The Dating Chronicles – Strange Encounter

The Dating Chronicles

Strange Encounter

Carol sat alone in a dark theater watching a movie seven seats apart from a handsome stranger.  She had counted the distance when he first sat down.  The theater had few people in it on that particular afternoon and Carol was pleased with the scarcity of the crowd, as she took a seat in the back row where no one was sitting.

When the stranger came in and sat in her row, she eyed him with suspicion, because he passed several empty rows to sit in hers.  She wondered why such a nice-looking well-dressed guy would be in a dark theater alone on a sunny afternoon.

As she sat pretending to watch the movie, she could barely concentrate as she watched him out the corner of her eye.  Eventually, she became totally distracted as she sat trying to imagine who he was, and why he would be alone.  She wondered if he were as lonely as she was, and used movies as a way to escape it, as she did.

When the movie ended, and the credits began to roll in the dark, she quickly jumped up from her seat to exit the theater before the lights came on.  She was startled when she looked back and saw him staring at her as he rose from the seat. Nervously,, she hugged her bag fighting the feeling that he was about to follow her.  When she walked out into the bright lobby, she was shocked when she was suddenly encircled by a group of policemen.

As she struggled to understand what was going on, she looked up and saw the guy from the theater enter the circle.  He began apologizing profusely about a case of mistaken identity, as he took her gently by the hand, and led her to a corner in the lobby.

As he spoke to her in soft tones, she was dumbfounded to learn that he was a plainclothes policeman and had indeed followed her into the theater thinking she was a murder suspect they were looking for.  She was so shaken that she began to cry, and he stood comforting her for over fifteen minutes before walking her to her car.  He took her phone number out of concern and a desire to “check on her later.”

When he called later that evening, they ended up talking for almost four hours.  A week later, they were out to dinner.  A year later they were engaged.