(Page 1 of 2) An acqaintance, a hero and lover by Barb Montanye KleemanSUMMARY: A woman afraid of being stalked calls an acqaintance for help and gets the surprise of her life.As she walked thru the grocery store Kathleen felt as if someone was watching her. Glancing around she only saw the others there doing their shopping. No one staring, no one following her. She continued thru the store and told herself if was probably just her imagination. After tossing a few more things into her cart she headed for the check out lane.
" BAM!" a guy pushing his cart for the opposite direction ran into her .
" Oh I am so sorry !" he said then asked if he had hurt her at all.
Kathleen told him that she was fine but that he may want to watch what he is doing better the next time. He nodded saying that he was a klutz and he was rushing way too fast in his hurry to get through the store.
Once she had paid for her items, Kathleen still felt that eerie feeling that she was being watched. She turned to see the man who had run into her smiling at her. He was a bit geeky but otherwise seemed harmless enough.
Loading her groceries into the car Kathleen continued looking around for something out of the ordinary. She didn't usually feel this paranoid and wasn't sure just what to make out of it. As she returned the cart to the store she noticed a man standing next to her car. Not wanting to give in to what she was sure was her mind playing tricks on her, she headed towards her car. Suddenly something inside of her told her to turn around and go back into the store. Her breathing became rapid, her heart was pounding. Was it a panic attack or was it something else? She wasn't sure what was going on but she knew this was not normal and she no longer could ignore the feelings.
From inside the store she watched her car and the man who had been standing near it as she called a friend. Eric was someone she met thru a friend, but more importantly he was a retired police officer. She explained to him how she had felt something wasn't quite right and then about the ordeal with the man and the shopping cart and another man hanging out near her car. " I've never panicked like this before Eric and I hate to bother you , but would you mind.... " Before she could finish her sentence, her acquaintance said he would be right over and she should stay right where she was.
A few minutes passed and the man who had been standing near her car walked away and got into a beat up van nearby and drove off. A little later she saw the man from the grocery store leaving the store empty handed.
When Eric drove up, Kathleen was lost deep in thought and didn't even see him until he got out of his car and tapped on the store window. She jumped as he startled her. Kathleen told Eric that the man had left then explained to him about the other man from inside the store leaving with nothing. " I don't understand, he had a shopping cart full of items when he ran into me earlier." Eric said she had done the right thing by calling him because he suspected she had been picked to be part of some sort of sting or abduction plot.
The two walked over to Kathleen's car and Eric bent down by the rear left tire.
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