another first - calling the cops

What a week - first big snowfall, first time having to call the cops.

Today was the fifth time the same teenage boy has come into the store. Since his first visit this summer, when he claimed he was looking for a certain kind of jewelry, until today, when he walked in carrying an 18" icicle, he has always been aggressive, rude and very full of himself.

One time he walked in and then fell on the floor. A couple of weeks ago he came in saying he needed to use the phone for an emergency. Each time he has had other kids with him, but never the same kids. Today it was a girl who also had an icicle.

I asked them to take the icicles out of the store, as they were dripping all over the floor and the cases. He went outside, raised it up and then smashed it on the carpeting in the entranceway, screaming at me the whole time. Then, amazingly, he came back in the store.

I had had it. I reached for the phone and he said, "who are you calling, the cops?" Once he realized that, yes, I was calling the cops, he and the girl ran out of the store. I was full of adrenalin and shaking like a leaf.

A patrolman and a sergeant came to the store and took a report. I kept shaking long after they had left. There's something a little off with that kid and I sure hope he doesn't come back again, just to get even.