My son almost got kidnapped by an extremely brazen man

I'm a single mom and this happened on a rare day when I wasn't working and my son and I were hanging out on our own. My son was about 3 at the time and I was 26. We went to a (small) mall to go to the pet store there, and after the pet store, we bought some food from the food court, and sat down to eat it. This was around 7 or 8 pm, and the mall was practically empty already, which was fine, because we kind of like it better that way and we weren't there to shop for anything but dog food.<br><br>I sat down at a table, and my son went to the garbage can to throw something out. As I sat there, I saw a man immediately approach my son and strike up a conversation with him. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but he was clearly chatting him up. I shouted my son's name and said we were over here now, and my son turned around and started walking towards me, with the man following close behind him. I said "hi" to the guy as he approached, and he smiled and sat down at our table, saying "Hi, I'm Steve", and I told him I wasn't interested and asked him to leave. And then he did. That was weird, I thought, but other than that, not too strange, weird men have approached me before when I was alone, and you just have to be rude sometimes, and it's not fun.<br><br>Anyway, we're eating our food again after that little interruption, and after about five minutes, the same guy comes back, this time holding a balloon, and sets it down on the table and says "for the kid", and sat down again. I told him I didn't want him sitting there and I asked him to leave again. He said "it's not a big deal, I'm leaving in a minute", but he didn't get up. I told him I was going to call security, and he laughed at that, and I pulled out my phone to show him I wasn't bullshitting, and he finally got up and left again. My son and I quickly got up and headed towards the mall exit. We walked quicker than usual and I looked back and saw the man following us, about 10 feet behind. I started walking faster and my son asked what was wrong. I told him that I thought the man might have bad intentions and we needed to get away from him. He kept following us, and at one point I stopped and turned around and asked him "what is it that you want?". But he didn't say anything. My guess is that he didn't want me to hear his voice, or to see his lips moving, because I was a woman and it was just me and a small child, and he probably figured we were easy targets. I started walking at a very fast pace again after that, and when I looked back again, I saw him turn and go the other way. When we got out to the parking lot, I quickly opened the back door and stuck my son in, and when I shut that and was opening the drivers door, I saw him walking at a fast pace out of the mall as well, towards his car, and he looked right at me as he was speeding away out of the parking lot. The whole thing from start to finish was so bizarre. Also, I'm not a stupid woman who doesn't know how to handle herself, and I've been in plenty of crummy situations in my life, but the way he acted was something I'd never encountered before. It looked like a plan, a calculated well-thought out plan that was ruined because I'm pretty savvy, and I knew how to protect me and mine. This happened about 5 years ago and it still bothers me that this dude is out there, and I can't imagine him ever getting caught, because he seemed so calculated in his plan. I'll never forget the way he looked at me as he was speeding out of the parking lot. I pray that my son and I were his last targets and that he never tried again, and I can't forget the whole thing for some reason.<br><br>&#x200B;