Strange Encounters Three of a Kind

I know I’ve used that title before, but last weekend was one of those filed under “ODD”. It all started on Friday when I stopped at the local mall to go into JCP for new make-up and I decided to run into the mall proper to an intimate apparel shop. I haven’t been really in the mall in about 5 years.

Encounter #1 For once the lingerie shop wasn’t the strange part. But then, I was on my way back to JCP when a young man approached me and handed me a card. Before I knew what was happening, he drug me back to his kiosk and started cleaning one side of my face. I suppose I could have gotten outraged, but I wasn’t in a hurry and I was in need of make-up, so I went along with the half make-over.

When he started telling me I looked like I was in my forties, I laughed and decided I didn’t want whatever he was selling, whether it be BS or foundation. It took me a bit to convince him, so I lied and told him I hadn’t come to the mall for make-up. Then I went to JCP and got what I needed from someone I trusted.

Encounter #2 Saturday, a friend and I decided to go to a spice shop in Dallas. She went with me first for a haircut but we were way early, so we stopped at a local nursery that specializes in orchids. We were there at least 20 minutes and in that entire time, not one person acknowledged our presence. I think we could have taken whatever we wanted and gone out the side door and no one would have known.

Encounter #3 Next stop was Penzey’s Spices but we were getting hungry, so we went into a Greek Café for lunch. It looked like a nice place. It was clean and well lit. The hostess seated us, asked what we wanted to drink and then disappeared.

I finally got up and got two menus. We waited and then waited some more, and no one came to take our order. We saw the hostess again ten minutes later with our drinks and managed to place our orders. We both had the distinct feeling we were invading the place.

When we left, there was no register up front and our hostess/wait person had done her magic disappearing act again. There was a counter near the door so we went up there and after waiting another 5 minutes, some guy walked over and took our cards into the back room. Had we stumbled into a rendezvous place for the Greek mafia?

Call me silly, but I checked my bank account this morning to make sure there were no bizarre charges against my card.