Let's pretend this never happened

     If any of my friends go to work tomorrow and your colleagues tell you about a mother with her 2 boys at the mall, that was me. Otherwise, let's pretend this never happened.
     C was sort of in a volatile mood this morning. I needed him to go to the grocery store with me and he didn't want to. We left with him being a crab and I was nervous as to how this would go. I figured I would go in and get just what I needed and then if things were going well, I could get other things. Well, $350 later and an Icee should tell you that things went well, really well in fact. He helped me unload all of the groceries, picked up something in the yard, and told me I was the best mom ever. He was being extremely cooperative and I made sure to tell him that. I told him I loved it when he was such a good helper and it made me so happy. He told me he liked it when I was happy.
     C's older brother needs new clothes. In fact, he doesn't have any pants that fit him and it is going to be in the 20's this week. SO after unloading the groceries, I told C we were going to the mall to get his brother some new clothes. First, we would be going to eat lunch though, as I knew both boys were hungry.
     We were standing in line to order food and C started getting chippy. In fact, he was starting to get nasty. I'm sure it was a combination of being hungry and not wanting to go to the food joint we picked. So, I took him out into the corridor to talk to him and that is when everything went south, fast. He started grabbing me, pulling my hair, pulling my clothes,etc. So his brother and I managed to get outside. This did not calm him down, in fact, it might have rilled him up even more. We tried to walk away toward our car (which was on the other side of the mall) and he attacked me, in broad daylight, in front of mall customers.  People did not know what to do and a few did approach me to ask if I needed help. A woman had her phone and told me she would call 911 if I said to. The security guard approached and C ran around the corner of the building. Right before this he was yelling at the woman who was going to call 911. I don't remember what he said but I do remember the look in the woman's eyes. His brother kept an eye on him while I talked to the security guard and another man that was trying to help. I explained to the security guard that he was on behavior meds that we had to take him off of because they caused seizures. "So this is what he does when he is not on his meds." I told him. He told me if I need anything to call. The man that was there asked me if he could pray for me and I told him yes. I didn't realize he meant, right now with you. I thought maybe he would pray before he went to bed tonight. So, he stood there with me and prayed. I am not a religious person at all. In fact, I question God, mortality,and spirituality often. Let's put it this way, I don't really know what I believe. But, I will say that having this man pray for me was so comforting, I can't even explain it. And I must say, that the concern of the strangers that wanted to help meant a lot to me. I'm glad to know there are good people out there that would be willing to help a stranger.
     We walked all the way around the mall back to the car and I wish I could say that C was calm and back to himself by this time, but he wasn't. He was better, but not himself. So we made it home and we were still not in the clear. It took a good hour for him to come back to himself.
     I'm not even going to talk about the embarrassment that I felt with these strangers or how this has affected his brother. I worry about his brother all of the time. I think about what others think. I'm going to just (kind of) pretend this never happened.