Hokey Pokey

Not much effort put into today's blip but thought it was unique enough to post.

Those of you who have followed me for a long time may have noticed a lot of references to Walgreens, my neighborhood corner store/pharmacy. I know (or at least knew) all of the employees and would round up the carts from the parking lot and push them back into the store. But something happened with management lately.  Long-time employees started disappearing when a new manager, who until today, I hadn't met mysteriously replaced my buddy Mark.  There were two people who meant a lot to me in that store the most: Kathy, the pharmacist and Rose, a cashier.  Kathy disappeared on 1 October but few people knew how close we were and that we had actually been in touch so I knew what was going on.  It wasn't until Rose told me last night that she was leaving next week that something in my brain tripped.

I went into the store today screaming and confronted the new manager and her lackey asst manager.  Without going into details, a lot of shouting ensued until I was asked to leave.  As soon as I was asked, I headed silently towards the door.  It was then that a Deputy Sheriff came running through the door, grabbed my arm, twirled me around and handcuffed me.  And those suckers hurt. He then yanked me outside.  I asked if I was under arrest. He said I wasn't but was being detained and was not free to go.  He read me my rights.  I was not hauled off to the pokey but am now banned from stepping on that store's property - some kind of order like a restraining order for public places (as opposed to  people).  I will be arrested if I show up on the property, even if the store is closed.

People in the neighborhood are upset, especially about Kathy.  She is truly a beloved member of our community.  I stand by this blip I wrote about her once before.  The deputy suggested I wait a while then call the manager to apologize and maybe she'd let me into the store again.  I think I'd rather help rally the community behind her.

Naturally, I was really shaken by the events of the day but over dinner suggested to my mom that she should be proud of me because  it took her activist daughter 64 years to have cuffs thrown on her.  Later, I spoke with Kathy for over an hour, which cheered both of us up.

Am I in the woods yet?