One of the Weirdest Things

One of the strangest things to ever happen to me occurred in a small town, somewhere off of Interstate 15 in Montana. I needed a pit stop and pulled into the parking lot of a gas station / mini mart. There were one or two other cars in the lot. However, when I walked inside, the place was completely deserted. I looked for an employee but after I called out "hello?" a few times with no response, I walked to the back of the store to find the restroom. When I was finished and walked outside, the store was very busy - three cashiers were ringing up several customers who were waiting in three separate lines. There were a couple of kids running down the candy bar aisle. A manager was writing on his clipboard. Outside, the parking lot was full. I bought a soda and a snack and went on my way.

But for years, I have been perplexed by this. How could a store go from deserted to bustling in just three or four minutes? It wasn't as if a tour bus had arrived and unloaded passengers.(and employees!) As I contemplated various scenarios for this, I came to an odd conclusion. I felt like I was a character in a video game who had arrived at an appointed destination a few minutes earlier than I was scheduled. And, the programmer designing the game realized his error and corrected it while I was in the ladies room.

Unlikely? Maybe.