I was at a local grocery store the other night, close to closing time. As I headed out, I saw a grandfather struggling with the groceries and trying to keep his grandchild in his line of vision.

The little girl was scampering around, and headed the opposite direction from that of her grandpa. I stopped and mumbled for her to turn around and head in the general direction but the child was distracted and in her own little safe world.

She hurried along, oblivious to where her relative was and stopped short when she came across a pair of sturdy legs. She looked up, startled, into the face of a man who was filling water from the water vending machines.

Her face changed from careless to stunned and then fearful within the split second.

She looked up, spread her arms out, and said, “Please don’t take me.”

The man who was filling the water was stunned too, he was not in a good situation. He looked around and was almost relieved to see me watching them.

The girl by then had run back to her grandfather, and I am guessing she will not wander too far from him.

It made me incredibly sad, to see that we live in such times where a 5-year-old has to be made aware of the dangers of abduction.

It was a good thing that the man was in a crowded grocery store with someone witnessing the whole situation, or it could have placed him in an awkward position.

Try explaining to someone why a child is requesting you not to take them away.

I walked out, in some ways relieved that the child was aware enough, in other ways apprehensive of the vulnerability of a child.

The missing and dead children on the news don’t help either.