I know it wasn't any of my business, and in hindsight, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut... but here we are. I guess I should say, here I am; squared up against this thug.

He's probably about 6'3, 300 lbs, and ugly as sin. He has dark beady little eyes, he's sporting a unibrow, and his nose is all smushed, like it's been broken many times and never set properly. Oh, did I mention he's looking at me like he wants to strangle me? Yeah, that too.

I know I stand no chance of beating him physically, so I go a different route. "Sir, I'm so sorry if you've lost your cart, but this isn't it, and that's not your watermelon." I smile at him and scrunch my eyes sarcastically. Instead of diffusing the situation, my comment has the opposite effect. I guess it could have been the eye scrunch, dumb Ellie.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He snarls at me. Of course, I answer "It doesn't matter who I am. Who are you? And what makes you think you can huff and puff and steal people's watermelons?"

If I were a spectator to this absurd conversation, I'd be dying of laughter; two grown adults arguing, and getting fired up over produce, a watermelon for crying out loud.

I see his eyes scan me from head to toe, no doubt trying to find where my confidence is coming from. It's quite obvious he would obliterate me. "She had it, I wanted it. End of story. You are in way over your head. You don't belong here, go home before you do something you'll regret." See, this is where Derek gets the 'culty vibes' from, and he's not wrong. How did this man know I'm not from the area? Ugh, that's a fight for another time. I can feel D tense behind me, I need to end this convo before it gets any uglier.

I take a step toward the man and the melon, "well, since anything goes around here," I quickly lean down and lick the watermelon. " I licked it, it's mine now. Or do I maybe have to pee on it too, mark my territory?" I emphasize the fact that I am hooking my thumbs into the waistband of my shorts, ready to lower them to the ground.

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I see his eyes widen slightly before he gives me a disgusted look. "The fuck is wrong with you?" He all but throws the melon at me, "like I said, get the fuck out before I force you out." He turns on his heel and leaves.

"The ol' pee on the watermelon trick, works everytime. Heh." Derek says from behind me, I can hear the relief in his voice. I'm glad he didn't call my bluff, because I certainly was not going to pee on anything.

The woman beside me is trembling, eyes wide. Like Derek, I think she thought things were about to go bad. "You shouldn't have done that!" I sigh, "I know. I'm sorry for interfering with your business, but I hate bullies and that man was a big one!" She glances toward the melon I now hold in my arms, "he could have had it, I probably shouldn't buy it anyway."

I shake my head at her, she's really breaking my heart here. "You SHOULD buy it. Enjoy it with your kids. I'm Ellie by the way." She looks down at her kids, then back at me "I'm Katrina, nice to meet you. This is Kaiden, and your little helper is Kendyll."

Since the moment I set eyes on this little family, I've had a strong urge to help them, support them in some way. That urge has only intensified after the whole melon debacle.

Hmm, I wonder, "I have an idea. It may seem a little crazy, but it would be beneficial to us both. I just so happen to have a pretty massive garden behind my house, but no help to harvest and weed. How would you like to come help me once a week? You could keep what you pluck. I have more than I know what to do with. I live about 45 minutes away, but I'll find a way to help you get there and back. What do you say?" She looks at me, and for the first time since meeting, breaks into a genuine smile. "That would be... amazing, yes!"

We go about exchanging numbers and saying our goodbyes while Derek loads the truck. Yes, he loaded all those bags of mulch on his own, whoopsies. As I'm about to drive off, I see Katrina and her kids lugging their groceries down a long empty stretch of road, I shouldn't be surprised they don't have a vehicle, sigh. I would love to offer her a ride, but don't want to overstep my bounds. Instead, I put the truck in drive and head home.

"I wouldn't have been much help, ya know." Derek pulls me from me thoughts, "huh?" His eyes get large, "with that guy back there, he was big.. big, and really angry." I shake my head, "Eh, I've seen bigger." He scoffs, "really though, what were you thinking?"

What was I thinking? I just know that when I saw him taking advantage of a women and her children like that, ohhh was I angry. I was boiling inside. "The second I said something, I knew I shouldn't have. I just couldn't help it. If I ever see someone steal a watermelon again, I promise I'll try to keep my mouth shut." I give him a silly grin, to which he rolls his eyes and goes back to his phone.

Derek is right, it really wasn't like me, but the way I felt in that moment was so intense... maybe it is me. He's never really seen me at work, though. There, I am very much a take-charge, no nonsense kind of person. In that emergency/critical care environment, you need to be decisive and confident in your decisions, if not, people could die. This was different. I let my emotions get the better of me.

First that man in the diner, now this man with the melon. I'm really being tested today.