Tonight, I was walking across the street to King Soopers to buy some peppers. An interesting little event occurred. Perhaps this may sound silly, but it restoreed a little bit of my faith.

As I walked near the edge of the parking lot, I saw a Dark Grey Isuzu SUV. At first, I paid it no mind, but then I noticed that it had 2 purple bumper stickers on the back on one side. I walked closer, and read them. Both were obviously very pagan. Now I can't even remember the exact wording, but one of them bore a message stating that the Goddess watches over and loves all of us.

My attention piqued, I looked further. Right inside the back window, a sheet of paper stated that the owner was trying to sell the vehicle. Something in the $2600 range? ("Or best offer", it said.)

This was too spooky. I was beginning to love this vehicle, and even though I don't have anywhere near that much money at the moment, maybe.... something could be worked out. If it was right.

I walked around looking at it. Somewhat surprisingly, I noticed a woman sitting in the front seat. She was talking on a cell phone, obviously very involved in some sort of conversation. I didn't want to bother her, but.... I didn't want the vehicle to leave either until we could exchange information.

I approached the window, made sure she knew I was there, and smiled. She obviously didn't want to be interrupted from her conversation, but she was willing to talk with me briefly. Very briefly, I told her I loved her bumper stickers, and saw that she was trying to sell the vehicle, and said that maybe, just maybe.... but no, this was happening to fast. Maybe in another parallel universe, I would have told her I wanted to buy the vehicle for the asking price, right there on the spot. But I hesitated, and said that I wasn't in a vehicle buying mode right now, but it looked like she was offering a very good deal.

(If I'm going to be hauling as much stuff as I have been recently, a larger vehicle would be nice, especially one as affordable and obviously well cared for as this one.)

She obviously wanted to get back to her friend on the phone, and I wasn't ready to make anything resembling a commitment just yet. But as I walked on toward the store, I looked back... hesitated. When.... Why.... If?

I walked back, stood in front of the vehicle where she could clearly see me. She made no move whatsoever, and continued to talk on the phone. I set the half-finished bottle of juice on the pavement (which I had found lying in the gutter on the way over -- amazing what people discard these days) very deliberately, waved my hands over it. The motion of a warding spell. And looked up at her vehicle again. I was confident that she would not leave before I returned to pick up this relic. Or if she did, it would be fate's decision, and I would accept it.

I entered the store, purchased my peppers, discovered that I was 2 cents short (the price had gone up, or the weights were slightly different than what I had expected, or... something), and after asking everyone around me if they had 2 spare pennies (no luck), I was getting ready to just leave the 36 cents worth of peppers behind and see if she was still out there, and interested in talking...

What I had in mind was not a sale, but a possible trade. I don't want to go deeper into debt, but I might be willing to give up Tobias if it means enhancing my freedom in the game of life. I was going to make the wildly idiotic suggestion that we try each other's vehicles out for just a couple days before finalizing on anything. (Collatoral both ways -- She would have my vehicle, I would have hers. Neither one could steal from the other without losing something precious.)

Outside, she was indeed still out there. Still on the phone. Not wanting to be disturbed. How to do this?

Time for a written message, I decided.

I was going to pass her my phone number, in the hopes that we might talk about it later. But I had no paper or pen.

Throwing all hopes of luck to the wind, I placed my bag of peppers beneath the weight of the juice bottle on the pavement, and ran back toward the store, knowing that if nothing else, I could grab some piece of litter, jot my phone number on it using one of the pens at the counter, and run back to give her the contact info for later perusal. I did so, and on the way in, I found 2 scraps in the parking lot that would have been suitable for writing on.

Inside, I pulled the nearst lottery ticket blank I could find, used the pen and the counter to write not only my number, but my email address, and ran back outside.

Now, motorcycles were buzzing about, the sky had become dark, and when I got to the far end of the parking lot.... Not a trace of her, or her vehicle, was left. The bottle and bag of peppers I had left were still there, however. The spell had fizzled, and she had been scared away by the bizarre appearance of my actions.

All I wanted was to exchange a phone number, and see if we could make a deal on the vehicle.

I lie.

I liked her too. I was attracted to her. I thought briefly about asking her on a date, but a business deal would be a more practical thing to broker right now. Because after all, that's what her sign said she wanted.

Now, there was no sign left of her.

As an empty sign to the Goddess, I took the half-finished bottle of juice (not really juice at all, but high fructose corn syrup sweetened color water with a V8 logo on the outside), placed it on the pavement where her vehicle had been, and put the slip with my phone number and email beneath the weight of the bottle. If she wanted to return and get it, she could, but I now know that she won't.

As I did so, the motor cycles and other loud sounds felt like they were closing in on me.

I knew what had happened. I had alerted the parking lot security cameras with all my walking back and forth, in and out, writing things down, buying so little, and paying for even less. They were onto my presence, and wanted me away.

Looking at it from her perspective, I could see how she would have gotten very scared. Even if she wasn't scared by me, the motor cycles might have scared her off while I ran back in the store to write down my number.

The best ideas always occur after the fact. WHY didn't I just have the presence of mind to record the number that had been posted on the "for sale" sign in the back window when I first saw it? I had my cell phone with me. I could have tapped it in right there, and been done with it.

But I wasn't patient enough. I wasn't observant enough. I wasn't cautious enough. I didn't empathize enough, and I inadvertantly conjured forces that were out of my control. I would be scared of me too if I were her. For all she knew, I could have been leading that gang of motor cycles, and been about to team up and abduct her.

Again, I am humbled. I also overflow with reverence for the ways of the Goddess. She has told me now, beyond the shadow of any doubt (barring massive conspiracy theories better fit for super-paranoid Chris Carter productions), that other beings in Her service are also alive and operating in this city still. We are not isolated. We are One, though we may not know each other personally.

I'm tempted to go back and read some more out of The Mists of Avalon, but I think I'll watch a movie instead. The only question is... which one?