I had made it two steps into the Winco parking lot with my cart full of groceries when the truck came speeding down the lane I was facing. I watched it for a split second longer to see if I needed to dash madly to the side. It came to a sudden stop at the end, then hung there a moment like a crazed bull before turning to my right and letting rubber screech to turn into the next row. Thankfully, my vehicle was to my left, so I veered that direction, thinking I had escaped.
However, as I approached the back end of my car, the bull-truck appeared at the far end of the same parking lane. Again, it seemed to hover for a moment, then came and stopped directly behind me as I opened the doors. There were no obvious parking spaces for it right there, and it was not at an angle so as to pull into any of them.
I began to feel threatened. I wondered if it is not allowed to look straight at cars that are about to run me over. Possibly, it was a problem because I was wearing sunglasses? Earlier this week, I had had an encounter with angry, aggressive motorists (which I am not prepared to expound on now), so to have this happen again was just not fair! Should I crawl in the back end of the car and abandon my food?
I decided that if I used my cell phone they might reconsider whatever was bothering them. With shaky hands, I dialed my husband at work and was relieved to hear his real live voice. After I was on the phone for a moment, they decided to go park a couple of spaces down. As I explained why I was near tears to Greg, they slowly got out of the car and walked toward the store. I watched to make sure they were really leaving. I tried to evaluate them, even though I always tell my kids to be careful about judging people by appearances…
They were not young hoodlums or tough guys. They were a couple, male and female, possibly in their early 40’s. It was hard to tell because they looked SO unhealthy in body. Their clothes gave an air of slovenliness. Their faces were soft and hard all at the same time; soft from lack of vigor, hard in countenance. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe they enjoy taunting people as part of their regular trip to town from under their rock. Either way, my nerves are a bit frazzled and I’m thinking of staying in my house for a while, away from all the mean people and stray dogs.