this morning was that I needed to take some books back to the library right after I dropped papajama off at work. No biggie, babyjama was happy in her car seat and I was happily sitting in my seat listening to my daily dose of NPR. We pulled up to a stoplight that was across the street for a liquor store which made me remember that I hadn't locked the car doors. So I locked them.

As I started to near the next stop light I noticed a big older bronco type truck trying to keep pace with our little white sedan. Then I heard the truck honk. A young man about my own age was driving in the left lane and waving and smiling at me. Instinctively I waved the steering wheel wave. At the next stop light I checked out of the corner of my eye to see if this guy was still looking at me. He was, and this time he waved and mouthed pull over. I was really confused. Did I know this guy?...He looked possibly familiar...maybe. Was he going to tell me something was wrong with the car? Our Anti-Lock Brake light came on the other day...

When the light turned green, and I hadn't responded I didn't know if he would just assume that I wasn't going to, but instead he pulled out quickly in front of me and turned into the gas station at the next corner. At the last second I decided I would pull into the parking lot. A friendly looking slightly redneck seeming young man climbed out of the tan and rust colored truck.

A couple of years ago, I had a couple of young girls come to my door and pull a bait and switch on me. Luckily the young man that they brought into my house had nothing more sinister on his mind than to sell me a vacuum. I've never forgotten the lesson of never trusting someone I don't know with my safety...especially if they look friendly. As the man approached my car, I decided to leave the engine running and only open the window a crack. He was smiling, but there was something fake about him, a little too cheerful to be talking to someone he didn't know, a little too much swagger, the slightest bit of hidden hesitance.

A smiling face doesn't fool me anyway. The two boys who held me underwater and tried to take off my swimsuit when I was in middle school smiled and laughed all the way up until I tried to take a chunk out of one of their arms with my teeth.

This morning, I called out of the cracked window as the man approached my car"Do I know you?" Now I wished that I could somehow force him to not come any closer.

"No." He said. "I just saw you driving and thought you were attractive and...but you're probably taken aren't you?"

"Yes, I am." I replied as did a little nervous laugh, and I suddenly thought that I had been very stupid to pull over in the first place.

He waved good bye and got back into his truck as I started to pull away. After I left the parking lot he pulled up next to me again. I did everything in my power not to look over, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him blow me a kiss. Now I was really creeped out. I swirved a little as he blew the kiss because I was scared. He soon sped up, passed me, and turned down the street where I had been planning to turn.

I have an extremely active imagination with a very keen ability for paranoia, and all of a sudden I started thinking that maybe he was stalking me. Possibly he had a friend in the parking lot of that gas station who had followed me out (and visions of Kelsey Smith danced in my head). I drove down a few side streets to make sure no one was following me...Hoping that this wouldn't be the time that I got a flat tire, etc. When I was pretty sure no one was following me, I went to the library and then went straight home.

It's a small thing, but it really shook me up. What kind of person would try and hit on a woman in religious garb at 8 AM with her baby in the car. As my father said, what about that communicates "available". I did go ahead and check our city's most wanted web site earlier today, and I kept the car in the garage all morning (before I went to the grocery store).

Have you ever had any strange interactions like this? Do you get scared easily? And what sets off your fears?