Yesterday I was in a Walmart parking lot. I have bought a New Chevrolet Suburban and the temporary paper plate they put in the window expired on the 26th. I had the new license plates, but had not put them on yet. Not wanting to get a ticket, I stopped at Walmart to buy a screw driver to put the new plates on. While I am doing my little project I hear a small voice say “Young man are you stealing those?” I ignore it because I am concentrating and I hear it again, louder, “Young man are you stealing those license plates?”

I turn and look and there is this very little wizened lady glaring at me. She is about four feet ten inches tall, probably weighed ninety pounds. Looked to me she was close to a hundred years old. Her head is cocked sideways and she is looking at me through glasses that are so thick they appear to be coke bottle ends. My first thought is amazement. She said young man and I am 65 years old! I am not a young man anymore. Close on the heels of that thought is I cannot believe this little female is accosting someone much bigger and with a screwdriver in his hand. I was so stunned for several moments I just stared at her. That didn’t help. She was getting very agitated. I had parked far out in the parking lot so people would not bang up the doors of my new vehicle. So, here she is, glaring at me probably thinking she is stopping a criminal.

I smiled and spoke very kindly. I explained my temporary registration had expired and I needed to put my new license plates on. She just looked at me. She never uttered a word. She did not appear to believe me. She grimaced, turned and got into her old battered jalopy (as old as she was) that she had parked very close to my new Suburban, gunned her motor, and sped away across the parking lot diagonally. No doubt sure that she had intercepted a crime in the process.

I stood watching as she careened across the parking lot. I grinned and said, well that will be me in a few years…..

Thanks for reading today.