On Sunday afternoon, October 1, 2023, we went on a walk in Carlsbad. We ended up on a little trail by the Agua Hedionda lagoon off the end of a cul de sac. There was an interesting man raking sand by the lagoon. He told us he had taken it upon himself to maintain the place. He was not the most interesting character we would encounter that day.
We made some awkward attempts on the lopsided rope swing.
Then we went back up the trail to the neighborhood. Tiny was walking with Jim and me in front, and as we started down the cul de sac, we saw a guy walking down the road toward us. I realized quickly that he was intellectually disabled in some way. He passed us as he headed toward the lagoon. After he passed, Tiny, Jim and I stopped and turned around to see where Ever and Wren were, as they were seriously lagging (as always). They had come out of the trail area and gotten to the sidewalk. The guy walked diagonally across the cul de sac, heading straight toward them. We stood and watched from a ways off. Ever and Wren started looking a little freaked out and confused about where to walk. Jim began walking back to them. Then the guy rushed the girls. He just ran at them. Jim started running, passed the guy, said "Stay away from my girls," put his arm around Ever and Wren, and ushered them back to Tiny and me. They said that as he approached them, the guy was saying, "You're so lucky, you get to hang out with me tonight. I deserve to hang out with you, and you deserve to hang out with me. You get to hang out with me tonight." He was just repeating that. They were terrified. Ever doesn't scare very easily, and she and Wren were both seriously rattled. We talked about how if he had gotten to them, they should scream and fight and hurt him, and the neighbors would have come out to help. For a while after that, Ever and Wren walked with their arms around each other, whispering about the traumatic event. As we were discussing it all, Jim referred to the would-be abductor as the "gentleman." We got a couple of blocks away, and Jim asked the girls if they would want to live in that area (because he's scoping out places to which we could move to get Ever into a Carlsbad high school). Ever said, "NO. I am not living here." I said, "Because of the gentleman or because you don't like this area?" She responded, "Mom, I think it's a stretch to call him a gentleman.'" It was really funny. But they were asking how far we were from home and if the guy could get to our house in Oceanside. Then we were walking up a main street, and a totally normal-looking guy with ear buds in his ears was walking toward us. Wrenzy hurried up close to me and took my hand (and she never takes my hand) because she was afraid of him. They were so freaked.
It was the craziest thing. I have no idea what would have happened if we hadn't been there.
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