this morning i'm in the quiktrip.

what appears to be a family walks in while i'm waiting at the counter.

leading the pack were two twin girls. they were probably 13 or 14 years old, and both had pigtails. they both owned two of the creepiest smiles ever put on a child's face. the two smiles were also seemingly permanent. they reminded me of the twins from "The Shining".

behind them was a seventeen or eighteen year old girl holding her 40 something mother's hand.

they were both smiling creepily as well.

finally, the father followed.

he was wearing a motorcycle bandana with the number 3 on it and a baby blue wife beater.

he walked right up to me and said, "you wanna picture?"

"what?" , i replied.

"you wanna picture. it'll last longer", he answered.

then the mother said, "it's because we're so pretty."

then the girls chimed in, "yeah, we're so pretty."

then daddy again spoke to me directly, "yeah, they are so pretty. you must wanna picture as much as you're staring at them."

"how much are they?", i asked.

"what's that supposed to mean?", he asked back.

"it's implying that you have some pictures of them that you want to sell", i answered as bluntly as i could.

"oh, you must be some kind of smart ass", he growled as he barreled towards me.

"what does that make you?" i asked as i braced for impact.

the girls yelled, "Daddy, don't get in a fight again."

he seemed to think about it as he got closer and changed his mind and turned down the candy bar aisle.

five minutes later as i was driving away, they came out of the store. as they got closer, i yelled, "are those pictures up on the internet anywhere?".

daddy came charging and i took a slurp of my freezoni and sped away wearing the most happiest of smiles.

thank you jesus,

scott