Carpe Cart

Though Halloween is weeks away, here's a brief little story that happened to me last October.

About a month ago, I was talking with one of my friends about various random things, as usual, and somehow we got on the topic of "ghosts." She happens to believe in them, I'm more of a skeptic. One of those "I'll believe it when I see it"-types. So, in the process of telling her something weird that happened to me last October at the local Joann Fabrics, she flipped out because she used to work at that same store and something weird happened to her there as well, but neither of us had ever told each other about it.

First, her story: She said that one night while she was closing with another girl, that there was no one else in the store. The girl she was working with was doing things in the actual store, while she (a manager at the time) was in the back (the store and the storage/office area is separated by a door located at the back of the store) doing the closing paperwork. While the whirring and clicking and clacking of the adding machine was going on, she heard the giggle of a little girl, as if she were running around with someone else, playing tag or hide-and-seek. She initially didn't think anything of it, assuming some kids were still in the store (you know how observant parents are these days), so she got up to go tell them that the store was closed and it was time to leave.

When she got up to go tell them to leave, she didn't find anyone, so she went out into the store and asked the girl she was working with if she'd seen/heard anything. She girl hadn't, so my friend got on the intercom and announced that the store was closed, assuming whoever was still lingering around would come forward. When no one did, she went back to the office to finish her paperwork. She heard the laughter of a little girl again, and this time she was pissed. She got up and went out into the storage area of the store, turned on all the lights and made a thorough search. Nothing. She was starting to get more than a little nervous, so this time she went and got the other girl she was working with, told her to leave what she was doing and come sit in the office while she finished the paperwork.

Once back in the office, she told the employee what she'd heard and asked her if she was sure she didn't hear it. She hadn't. The girls were began getting scared and my friend went back to her paperwork, determined to get it done as quickly as possible and get the hell outta dodge. That's when they both heard it...again. A little girl's giggle-y laughter. They both just sat there, frozen. That's when they both said "Fuck this. I am OUTTA here!" They got their stuff together, left the store, locked the door and went home.

Now for my story: This is the story I had told my friend that spurred her to share her story with me. She was shocked when I told her because no one believed her when she told them what happened that night. Neither of us had known about the other's experience, so I think that's what she found so shocking. I really hadn't given my 'experience' much thought until I heard her story, so it all came together in an interesting way.

One afternoon last October, I was at Joann's Fabrics, browsing their Halloween decorations. On one of the aisles there sat a big, metal cart, unattended, loaded with the paper that they use to wrap the customer's fragile items in (ceramic, glass, etc.). As I stood looking at the decorations, the cart ever so slowly moved towards me. I didn't think much of it at the time and pretty much ignored it...until it did it again. This time the top piece of paper sort of ruffled ever so lightly, as if a gust of wind had made it flitter. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen it, but no one else was nearby. The closest person was over in the fabric department, at the other end of the store. I just stood there smiling, thinking "weird!" and decided to take a picture, to blog about it later.

Well, I recently ran across the picture and that's what prompted me to tell my friend about my "moving" experience. I'd thought I'd deleted it LONG ago, but there it was on my desktop, in my "Digital Pix" folder.

She later told me that the few carts they did have, were relics. All made from this really heavy metal and all having those ridiculously bad wheels (think of the lone cart at the grocery store that you inevitably pick, that's a total lemon), which made them frustrating, if not nearly impossible, at times, to maneuver. Strange.

*Note: This didn't really have any significance to be before, but if you look directly at the end of the aisle, that's the door that goes into the back storage/office area.