Creepy

This afternoon the boys and I went to visit Aunt Mimi and Lauren for a little while.  Lauren wanted to go to a store that was about 45 minutes away in the opposite direction of our house.  The monkeys were game for the long drive for two reasons.  First, there are 4 live ferrets at the store and second, I promided we would stop at McDonalds playland on the way home.

Lauren shopped at the store to her heart’s content, Owen did his homework next to the ferrets – writing all his spelling words in sentences that also contained the word ferret…  Jack gaped at the ferrets and chattered to the store owner, then me, then the ferrets for the entire hour.

But having ferrets in a store is not the creepy part.  McDonalds is.

We ate at McDonalds and the boys played at the giant playspace while Lauren and I chatted.   About 5 minutes before we were were going to leave, I went out to the car to get pajamas for the boys to change into.  As I walked out I noticed a man  leaning against a wall near the door talking on the phone.  He wasn’t eating, just chatting .  I think he may have been the only other customer in the restaurant despite the fact that it was a large McDonalds.  As I walked out, another man was just outside the door, smoking a cigarette and also talking on the phone.  My car was parked directly in front of the double doors of the restaurant.

I opened the back door of my SUV which has one large door that swings to the right.  I glanced at the man on the phone.  He was still to the left of my car up well up on the sidewalk.  I had to dig through the bag that I had for a minute or two, but only found one pair of pajamas.  I suddenly noticed a movement in my periphery and glanced to the right.  The man who had been smoking was now standing next to me –  looking over the hinges on the other side of the door.  When he saw me notice him, he immediately turned around and walked back toward his original position by the door of the restaurant.  I was very unnerved that he had walked so close  to me, though I thought maybe he wasn’t paying attention since he was on the phone.  Then he to the sidewalk, turn around and started coming back toward me, saw me watching him, and turned around again to walk away.  I shut and locked the car, and went back into McDonalds with just just the one pair of pajamas that had been in my hand. 

As I walked back in, I noticed the other man still talking on his cellphone and heard the word, “parking lot” before he made eye contact with me and turned his body away.    I walked into the play area,called the boys to put their shoes on, and sat down to catch my breath.  The “inside” man followed me into the play area (which had no other kids in it apart from Owen and Jack) and pretended to look around the tubes before sitting at a distance from where Lauren and I were.  Lauren has started saying something to me, but turned as the man walked in; her sentence trailed off and she  furrowed her eyebrows at me. 

At that point my heart was really beating.  I knew it was possible that I was making something out of nothing.  Even if there was something amiss, I figured that most likely the man inside – if he was anything dangerous at all - was probably just a lookout for the man outside who wanted the bike that was in the back of my car.  Still, I felt very uneasy and have learned to trust my instincts, and  definitely wanted to get out of there. 

I grabbed my purse and the boys’ shoes, and told the boys that I couldn’t find their pajamas.  Lauren sensed something was up, and eased out with us, asking no questions despite the fact that I had just shoved the “unfound” pajamas in my purse.  “We don’t have shoes on,” the boys worried when we got to the front door, but I assured them that their socks were already dirty and they would be much more comfy in the car with no shoes.   That satisfied them, and we all climbed into the car. 

I pulled quickly out of the spot as both men watched.

Creepy.