A Precautionary Post

I realize that I didn't write a blog this weekend. That's probably because nothing extremely exciting happened. (which is unusual, so now I'm on alert) K and the doggies and I went on a 5 mile hike on Saturday and then just K and I went on a 6 mile hike on Sunday. Am I tired? Slightly. Am I glad I went? Of course!

Ok, so today's post is brought to you by my obsession of TruTV (formerly Court TV) and probably some slight paranoia. I went to the grocery store on my way home today to get some things for the week...bananas, frozen lunches, snacks, tomatoes, and veggies. As I was perusing the chip display (I can be so indecisive), there seemed to be many people in the same aisle doing the same thing. There was a man at the end of the aisle that I noticed immediately....mainly because he looked like Steve Buscemi....and also because he was staring me dead in the eyes. It freaked me out a little so I looked down and tried to choose the appropriate chip. This just made things much more difficult and now I couldn't focus. He walked by me (closer than need be) and just kept making eye contact. "Phew" I thought. Thank God he's gone! I can now thoughtfully choose between Cheetos and Tostitos. I reach for a bag and noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that Freaky Pete is back in my aisle...again looking at me from afar. I pick up the Cheetos and start to leave. He walks past me again and says "Hello. How are you?" At this point, images flash before my eyes. Images of this guy with a shovel and me in a plastic bag. I realize that if my gut is right (and it usually is), my response was critical. If I looked disgusted with him and didn't respond, he could be reminded of all the girls that rejected him and high school and he'd definitely off me. However, if I was too friendly, he might try to start up a conversation and get me to tell him where I lived or something. So I decided that I needed to be as neutral as possible. I just smiled and nodded and kept walking. As fate would have it, he ended up checking out at about the same time (all the while glancing over). I figured it would end there. I went to get gas which was right outside, when I saw that he was now getting gas. Grrrrr! I just wanted him to go away. The only open pump was next to his....of course. If my gas gauge didn't say I had only a few miles until I ran out of gas, I would have gone elsewhere. With my luck, I would have run out of gas down the street and he would've stopped to "help."

So there it is. My close encounter with a likely serial killer or rapist. I have never before had such a strong feeling that someone wanted do bad things to me. His eyes were hollow and seemed to go right through me. So in case I disappear in a short while, please find this stranger. He is a white male, maybe late 30's, about 6 feet tall, very thin (maybe 180 lbs), no facial hair, bug eyes (like he has hyperthyroidism or craniosynostosis). He wore jeans and a blue flannel long sleeved shirt and had short light brown hair with a slight combover. He drives an old white Ford (Bronco?) with a black primer-like top. We were at the grocery store around 4:30pm.

I hope I am just paranoid. I hope no one ever has to use this post to retrace my steps. However, one can never be too careful these days. But I guess with thousands of murderers, rapists, and violent people living in the country, your bound to come face to face with one sooner or later. Thank God for gut feelings!