{"id":214,"date":"2012-07-09T18:57:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T15:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=214"},"modified":"2012-08-05T22:25:09","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T19:25:09","slug":"taken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=214","title":{"rendered":"“Taken”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/strong> just returned from the States from what I\u2019d like to think, was a well deserved vacation.\u00a0 Because of the wondrous equipment United Airline uses, a flight was missed in Frankfurt, Germany.\u00a0 In the meantime I happened across a good friend who was also returning from points far away, so we sat together having a few beers while waiting for our flight.\u00a0 About 4 feet away, a young girl came and sat in a booth, pulled out a book and had a plate of pasta to eat.\u00a0 About 20 minutes later, a young man with straggly hair and dreadlocks, came and asked her if he could visit with her.\u00a0 He was the type of kid that young girls would find attractive; one of those things I don\u2019t understand, like kids walking around with their pants hanging dangerously low.<\/p>\n

I worked in Afghanistan back in 2004, and it was drilled into me to be aware of my surroundings.\u00a0 This is something that I have hung on to since.\u00a0 I am also in the process of reading a very good book that all people should read:\u00a0 The Gift of Fear.\u00a0 So as I sat with my buddy drinking, I do notice what is going around me.\u00a0 I noticed the straggly kid was walking back and forth for about 30 minutes before visiting this young girl.<\/p>\n

When she first encountered him, I noticed a moment of unease on her face at first, but after sitting with her and they talked, she relaxed and dropped her guard.\u00a0 Even though they were only 4 feet away, because of the noise I could not hear what they were saying, but by her relaxed face and his smile I sensed something was not right.\u00a0 He kept smiling, asking her questions and soon they were both eating the pasta.\u00a0 This kid was good.\u00a0 He lightly picked at the food just to be sharing a meal with her, which told me he was not hungry.<\/p>\n

I would not have slept well that night, aside from the damn plane, if I did not do something to interrupt this.\u00a0 Whether he was going to get money off her, or completely lead her out of the terminal forever, I do not know.\u00a0 What I did know for an absolute certainty, was this kid was not good for this young girl.<\/p>\n

So I took a napkin, and reaching into my bag pulled out a pen.\u00a0 It just so happened to be red. \u00a0On it, I wrote the following:<\/p>\n

Even seen the movie \u201cTaken\u201d with Liam Neeson?\u00a0 Think twice before you give him anything, even just information.<\/p>\n

I stood up to leave and asked the young girl if she spoke English.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, sure!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I turned to the straggly kid who was afraid to make eye contact with me, and I asked him if he spoke English.\u00a0 He made the little waving motion with his hand and said something about a little.\u00a0 Then I asked him if he lived in Frankfurt?\u00a0 He stumbled around with his words and never gave a clear answer.\u00a0 I handed the young girl the napkin and walked away.\u00a0 Later, while at the ticket counter, I noticed he was still sitting there with her.<\/p>\n

I sincerely hope she was smart enough to politely tell him \u201cNo\u201d for whatever he was after.\u00a0 If not, she had been warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just returned from the States from what I\u2019d like to think, was a well deserved vacation.\u00a0 Because of the …<\/p>\n

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