Good Deed vs. Crazy Lunatic

So....I'm at home last night with the kids alone. It's about 8pm. It's dark. A knock sounds on our door. You have to realize that I don't live on a "block" where people just come up and knock. I live on a very busy road. If someone is knocking, it's usually a) Missionaries *Sigh*, b) The UPS Driver, or c) a few kids that live on the only real "block" by my house. As it was 8pm, pitch black and freezing out, I had quickly ruled out all 3 of those folks.

I answered the door, with a little pit in my stomach to realize a young man standing there all huddled up, cold, hat pulled down over his forehead. He said his car had run out of gas at the end of my drivway, and would I happen to have an empty gas canister so he could go get a gallon of gas?

In all of about 7 seconds, my mind thought all of the following (and pretty much in this order):

1) Wow, it would really suck to be out of gas at this time of night since it's so bitter out.
2) This guy could TOTALLY be lying and he's here to murder me and my kids. Or possibly just rob our house.
3)I'm bigger than this guy, and I could maybe put up a decent fight.
4)What the hell? Just help this guy, already, Kelly!

So I did. I had him stand in my foyer, coming in from out of the cold (still fighting off the very strong WTF moment that I just let a complete strange man into my house), grabbed my shoes, coat, and purse and took him out to the garage. He told me he had tried the houses behind me but they said they didn't have any canisters, which I explained was probably true because the one neighbor has a huge shovel type mechanism on the front of his truck and he just plows the street himself, hence I doubt anybody even has a snowblower.

The kids were watching from the big window. I actually also thought, OK if somethign happens to me, they'll see and they are old enough, they know how to respond. I think. Unless this guy has 2 other hooligans hiding in the bushes, ready to enter the house and take the kids out, too. Sighhhhh.....

This guy was willing to just take the canister and walk up to the gas station (which would have taken him at least 30 minutes each way and, it's FREEZING out! And we don't have sidewalks, so he would have been fighting off cars not trying to hit him on my narrow two-lane roads)...so when I offered to drive him up to the gas station, I think he was taken aback. So was I. What was I doing? Getting into a car with this guy? Leaving my kids at home alone? But ya know what? I just couldn't shake the idea that this guy needed help and I was the one who needed to provide it.

This story has a happy ending, don't worry. I took him to the gas station, we filled up the one-gallon canister, he filled his car up, and he thanked me, driving away successfully.... Turns out, he's from Royal Oak, and he grew up on the street right next to mine! Went to the same elementary school, had the same teachers. Yeah, yeah, I know - too coincidental right? I'm naive and I offered all this information to him and he just went with it, that's what scam artists do, right??? Nope.I was careful. I didn't offer anything myself, I just asked where he lived, if he was close....and it's his parents that live out here after they moved from R.O.

Anyway, the entire time (this whole scene took about 15 minutes) I'm fighting the urge to keep my keys locked in between my knuckles in order to stab him should he make a move. Or watching the people around trying to figure out who to yell out to should something happen. Or how I can swerve mightily should he try something in the car....I mean, seriously, what is this world coming to that I can't go help somebody without all these deranged thoughts popping up in my head?