I am compelled to write about something that I witnessed last Friday. I'm sure, to any readers, it may seem non-significant...but the image won't leave me.

Last Friday night, Eman and I did our typical jaunt downtown. It was the last Friday after Five and the band was a New Orleans Funk band. Our Pack Square area which is where the Friday after Fives are held is under renovations right now, turning the area into a huge park.
Anyway, last Friday it was set up at Grove Arcade. So, we listened to the band a bit, then were trying to decide what we wanted for dinner. I don't typically like to buy food at food booths due to how expensive it is and I wanted to sit down and have a long leisurely dinner before we headed to the Drum Circle. We walked around Grove Arcade (which is the nations oldest mall and was recently restored and is a mall once again) I stopped to take a picture of the Griffin that sits outside one end of it and I heard Eman say "Hey, I know where we can eat!".
 After taking my pic, I looked over to see him pointing across the street. I see a large banner with the words 'Now Open, Cuban Restaurant'
Wow!  A new Cuban restaurant! How exciting!  We love Cuban food and had a great restaurant we went to, but they closed down.
We noticed the door was open and lights were on inside, so we headed over.
We stepped inside. It was completely deserted, except for a lone boy sitting at a small table with a checkers board in front of him. It was like he was a statue. He didn't move and was just staring at the board. We walked around....no one came out...all the lights were on, tables set up....bright tropical colors and decor....all that was missing were people. There was no one there...except for the boy who still had not moved or said a word.
We made the assumption that they must still be getting ready and were actually not open, although it was a very eerie feeling to be there and have no one there. We took all of it in, then headed back out the door. As we passed the boy and I had another glance at him, I realized that I knew him.
He was the youngest child of the homeless family we took in a few years back.
This family, we discovered, were con-artists...they did indeed have nothing and were indeed broke and homeless, but they had no plans of rectifying that. Instead they used others to provide them with a home, food, all they needed.
They were both physically fit, smart and fully capable of getting jobs, but they refused to do so.
We finally had to ask them to leave.
It was not a good situation, they left in a rage at us.
We have spotted them a few times around town, so we knew they obviously found another sucker.
Back to the restaurant.....it was like some weird dreamscape to go inside, see no one except the son of this family, sitting there all alone, not saying a word, staring at a checkers board.
The image hasn't left me.
Maybe its because it is that time of year when my mind wants to create some kind of horror story and that scene last Friday...well....was not only weird, but seemed like an opening scene for something.....

So....what do you think? Does the scene invoke anything in you? Does it set the stage for a story?

Here via Michele's.

That does seem very odd to me. My first guess would be that the family runs the place and they hid because they saw you coming. That doesn't quite seem right to me, though.

I wonder who they've conned into getting a restaurant. Or at least eating for free everynight.

Here from Michele.

That is really spooky. I would have gotten out of there as quickly as possible. :o

I can hear the music from the Twilight Zone. That is creepy. Now I just wish I knew what happened next. Can you finish it by like writing an ending to it? That would really make me happy.

Wow..that is really spooky. I think you were smart to leave. Just saying hi from Michele.

That is eerie.
(I would've loved that band I bet)