Falling for sweets
"Don't follow strangers giving you sweets" is a conventional wisdom which we are familiar with from our early childhood years. But have you actually seen other following strangers under your very nose? For me, I would never have fallen for such trap since I always was reminded to stay alert with strangers who accost me. As both of my parents brought home the bacon, they were particularly concerned about my safety for leaving me alone most of the time. So, I was not an easy child to be a victim for dangerous characters. However, I once followed strangers in person, not for my sweets but to save someone.
As my parents were a working couple, I spent most of my hours with friends in the playground area after school to keep away from my isolated house. One sunny day, I was playing with my buddies as always with our bodies crouched. At some point I noticed a newcomer snooping around us, wishing to join our play. Yet, as my friends and I were deeply engrossed in our ongoing play, the newcomer was left alone for a while, unnoticed. Amid intimate kind of our laughter, a low-pitched voice of a man, not so far away from where we were called my attention. "Hey sweetie, would you like some sweets?" I flinched. "Oh, thank you. I love them!" said the newcomer. "Do you want more?" Without hesitation, I heard a girl saying, "Oh yes!" I turned my back without blinking. There, I saw a grumpy old man giving a wicked smile to the new girl. "Come on! I have plenty of those in my car. Follow me!" His broad shoulder had already covered her frame. As they were disappearing from my sight, I found myself keeping sight of them involuntarily.
I was not aware of what I was doing but only focused on keeping track of them. He took her to the underground parking area where he had parked his car. As he took her on I heard him saying "I'll be back in a minute". The moment he walked away, I made a frantic dash towards her. "Get out of there, quick, now!!" it was courageous of me to say it but I got frightened as I rushed to get her out. "Why? Who are you?" The girl was annoyingly naive. "He's a bad guy. He'll kill you. Just come out now. Please!! No time!" I hustled her away from the car while looking back and forth, on the jig. Yet the door was locked and there was no way out. It was then when I began to be cognizant of myself plunged in a potential crime scene. "Help me out, the backdoor window's fairly opened." The girl's voice sobered me up. I pulled out all the stops to let her out from the hotbed of crime. While she was giggling like this was some sort of play, I was breaking out in a cold sweat. It was incredibly fortunate that she was petite and short enough to fall out of an opened window from its car. Eventually, we hid ourselves among the vehicles and made a narrow escape.
Although there is no tangible evidence that he was a criminal but the empirical evidence undoubtedly exist. And this is one of my childhood story that no one else knows. I would not have told anybody else since imparting such news to my parents would mean I broke their rules not to follow strangers at any cost, and therefore disclosing it would be putting my foot in my mouth. In addition, letting my friends into such secret would bring hoots of laughter as well. Accordingly, this story had been my not-so-big heroic episode kept in secret till now and I can tell the world, 'Believe it or not, this is true story and I was obviously a heroin back then'.
Hello, I'm Oh Ga-yeong(201202029) and I read you post with so much fun! Your story was very unique and it was full of thrills! Throughout the reading, I thought that your behavior was so brave because if I was in that case, I would have just escaped from that situation. I think that the wisdom you mentioned at the fist paragraph was very proper because it matches with your story so perfectly. By telling famous wisdom first before starting to tell your story, you caught my attention, I think. In your story, I think that I'm a little bit similar to that annoyingly naive girl because I have so much experience that I followed strangers. However, after these experience, I've learned the wisdom that you've mentioned personally. I've learned that if I follow strangers, I'm killed by my mother. Because after hearing my experience, my mother got so upset that I got scolded harshly. Fortunately, these strangers were not that dangerous but anyhow, the fact that I followed them doesn't change. Reading your post, I could also recall my experience so it really hit me. Thank you for telling your story.
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DeleteI agree with you that the man was probably a bad man with criminal intent and applaud your quick thinking and action despite your young age. I was also taught to avoid strangers from a very young age, but I doubt if I would have been able to think fast as you have done in such a situation. (임정연/Lim Jung Yun, 201202968)
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