The signs were there. I woke up and turned to look at my nightstand clock, which read 11:11. NO! I did NOT sleep that late. It was actually about 9:30. My clock is always off, every time the power goes off it changes. Also, as I started out the door to head for town, I got a text from The Pony, and in looking at it, saw the actual time was 11:11.
I parked at Walmart. Not a good decision. It's back-to-school weekend around here. Tax-free weekend on school supplies. Along with being the first Saturday of the month. I normally would avoid this location at this time like the plague. But Walmart was out of my tasty lunch pinwheels yesterday. So I came back today. Just to run in and look for the pinwheels.
The parking lot was teeming with shoppers. I didn't get any of my regular parking spots, or even a spot on my regular row! I was way up the next aisle, talking to The Pony by now, since I was tired of trying to read texts. I love my boy, but I finally told him I needed to go inside before it got any busier, and that I would be available after 2:30 if he wanted to chat.
Decisions, decisions. That's what life is all about, right? I could have walked down that parking row, then crossed over to get to the door. Or I could have cut through cars to the main row where I usually park, and walked down to the end and then crossed over to the door. But since it was so busy, I cut through, walked partway down the row, then got into the little marked off walkway by the handicap spaces.
PENNY!
Right there at my feet. Because I chose that route. Yay, me! Back on track to becoming a pennyillionaire! I didn't have my phone with me, because it was on the fritz. The ringer wasn't working, which I discovered when The Pony tried to call while I was driving. So I didn't get a picture of this penny in its natural habitat, the yellow-striped handicap walkway of the Walmart parking lot. Food end of the building.
This penny was 2008. I won't go into that year, but my mom and I had a private joke about something that happened back then. I even sent her a card about it, which she put on her mantel, and turned face down when she was expecting refined company or repairmen. It made me smile when I got home and saw 2008 on my latest penny.
Sorry if you're getting tired of my pennies. You'll just have to deal with them. Maybe it means YOU are on track! Perhaps you're meant to read about Val's pennies. The time it takes could be putting YOU in the right place at the right time. Or altering your schedule just enough to avoid a catastrophe.
You never know.
However...for those of you who are antipennyites, I'll give you a little filler for this story.
When I came out, having not found any pinwheels, but three chicken wraps instead...I was on the lookout for more pennies. I didn't find any. But I DID find a dude standing at the back of T-Hoe.
Technically, he was in the area between T-Hoe's rear, and the rear of another black SUV parked in the space just before T-Hoe. I figured the dude was waiting on his family to get out of the car, and they'd all start in together. It's back-to-school tax-free weekend, you know!
Dude was maybe late teens. Possibly early 20s, but he would have been carded in a liquor store. I didn't look at him all that closely. He was probably 5' 10", short black hair, fairly good-looking as folks go around here. I heard a baby crying inside a car, and a woman talking to it. I assumed Dude was waiting on them.
I was still a little wary. It doesn't pay to be an unaware old lady these days. Dude WAS right next to my car. I clicked the unlocker, and pushed the button to open T-Hoe's hatch. Dude just kept lingering. As I passed him, I realized that I'd passed the baby and lady a few cars down. Dude was NOT standing by their car. I kept a side-eye on him as I put my chicken wraps in my soft-sided cooler. And all at once,
DUDE DROPPED A SKATEBOARD AND SAILED OFF DOWN THE PARKING AISLE!
What in the Not-Heaven? Was he scoping out my car? The lookout for somebody scoping out another car? I don't recall Walmart advertising themselves as a skate park. I've never seen anyone skateboarding there before.
As I backed out, I saw a green-shirted Walmart employee, a manager perhaps, or a supervisor, walking down the parking aisle talking into a radio. Maybe they were onto that skateboarding ring!
You don't think it was a rogue group of always-do-wells, sprinkling the land with pennies...
do you?
Mrs. C has a key chain that if you pull on it it makes a piercing scream to scare people off...you should get one too.
ReplyDeleteOooh! I would LOVE to have one of those! I could use it when I get those scammer phone calls, rather than risking my own voice.
DeleteWhy don't you focus on finding dimes, or quarters, or Krugerrand?
ReplyDeleteWell...it seems that the pennies are finding ME. And the larger denominations just aren't that into me.
DeleteHooligans, I tell you. Those kids are hooligans. Doing something physical instead of joining a gang and going around gang-banging? Instead of skateboarding, they could be sniffing glue. Doing meth. Making meth.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think they also might be spreading their wealth, one penny at a time?
Shudder.
Nobody shudders as much as those kids, thinking how much phone time they're missing with those other activities!
DeleteI'd be suspicious of anyone hanging around near my car too. If I had a car.
ReplyDeleteYay penny!
T-Hoe must also have a weirdo magnet. Out of ALL the other cars on the parking lot, that kid chose T-Hoe to stand beside.
DeleteA rogue group of always do wells sprinkling the land with pennies, well maybe, but most likely not, no I go with not.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I imagine that it took a lot of effort to learn to skateboard, just to appear innocent when almost caught doing no-good!
DeleteYou should have set off your car alarm oops!) and scared his witless.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised I didn't, scaring myself witless in the accidental process. I've had it go off when my keys hit something in my pocket, and it takes a while to figure out how to turn it off. Because I'm not good with technology. The best I've figured, I unlock the car and put the key in the ignition, and the alarm stops. There's probably a shortcut...
DeleteEww, scary; a dude on a skateboard!!
ReplyDeleteLet the record show that he was not on a skateboard when I walked up that long row to T-Hoe. There was no skateboard in sight. I don't know where he was hiding it.
DeleteI just think that's kind of sketchy, him standing right there by my car, then leaving when I was loading my stuff and giving him the side-eye.
He was carrying a concealed skateboard!
I was going to ask where the skateboard came from. There aren't small and easy to hide. Weird.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? It's like he had it stuffed down the leg of his pants or something.
DeleteBack when I was WORKING, we had a guest speaker for teacher inservice, and he showed us how easy it is for someone to conceal a weapon. He stood there and removed 'leventy-billion firearms from his clothing. One was a shotgun stuffed down the leg of his jeans. If you didn't see him walking all stiff-legged, you'd never know it was there.