Here is another story I thought I would finally share with the forum that I don't think anyone has EVER heard about you, me, Moab and that bizarre incident we were a part of.
....And so it begins in Moab, Utah, Easter Jeep Safari 2010. We had all arrived in town within a few hours of one another at the usual condo rental location. Mel Wade and his family were unloading the trailer carrying EVO1 and unpacking the truck with bags of clothing. Eddie and Cindy had already unloaded Moby and were in the middle of taking his doors off and storing them in the condo's garage since the weather was cool, but not cold. I had also unpacked EVOJEEP and was preparing to head into town to find a grocery store to get supplies for the week. I asked if anyone needed anything, Eddie said yes, and that he would like to come along. So off we go for the short drive into back into town for groceries.
The usual EJS crowd was steadily flowing into town, so it was good that we were getting ahead of the buying rush and doing some shopping early before the masses of jeepers hit the stores. As Eddie and I are perusing the aisle of the local store for chow and drinks, I had noticed on two (maybe three) separate occasions on different aisles that an older Asian woman, possibly in her mid 60's(??), with a sort of hippie/homeless look to her, seem to be staring at us. However, every time I caught here looking at us she immediately turned away. I did not think too much of it, figured that she obviously knew we were not locals and that she was just kind of interested in two newcomers to town.
So once we finalized the filling of the grocery cart and we were making our way to a register, we just chose the first line we came to for check out. Now as it just so happens, the old Asian woman that had been eyeballing us was directly in front of us preparing to begin loading her groceries onto the conveyer belt for her turn to be rung up. Eddie and I are standing there just BS'ing as usual about our week of wheeling ahead us, when the old Asian lady turns to Eddie and very warmly says "You remind me of my son, you look just like him". So Eddie being the nice guy he is, responds to her saying in so many words "that's interesting" and "Does your son live here in Moab?" Well the women's face kind of goes blank for a few seconds and then she responds with "no, my son is dead, he was killed in a car crash last Christmas". Eddie said he was very sorry to hear that, and then we were both kind of had an expected feeling of uncomfortableness come over us and it just got really quiet.
The old Asian lady is almost done getting her groceries price scanned and bagged when she turns and walks towards both of us with a smile. She closes in on Eddies personal space and quietly asks if he would do her a favor before she leaves the line, and Eddie says "I guess so" kind of hesitantly. Well this is when it gets really freaking weird, the lady asks if Eddie if he could just say "Goodbye Mom, see you at home later" before she walks away from us. Eddie looks at me and I just shrug my shoulders in response like 'I don't know WTF to do'. So as the Asian lady finishes up saying something to girl working the register, Eddie decides to repeat her request, verbatim- "Goodbye Mom, see you at home later" and she turns and says "ok son" and then continues to push her basket toward the exit.
So Eddie and I are just creeped out by the whole incident as our groceries are being rung up, when the girl calls out the total, which snaps us back into reality. She says "that'll be $232.78". I immediately say "are you sure, we only had one cart of food???" And the cashier says "the total includes his mothers groceries too, she said you would be paying for it....." We are both like "NO F'ING WAY DID THIS JUST HAPPEN!" Eddie tells the girl to get the manager, that was not his mom and that we needed to catch her in the parking lot. So she calls the manager over the PA system and we start moving quickly towards the doors to catch the old Asian woman. We spot her in the middle of the parking lot in an old 80's Chevy Caprice Classic just finishing up loading her groceries and getting into the car. Eddie and I both run to the drivers doors and are asking her to please get out of the car and she pushes the door lock down with her elbow and ignores us, but still has not started the car. By this time the manager had joined us and figured out what is going on (I guess) because he is pretty worked up and is yelling at her to unlock the door, which she is not doing. About this time I notice her passenger door is unlocked and quietly tell Eddie this. Since her concentration was on the manager I walk around to the passenger door and open it. Well she immediately reacted to the door opening by trying to kick at me a few times as I tried to get into the car to grab the keys from the ignition. With no luck trying to get at the keys, and her feet still feverishly kicking at me, I grab one of her legs to just pull her out of the car. So there is Eddie staring in disbelief at all of this, the manager is screaming at her on the drivers side of the car and then there is me just pulling and pulling and pulling on her leg..............just like I am pulling yours.
The end, thanks for reading.
G
