Sunday, September 23, 2012

KIDNAP ATTEMPT - PART 1

   Miami Beach was my home until I was nine.   I lived a couple of blocks from Lincoln Road, which is more than just a road; it’s a wide touristy street with lots of shops and restaurants.   No vehicles are allowed on it other than shuttles for pedestrians.   Down the middle of this wide road were decorative seating areas.   There was one seating area in particular where my mom would always sit at after our 2 block walk and socialize with other local moms while their kids played in the surrounding area.
    One evening out, I chose to play by myself climbing a nearby palm tree. I climbed up and down for quite some time, having little adventures along the curve of the tree.   After a while, I heard a man’s voice from a few feet behind me.   While my mom was lost in conversation about 35 feet in one direction, this little man was asking me for help in finding a lost item in the other.   He was a short, tanned, mustached Latino, likely in his 30’s, wearing a white t-shirt and blue cut-off shorts.  He explained to me that he'd lost a ring somewhere around this palm tree.   He asked me to help him search for it and promised me five whole dollars if I found it.   I started to look around from my perch, but he said it was too small to see from all the way up there.
    He convinced me to get down as he gave me a further description.   Now the ring was gold and then it had a diamond, and then a few minutes later it was most likely laying a little farther from the palm tree. I continued to follow him, farther behind the tropical foliage where I'd be camouflaged from my mother’s view.   I walked about 70 feet to a nearby corner and 70 feet farther from my mom.
   What happens next is the luckiest moment of my life. I stood at one corner of a building, in the last few feet where my mom could still see me.   The mustached man who'd convinced me to walk so far away from where I should have stayed was just around that corner and out of view.   As he talked and waved for me to follow, I heard my mom’s alarmed voice.
   “Susana!!” she yelled.   She had to yell so I could hear her from so far away.   I pleaded back for her to wait while I finished what I was doing.   She yelled back again, “Susana, what are you doing!!”
    As loudly as I could, I explained to her that I was about to earn $5. She stood up! “Come back here!” She got even louder as she stormed towards me.  I looked back towards the man, about to beg him to wait for me but he was already gone.   I walked towards my mom, stomping my feet, pouting, and complaining that she had ruined my chance to make some good money.
    As she got more of the details from me, I could see her heart sink realizing what almost happened. Three more steps and I would never have been seen again, and even worse could have been subject to horrific things.   She immediately walked home as fast as she could holding my hand so tight, yelling at me about how stupid I had been to follow a stranger.
    The short walk home from that corner was basically a walk to the end of a parking lot on our block and a left turn down the pathway leading to every tenants' back door.   It was also a clear view to just exactly where we lived, should any would-be kidnappers be watching...
To Be Continued….



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