Let's Not Meet Again

Listen To Your Intuition

This happened about ten years ago, when I worked third shift at a gas station in a small town in South Carolina. Its always came up in conversation when anyone mentions intuition, and I think its proof that you should never, ever ignore strange feelings.

So, I had been working at this station for a few months, had gotten to know all the cops and made a bunch of friends. Throughout most of the week, I had a regular crew who would come in and hang out with me- one dude who got off work at around 11, and would come in and hang for a couple hours. Another dude, Travis, who owned a strip club and would get in about midnight, and hang for a couple hours. Then there was Danny, and he would pull in after hauling loads between Atlanta and my city, and get in around 230. He'd hang with me til about 5, and that's when people would start arriving to fill up before work. So I was never really alone for too long.

It helps to mention that all three of these dudes carried guns, on their person. And I was a pretty young girl and they took it upon themselves to make sure I wasn't alone. Plus, they were funny as shit, told great stories, and never tried anything on with me. They were pals.

But Sundays were always a problem. None of them worked on Sunday nights, and on those occasions when I had to work Sundays I was always a bit lonesome, but not scared. I had by that time read Gavin de Becker's "The Gift of Fear" and it had changed my life. I stopped worrying about stuff, certain that my intuition would be clouded if I allowed myself to be paranoid or a worrywart. So when I felt weird, I listened.

SO there was this one evening when I had to work, and even hours before, I just had That Feeling. I had NEVER had it before a shift, not ever, and I had worked at a few gas stations previous to this. Sidenote- gas stations are AMAZING places to work- you will see EVERYTHING there if you work there long enough. Also dangerous.

So i had this feeling, and I just knew I had better heed it. I called up a friend and asked him if he could roll up in the empty hours at the station and keep me company. I promised him all the free coffee and hot dogs he could eat and he happily said yes.

Well, we are sitting there, I had gotten all my work done and we were just chilling inside (it was a cold night). Suddenly I see this beatup pickup truck pull in. And I just got this WAVE of feeling- THIS is what I was waiting for. I knew it as clearly as I know my own name. They pulled in and proceeded to drive real, real slow around the station. And there were two dudes inside, craning their necks to see. I mean, it was SO OBVIOUS they were casing the joint, and I said to my friend, "hey man, stand up. This is who I was waiting for". He gets up and stands by the door in full badass stance, and I hit the auto locks. Pumps are off too. They do a full circuit and I can see from the back cab window that they are grimy and desperate looking. And they pull back out onto the road, going in the same direction they had been going initially, refuting any idea I might have had that they were merely turning around. I kept the doors locked til morning, and told my boss about it the next day. She wrote up a description and we kept it behind the counter. And not three days later, the store down the street was robbed. There was something about those dudes, that I am sure (since the other store's clerk was a male) that they would have done more to me than merely rob me. Truck was probably stolen, as there was no license plate on it, or I would have turned them in. As it was I was sure to tell the cops the description of the truck and the dudes, but they said themselves the truck was probably stolen and without a license plate they were hard pressed.

I wish I had been able to get more info, because there was something about those guys together that told me that they had done far, far worse in their lives than rob a gas station. I mean, some things, you just know. I can't explain it. I can and do hike all over alone, I have traveled cross country from GA to CA alone, I was homeless in LA for months, alone- I am not your average chick when it comes to guts. And there have only been a few times in my life when that voice came up and just TELLS you. You just FREAKING KNOW.

One last, far shorter story- I used to have to walk a mile from the train station to my place, and I had to pass by a spot where a girl was snatched and her body found a week later off the 5. It was a drugstore, she was ill and had gone in to get some cold meds and on her way out, someone snatched her. I will admit, walking past there, I would get occasionally freaked out. That crime was something of legend in my hood and since then there have been three more. Not cool at all. But one night, I was walking home from the station and the streets are empty and I was about to cross over between these two buildings- its a short cut to get on my street, which is one of the oldest in Los Angeles. But a very clear voice said, "NO. STAY ON YOUR SIDE OF THE STREET. CROSS AT BROADWAY. DONT TAKE THIS SHORTCUT TONIGHT". It was so clear that I said "shit man, ok, " as if I were talking to my mama or something. SO I didn't cross. Did my normal thing and happened to look back- and the alley where I was gonna go through, there were three dudes sitting there on the ground drinking, just hanging out in a non-residential area that is very very very- as in a few feet- away from an ATM. It was like they were just waiting for a chance to snatch or do something. Dressed in black, young guys. You tell me, who does this? No apartments around, they weren't obviously homeless, just dudes. I was not meant to walk through them, apparently.

So yeah, dudes with bad ideas, WE WILL NEVER MEET AS LONG AS I LISTEN TO THAT VOICE. Thanks y'all.