5 | “Don’t Talk To Strangers” Worked

5 | One day, when the little girl was in fifth or sixth grade, it was a half-day at school. Since the little girl walked to and from school (usually with her brother), she walked home, as normal, but by herself, since it was a half-day and her brother‘s school had a full day that day.

It was a bright, quiet and peaceful day at that hour (about 11:30 a.m.). The streets were pretty empty, but the little girl just walked at a brisk pace. As she got to about a block and a half away from her apartment building (home), she noticed a double-parked car (on her left) that was idling, and there was a man in the driver‘s seat. She paused, briefly, to look in the passenger window. He looked at her, and in his right hand, the man was holding up a $10 bill and gesturing for her to come to the window, at the same time. Since her mother did her job (as a mother) very well and taught her about strange men and money or candy, she quickly backed up and kept walking home, at a very fast pace. The man drove his car and followed her. She was about to turn the corner to her building. Instead of walking around the huge corner of grass, she ran and cut across the grass.

Mind you, there was not a soul on the street, because it was in the middle of the school-/workday. However, miraculously, as if God, himself, had put her there just for the little girl, there was an older woman standing outside the side entrance to her building. The fear-stricken little girl ran up to her, crying, and all these words came spilling out of her mouth because she couldn’t say them fast enough. The man in his car had turned the corner. Once he saw that the little girl found an adult, he sped off, and she never saw him again. The nice lady asked her what was wrong and the little girl calmed down a bit and explained about the man in the car with money following her (almost) home.

The little girl didn’t know what she would have done if that lady wasn’t there. She didn’t want to go home, to show him where she lived. But, at the same time, she didn’t know where else to go. It was truly like God, himself, had come down from on high and plopped this older woman down on the sidewalk at the exact right time that she was needed.

After staying with the lady for a bit, to make sure he didn’t come back, the woman told the little girl to go right upstairs, lock her apartment door, and call her mom right away. The little girl did just that. She called her mom at work and was crying and telling her all about the man, his car and the money and that he was following her (almost) home. And she told her mom all about the miraculous lady who truly saved her. So, her mom left work right away and got home as quickly as she could. When she got home, there was lots of hugging and asking if the little girl was OK. Aside from being shaken and frightened, she was OK. Her mother called the police. The little girl had a great detailed description of the man and his car.... but she was lacking the license plate. So, while her mom did call the police and report the incident to them, the police didn’t really come up with anything because they had no license plate number.

That was an immensely scary part in the little girl’s life, and she still remembers the details (such as the car; see the photo above of a Chevrolet Nova) and how scared she was that day, to this day.