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Pulled into a parking space in front of a beauty supply store on a hot and humid North Carolina August day. As usual, I take a quick peek at the car I park next to to make sure they aren't so close I won't be able to get back in. There, in the back seat of a crappy, beat-up old four-door sedan is a little baby tucked into a forward-facing car seat.
*Double take.*
Yup, it's a living, breathing baby, not a doll, in a car seat turned the wrong way. Fortunately, it's still breathing. The window is wide open and the doors are unlocked! Not only could the baby be overcome by heat, anyone walking by could snatch the kid and be gone before the mom knew it was gone. I look around, hoping that I'll see Mom come dashing out of a store after a *very* quick errand. No luck. So I check my watch for the time, wait ten minutes while periodically touching the baby to make sure he's cool and breathing easily, and then go into the beauty store. About half a dozen women and no men were in the store.
"THERE IS A BABY LEFT ALONE IN A CAR IN THE PARKING LOT. IS THE MOTHER IN HERE?" I YELLED into the store. This was one of those little shopping strip stores, maybe 20x40 feet big. I used to be on a military drill team; there is no way the mother couldn't have heard me. Sure as hell a bunch of other people heard me. But no answer. "I'M CALLING THE POLICE ABOUT THE BABY RIGHT NOW," I yelled again, pulling out my cellphone. Still no answer. The lady behind the counter nods her head towards one of the two aisles, letting me know which one the mom was in and yells out "IF YOU DON'T, I WILL," but still no one claims the baby.
Well, I follow through and call the cops. It's been over fifteen minutes since I parked and saw the baby. I swear, I have never had two black-and-whites show up so fast! I was getting ready to take the baby out of the car to keep it cool when they pulled up and parked behind the car. I explain the situation, they take the baby out of the car, and two officers head for the store.
NOW a woman comes dashing out the store I was in, swinging her purchase and yelling at the top of her lungs about the cops messing with her car. Her CAR?!? Yes, people, she had stayed in the store long enough to complete her purchase (the window in front of the register would have given her a full view of her car parked out front) and her first thought was for her car!!!
Then she tries to give the cops the BS about "only being in the store for three or four minutes". Well, I had been wondering why none of the other customers had left in the whole time I was waiting. A crowd of women (including the cashier) now come out of the store and proceed to inform the cops that the woman had been in there for at least twenty minutes. Every one of them had waited to make sure they could make a report to the police about the woman's idiocy.
Well, the baby went away in an ambulance (just to be safe), the car went away in tow, and Mommy Dearest went away in cuffs.
The really SC part? I heard later that she tried to blame the store for delaying her with their sale.
*Double take.*
Yup, it's a living, breathing baby, not a doll, in a car seat turned the wrong way. Fortunately, it's still breathing. The window is wide open and the doors are unlocked! Not only could the baby be overcome by heat, anyone walking by could snatch the kid and be gone before the mom knew it was gone. I look around, hoping that I'll see Mom come dashing out of a store after a *very* quick errand. No luck. So I check my watch for the time, wait ten minutes while periodically touching the baby to make sure he's cool and breathing easily, and then go into the beauty store. About half a dozen women and no men were in the store.
"THERE IS A BABY LEFT ALONE IN A CAR IN THE PARKING LOT. IS THE MOTHER IN HERE?" I YELLED into the store. This was one of those little shopping strip stores, maybe 20x40 feet big. I used to be on a military drill team; there is no way the mother couldn't have heard me. Sure as hell a bunch of other people heard me. But no answer. "I'M CALLING THE POLICE ABOUT THE BABY RIGHT NOW," I yelled again, pulling out my cellphone. Still no answer. The lady behind the counter nods her head towards one of the two aisles, letting me know which one the mom was in and yells out "IF YOU DON'T, I WILL," but still no one claims the baby.
Well, I follow through and call the cops. It's been over fifteen minutes since I parked and saw the baby. I swear, I have never had two black-and-whites show up so fast! I was getting ready to take the baby out of the car to keep it cool when they pulled up and parked behind the car. I explain the situation, they take the baby out of the car, and two officers head for the store.
NOW a woman comes dashing out the store I was in, swinging her purchase and yelling at the top of her lungs about the cops messing with her car. Her CAR?!? Yes, people, she had stayed in the store long enough to complete her purchase (the window in front of the register would have given her a full view of her car parked out front) and her first thought was for her car!!!
Then she tries to give the cops the BS about "only being in the store for three or four minutes". Well, I had been wondering why none of the other customers had left in the whole time I was waiting. A crowd of women (including the cashier) now come out of the store and proceed to inform the cops that the woman had been in there for at least twenty minutes. Every one of them had waited to make sure they could make a report to the police about the woman's idiocy.
Well, the baby went away in an ambulance (just to be safe), the car went away in tow, and Mommy Dearest went away in cuffs.
The really SC part? I heard later that she tried to blame the store for delaying her with their sale.
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