Bikes Versus Yikes

(I’m about six in the story, in the food court at our local mall. My parents go to pay and I wander off. A biker finds me.)

Biker: “Now, son, where are your parents?”

Me: “I don’t know!” *sniffle*

Biker: “We’ll find ’em! What do they look—”

(Suddenly, he is cut off by an abrupt shriek.)

Woman #1: “That gangster is taking that kid!”

Biker: “No, this kid just—”

Woman #1: “I don’t care! You were going to kidnap him! HELP!”

(Security wanders over and my parents see the ruckus from the food court.)

Security: “What’s going on here?”

Biker: “I’m trying to help—”

Woman #1: “This guy is taking this kid!”

My Mom: “[My Name], are you okay?”

Woman #1: “Obviously not! This gangster was going to take this kid!” *points at biker* “Arrest him!”

Woman #2: “Actually, I watched the whole thing. This man was just trying to help the kid find his parents, when you started shrieking.”

(Woman #2 was thanked and the shrieking one went home embarrassed! That biker is a friend of my family now, and is in fact very sweet!)