What Happened Around the Corner?

Written by Bro, Edited by Jing

Part 1: From Jing’s Point of View

It was a dark and cloudy night-- the perfect night for a murder-- and I sat in the driver's seat enjoying a Whopper from Burger King. As I leaned in and took another bite, the force of my bite caused the tomatoes to squish juice out, which perfectly complimented the burger.

“This Whopper is a real whopper,” I thought. Heh, I should write that down.

I looked over at my brother in the passenger's seat and spaced out, while glancing at "Woody's," the convenience store paired with the gas station we just used.

Hah, Woody…WOODY. I smiled.

As I leaned in for another bite, a man with three children caught my eye as they walked by. He was a Hispanic man with a medium build and he held the hands of two children. The four were taking a stroll behind Woody's at 11 o’clock at night. The party appeared to have come from Denny's, the restaurant behind our car across the street.

I turned to my brother and asked, "Did you see that?"

He replied, "What? The creepy dude with the cap and three children walking behind Woody's? No, he only passed right in front of me."

His sarcasm was obvious. I knew he would probably go on to write this story to make him seem sarcastic, when he, in reality, was not so sarcastic.

At first, we didn't think anything of the situation. There are plenty of reasons why a Hispanic man in his late-twenties/early-thirties would go behind a convenience store with three children. Unfortunately, more than half of these acts are illegal in all 50 states. We originally didn't think too much of it, but as the minutes went by, our paranoia increased.

What could have they been doing?


Theory 1 (Backseat Mom):

M: Maybe he went behind the store to use the bathroom.

J: Why? Can't he just go into the store? It's so shady...

B: And why would he go behind WOODY'S, of all places?

-End Theory 1-


Theory 2 (Shotgun Bro):

B: Maybe he went back there to molest them.

M: That's not likely...

B: I mean, think about it, why would he walk BEHIND the store? What's worth walking behind a store, where it's all dark and there's a chance to get mugged? And it's three children - give them some candy and they'll follow you to any dark alley.

M: Now that you mention it, that is really shady, and it seems worthy of an investigation.


-Support for Theory 2-

J: And what would he do BEHIND the store? If he came from Denny's, he went out of his way just to go behind Woody's. Like he WANTED to be there with the children. Also, if he really were using the restroom, he could have used it at Denny's.

-End Support Arc-


M: The kids looked pretty happy, though.

B: Of course they looked happy, he probably gave them a few Blowpops to practice on before he brought them there!

Author's note:
That wasn't said at all, what was really said was something along the lines of, "Oh... Maybe they didn't know what was gonna happen."

J: Man, in a few days, we're gonna see some message on television with three missing children and a possible Hispanic suspect.

M: Let’s just drive behind Woody's and see what's there.

B: What would that prove? What if he IS molesting them? What will we do? Call the cops?

J: What if he has a gun?

B: Yeah, there's no benefit to go there.

Our burgers' lifetimes were running out quickly as this matter continued. My burger was less than half done because I'm the slowest eater this side of the universe, but my bro and mom were almost done.

Evidence Thus Far:
- Going into a dark and shady corner behind the gas station's store
- Three kids that were a bit too happy
- Hispanic man in his late-twenties/early-thirties, with medium build
- Coming from the direction of a Denny's
- Been gone for about 20 minutes

Part 2: Second Half from Bro’s Perspective

B: Okay, let’s try to spin it from a different angle.


Theory 3 (Shotgun Bro):

B: So maybe he works at Woody's, and he brought his kids there because he didn't have anyone to take care of them. Then, because he wanted his kids to sit still, he came through the back, and left them in the manager's room, while he went to work!

M: No, even workers come through the front, there really is no benefit to coming through the back because you walk a lot more; you might as well just take the kids through the front.

B: Okay, this is getting kinda scary, it's been a long time already.

I looked around, it was definitely late, and has obviously been awhile. The time dragged on forever, as Jing took bite...after bite... ever so slowly. I glared at the Whopper and the devoured bite...after bite... ever so slowly. I just threw everything in the trash bag; the only thing left to complete the collection was Jing's Whopper wrapper, so we could throw it away. We probably would have kept the trash, if we did not see the garbage can over there...

B: Wait, I can get a clear view of what's going on behind Woody's from there! If I'm shot at, start the car.

I walked to the garbage can, examining everything behind the store.

There are trucks, lots of trucks, and a McDonalds, too! But wait, if he came from Denny's…
I turned around to see the direction that he came. There were two restaurants, and in between, there was a sign for an Inn.

At Jing's angle, it would have been impossible to see the sign... I see...

I returned to the car, giddy at the prospect of a final solution.


Theory 4 (Shotgun Bro):

The man came from the Inn. He walked across the street to cut behind the Woody's. About 200 feet behind the Woody's, there was a McDonalds. He probably offered to buy Happy Meals for the young children!

But wait:
Why would any single father travel alone with 3 kids? (Can he afford the trip?)
If he isn't a single father, why didn't the mother come too?
Why did he have to take all the kids to eat out there?


We never went into the McDonald’s to confirm it, so maybe he really was doing something illegal.

Maybe he's still out there with the kids…

-End-