We left Home Depot Sunday evening and while Chris was getting Dean into his car-seat, he was approached by a young guy…probably in his very early 20’s, I really didn’t get a great look. And I hate to stare. It’s rude.
But I’m great at eavesdropping.
I heard the young guy go quickly on and on about his plight.
He had run out of gas.
His younger sister was in the car.
Their credit card had been declined.
They needed money to get gas to get back to their home in Brighton.
They had tried repeatedly to reach mom on her phone with no success.
He seemed nervous.
He asked for $10 bucks.
He kept his hands in his pockets.
I kept my mouth shut but the silent vibes of “Don’t you DARE give him any money” were surely resonating off of the Home Dept store front.
Chris did not offer him money, but an offer for a ride to the gas station was politely declined. They had no money; their credit card had been refused. Chris apologized that we could not help and we started to leave the parking lot. I assured Chris it was a scam. The kid was talking way too fast…why had they run out of gas in the Home Depot parking? It had to be a scam.
But What If, Chris wanted to know. He seemed like a nice kid, what if he was telling the truth. What if they were stranded? What If.
I could tell Chris kept mulling it over in his head. It didn’t seem right to just leave. And honestly, I was sadly disappointed in my quickness to judge this kid. What if Chris was right? What if he was telling the truth and no one in our damn jaded society ever bothered to help or care anymore? I hated thinking that way, so I told Chris he could turn around. Of course, I masked my concern with a humorous “you wanna give him 5$ big man? Go ahead and turn around, that’s fine”.
So we did turn around. But we didn’t go directly back. Chris wanted to think of a plan before he approached the guy. He at least wanted to see his gas gage. We parked in an adjacent Michael’s parking lot so we could see if they were even still there. Maybe someone less jaded had already offered a helping hand.
And then we saw them. The young guy approaching a family of four as they returned to their SUV. His sister waiting in the car. He spoke briefly to the driver of the SUV and then the family got into their vehicle. OK I thought, we should probably go over there. But then they pulled their SUV in front of the stranded car, car hood to car hood, while the kid pulled jumper cables out of his trunk. JUMPER CABLES.
We sat, a bit awe struck. The SUV pulled away after the stranded car was successfully started. As soon as it was out of sight, the car was turned off and the young guy was back out hurriedly selling his plight to a new group of unsuspecting Home Depot patrons returning to their car. We sat watching...trying to make sure we really understood what we were seeing. And then, for some reason, his sister got out of the car. And I recognized her. And Chris recognized her (OK, she was young and cute, what do you expect). She had been walking over to another car when we were walking into Home Depot. I had admired her sunglasses. I wondered now if they had noticed us watching.
We sat for a while longer…watching, still awestruck, still surprised, and then the sister called her brother back over to the car. She now got into the driver seat and the car started coming our way. Like the prospects of an easy hit might be better in the Michael’s lot?
No, they had seen us, and the girl quickly drove by our car, her brother hunched down in the passenger seat. The jig was up. As soon as they drove by us, they left the parking lot.
I wasn’t happy to be right. I wasn’t pleased that my first natural instinct was LIAR, SCAMMER, but it was. I am glad that Chris’s gut reaction was to go back. Even if they were truly pulling a scam, that won’t always be the case. And I'm glad that at least one of us is not jaded enough to still care.
Me? My new hobby is now going to be looking for a white 2 door piece of shit with a bungee cord holding the trunk down. Let me know if you see one. Oh, and rest assured, they don’t need gas money.