Let's Not Meet Again

Charlie

When I was a kid, I had a lot of bad luck with creepy people, especially around my best friend. Most of my worst childhood experiences happened when I was with her on the various trips we took together, but those are stories for another time.

First, let me set the scene for you. My best friend moved away from our hometown in Virginia to Alabama when we were in the second grade. However, we were determined to stay in contact. We called each other almost every night and sent letters back and forth and drove our parents crazy with questions about when we would be able to see each other in person again. Eventually, both our sets of parents agreed to me spending a few weeks in the summer down in Alabama.

My dad drove me down to Tennessee, where my friend and her father met me, and then they drove me down to Alabama. Her parents weren't home often because they both worked, so that left me, my friend, and her little brother in the care of a babysitter. She was basically a nanny with how often she cared after all of us, but we didn't mind. In our minds, she was the pinnacle of coolness. She was in her early 20s with long blonde hair, a slender build, and a slow southern drawl. I don't remember her name, but I think it was something like Callie.

One day, Callie took the three of us to the Air and Space Museum. I remember it was a scorching hot day. The kind of day that made most people want to stay at home in the air conditioning or at least take a dip in a pool. So, naturally, us being three young children, we complained almost the entire time until Callie agreed to make a stop at Sonic on the way home. Only under the condition that we had to eat outside, as she didn't want any food in her car.

Now, I'm not sure if all Sonics look like this because there are non in my area, but there was this little outdoor eating area covered in shade and a drive through set up on the side of the building. Callie dropped us off in the outdoor section to claim a table while she went through the drive through to order. The place was basically abandoned, I guess because no one wanted to eat outside in such hot weather. Except for one man.

Just by looking at this man, it was pretty easy to tell that he was homeless. His clothes were dirty and ill-fitting. He was scrawny and had a scraggly looking beard that was the color of rust with tinges of white here and there. He was sitting at the table next to us sipping on a drink.

I didn't give him much thought at first as my friend and I chatted away. But he obviously noticed us. I was shocked when he approached us and tried to start a conversation. It was so sudden, I had no idea how to respond, but I didn't suspect anything bad. I was the type of 8 year old who thought adults were always right, and it's not good to question one. Plus, I was really shy. My friend, however, wasn't, and did most of the talking.

While he spoke to us, I noticed a few things. First, he seemed rather... jumpy. His eyes were wide and he occasionally scanned the area, as if he was nervous. It almost made me think he was scared of us for some reason. Secondly, all his attention was on me and my friend, completely ignoring her brother. While I had some of his attention, my friend had even more. I should explain here that my friend hit puberty earlier and harder than most of our peers. She was way more developed than I was, but she was still adverse to wearing a bra, even though she probably needed one. You can probably guess where his eyes were glued to.

Finally, Callie had gotten the food and parked the car and made her way back to us. As soon as she spotted us, she practically came running and stood in between us and the man. She handed us our food and politely, but aggressively, asked the man who he was. I didn't understand at the time why the friendly Callie was being anything less than her cheery self, but it scared me.

The man introduced himself as Charlie, and tried to strike up conversation with Callie. I don't remember his exact words, but I do remember feeling uncomfortable at what he was saying to her. It was far more blunt and flirtatious than it was when he was talking to us, but again, being so young, I didn't really understand it.

Whatever he said must have freaked Callie out, because she quickly herded us up and whispered, "We're eating in the car. No questions."

We were all confused, but quickly made our way to her car. Charlie, however, followed us the entire way, getting more and more aggressive the more Callie tried to end the conversation. At this point, we finally realized that whatever was happening wasn't good, so we rushed to get inside the car. Charlie made a grab for Callie, but she got into the car before he could and quickly slammed the door and locked it.

What happened next is the clearest portion of this memory for me. Charlie gripped onto the door handle and pulled HARD. The entire time, he had this wide grin on his face. Even remembering it now, it sends chills down my spine. When the door wouldn't open, he lifted a hand and tapped a finger on the glass, pointing down to the door, silently asking Callie to open it.

Callie FREAKED. She started the car and backed up while he was still hanging onto the door handle. She then attempted to run over his foot, and this is when he finally let go. She drove away and frantically called her boyfriend in the car while we kids ate our food in confusion.

She told my friend's parents what happened, who in turn told my parents, but I don't know if the police were contacted. It's been over a decade since this happened, and the last thing I heard about Callie was that she married her boyfriend a few years after this incident.

Wherever she is, I'll forever be grateful for how protective she was over us.

And Charlie (if that is your real name), let's not meet.