strange encounter

One thing about living in town that I haven't quite gotten used to is that from time to time we'll have random people ring our doorbell and ask for work. Growing up in the country, the only time we had people stopping by was if they had car trouble or if the UPS or Schwans man stopped. Not true for city living. Yesterday was one of those days.

Early afternoon the doorbell rings. I typically don't even answer the door if I look out and don't know who's there or it's not a delivery of some sort. As I got to the front door and peeked through the sheers, I saw a lady I didn't know. As I said, I usually ignore them and they go away. This lady, however, had already opened the porch door and was standing on the front steps with the door wide open. Again, I probably would have ignored her if she hadn't been looking with great interest at the 10+ boxes on the porch that UPS had delivered a bit earlier. There was nothing of great value in the boxes, they contained cardboard mailers for Dan's business.

So I opened the door and this is the conversation we had.

Lady: "Can you come here a minute?"

Me: Not knowing how to respond to that said nothing and already had decided I wasn't stepping out the front door.

Lady: "I'm looking for work you got anything I can do"?

Me: "No"

Lady: "I'm from Springfield and we need gas money." "What about your yard?"

Me: " We have someone coming to mow it already."

Lady: "OK."

With that she left and I closed the door and locked it. It just seems a bit strange to me that you'd drive all the way to Decatur to look for work when you're short on gas money. I didn't see a car and I think she may have been with someone (cause she kept looking at the neighbor's house) but I'm not sure cause I didn't think to look out the window when she walked away.

I still can't help but wonder if she saw UPS deliver all those boxes and was coming in for a closer look. I've heard about "burglars" who will ring the bell to see if people are home before they try and break in. Wouldn't she have been disappointed to know that there was nothing but empty cardboard boxes in those 10+ boxes.