She was still groggy from being on meds in the ER so as I pulled into the parking lot of the Walgreens I asked her if she could walk in with me or if she would stay in the car. She indicated that she would stay in the car (which is what I thought she would say). Anticipating her response, I chose to park near the street away from the store as the Walgreens appeared unusually busy for that time of night and there were lots of cars parked in the front row near the sides of the store. I figured that with her seat reclined and the car away from the store, no one would notice that she was in there.
I got out of my car and did a quick scan of the cars near the front of the store, made mental notes on which were occupied and chose my path to the front door. As I am scanning and walking I notice a man (probably a transient) peering out in between a movie vending machine and a rack of propane bottles on the side of the building. He looked like a cat in wait of a mouse. Meanwhile a man (customer) comes out of Walgreens and heads down the side of the building and I know he can't possibly see the transient behind the vending machine. Sure enough, the customer is walking along oblivious and the transient literally jumps out and starts cursing the customer and asking for money. The customer is obviously startled and jumps back slightly and instinctively raises his hands, palms out as if in a "hold up" position. I slowed my stride to watch what happens next as a shoving match ensues. The customer literally shoves the transient to the side and makes his way to his vehicle and leaves.
I went in the pharmacy dropped the prescription off, gave the the girl my cell phone number and told her to call me when it is ready, so I could return to the car with my wife. On the way out the front door, I looked back toward the vending machine and there he is again waiting for prey. Sitting in the car waiting for the prescription to be filled, I watched this guy pop out like a jack-in-the-box catching people off guard and getting into a shoving match with most. What was more astonishing was the amount of restraint (or I suspect lack of knowing what to do) that most people exhibited. Most people stiffened and tried to keep their stride even after the guy laid hands on them.
Long story short, I made my wife go in with me to retrieve the prescriptions, Gatorade, chicken soup, etc. No way was I going to leave her out there again.
