Stranger Danger

Unfortunately, I have had several. The one that always comes to my mind is when It was in Junior High, n/k/a Middle school. I was in band and we had band practice at night.

There was a building in the back of Junior High that served as the music building.  I had to walk, (imagine that), walk to the Junior High on foot as my father was working as a salesman and my mom didn’t drive. It was winter and right before I left the house, my Mom said “Don’t take a ride with anyone, especially our next-door neighbor named Stanley.

He was just released from prison or whatever for raping girls.  I always walked in the middle of the road, so I had equal opportunity to run from anyone who might come after me.  I was walking on Grove Street, in the middle of the street in an outfit that I thought looked like a guy when someone stopped in his vehicle coming toward me.

He stopped and asked if I needed a ride to band.  I was carrying a case that housed my saxophone, which I always thought I would drop if I needed to.  Well,  considering what my parents paid for it, I held on to it for dear life.  I started going across the road to get into his car when it hit me, “Who was this?”.  I thought it was one of my neighbors that I babysat for.  I asked him for his name and he said “This is your neighbor”.  I stammered, asking, “Which neighbor?”  He finally, after some hesitation said, “This is Stanley”.

I felt the blood rush to my head and stammered again, “Well this isn’t Sandy”. Stupid, I know, but I was a kid and didn’t know what to do.  I started running through an alley that I didn’t even know was there, and at every intersection, he was waiting in his car.  I finally got to school and played in practice.  After practice, I was actually going to walk home, but when I got out, I saw my dad waiting for me.

We went directly to the police station and found out that this particular individual had been arrested for picking up a girl in Horicon and had actually raped her.

Boy, my angel was definitely looking over me, and I learned why it is important to use the buddy system.

#sidetrackedsisters #sidetrackedsandy #sanity #mindset #thoughts #scariestmoments