And maybe it wasn't a ghost after all!

A few months ago, I thought I had heard and seen dangers when there weren't any.

But maybe I did, and maybe there was.

Some days ago, at around dusk, I went by that suburban shopping center again. I shop there often, and it's a common stop for me. And as I pulled up, a half-dozen cop cars were there, across the street, in the parking lot, everywhere. And a couple gangsta-looking thugs were sitting out on the curb in front of the houses across the street from this parking lot, handcuffs on. The whole building was on the lawn and hanging out of their windows, looking at what was going down.

Whatever it was, I didn't want to know. Instead of camping there, I went to the store, did my errands quickly, took off in a hurry. And wondered if, that night when I woke up in such terror, maybe there was some actual danger after all.

I went by there again today to run some errands, parked in my usual spot, and the little Toyota next to me had on its windshield a ticket! Never seen one of those there before. Apparently they are now busting people for parking overnight there. The ticket said "FINAL WARNING" on it, so they might even tow the guy, which would really suck.

Never, ever, ever again will I stay there overnight. It has become a hostile environment. And maybe my instincts were very right the first time around.