He's a pirate!

It's always interesting to take young, talking children to a public place. We took Samantha, age 3 at the time, to Costco for our regular shopping trip. We were going up and down the isles, shopping from our list, having a very uneventful time, when she saw an older man riding a scooter. He had a black eyepatch over his left eye. She exclaimed, rather loudly, "Look Grandma, he's a pirate!"  I was hoping that the man didn't hear her exclaimation, but I don't see how he couldn't have. I calmed her down and explained that he was just a man who had an "owie" on his eye.

We continued up and down the isles, only to find out that this man was also roaming up and down the isles, crossing our path in the middle of every row. Each time we saw him, Samantha made the same exclaimation, only a touch softer, sensing my embarrassment. I continued to teach her, at each encounter, that the man was just a guy with an owie.  We passed him four or five times more and by the last two times, she would still comment, but she would say, "That man has an owie on his eye."

As we were leaving, we saw him one more time and Samantha looked at me with her big brown innocent eyes, and said, "That man has a owie on his eye, huh Grandma?"  I looked over at him and finally saw what she had been seeing....he had a black eye patch, a scruffy beard, and a peg leg!