Persuasion, or, The Carrot and the Stick, Reversed

I took this picture in the parking lot at the injection doctor's on Friday. I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how exactly to orient my phone to capture both decals and enough of the van to provide context - my art is my obsession - so I ended up standing in the position reflected here, directly behind the rear window, for a good deal longer than expected.

As I moved left and right to change the angle, and switched from vertical to horizontal back to vertical a few dozen times, I couldn't help but chuckle at the contrast between the two stickers.

Then, I thought a little harder about the gun one and the type of person who might apply such a thing to a vehicle and my chuckling sputtered into more of an awkward cough.

Then, I noticed the silhouette of a human head emerge from the outline of the vehicle's driver seat and the cough staggered into a panicky wheeze.

Had I been spotted? How long had I been standing there - and - God help me - laughingly taking pictures - in open defiance of the "Please Go Away" sticker? How long did it take to load a Glock?

All good questions, these, and I pondered them thoroughly as I sprint-limped 50 yards across the pavement, up a handicapped ramp, through two of those impossibly-slow-moving automatic doors, and into the relative safety of the waiting room.

Fortunately, I was neither pursued nor fired upon, and no one in the office seemed to think it too unusual for a patient to return for a little extra waiting after his appointment. Even better, twenty minutes and at least that many peeks out the window later, the Gunmobile peaceably departed and I was able make my escape. For now, at least.