Borders Bookstore in Chestnut Hill/Boston, MA

Received Wednesday, March 18, 2009
I am going to post this and I don't want any flames or repercussions. I am going to post this because this is what I saw and this needs to be shared. In retrospect, I coulda, shoulda, woulda, but hindsight is 20/20 and life comes at you fast.

I was in the Chestnut Hill Borders bookstore. I was with my three year old daughter and she was helping me pick out books for our upcoming vacation. A young woman and a child passed us a few times and the little girl (cherry print shirt, taupe cords, black buckle shoes, dk. brown hair with ringlet style curls, blue eyes, and the same size as my 3 year old) was obviously interested in my child. The woman was looking around the bookstore, holding the girl's hand. Finally, she said, "you can say hi, say hi". With that the little girl said hi and started talking about her brother who has lots of train books, but she doesn't like trains, but Thomas is okay". I tell the young woman, "she's precious". The young woman says, "she's super. I'm the nanny". I say, "I'm the Mom". The nanny bends down and says hello to my child. Then she talks to the child about helping her pick out some books for her brother first since he couldn't come. They disappear, off to what I assume was the child's area. I am in the best seller area, the new arrival and the magazines. While in the magazine section, the two reappear. The nanny is holding a stack of books. She is looking at the magazines on the other side of me and the two girls are at the end aisle somewhat talking. The little girl with the nanny is VERY verbal, "do you have a dog?, I have one dog, but maybe we are getting one more. Then we would have two dogs. And you would still have no dogs. I don't like cats. Cats make my mom itch a lot, so we don't have cats. If I had a cat, the cat would be named..." etc. So my little girl is pleasantly entertained. The nanny says, "would you mind if I ran to the bathroom? I usually take her, but she's right on top of me". I say, go ahead, of course. So the nanny sets her books down and off she goes. The girls are still talking. I am leafing through magazines and my stack of books and magazines is growing. I realize the nanny has been gone for almost ten minutes. I am not 100 percent sure of the time since I wasn't watching the clock, but it would have to be a good amount of time because I noticed it, even though I was still looking at magazines and the children were talking and twirling about five feet from me. Just when I start to wonder, the nanny returns. She is still as pleasant as before but there is something different about her. I notice it as she is walking towards us. As she comes to collect her books and thank me, I notices very evident white powder on the outside and just inside of one of her nostrils. It was very noticeable. She thanks me and tells me she had to freshen up. I notice now that she has made up one eye. Like one eye has a very obvious amount of mascara on it and one eye is completely plain. She makes a comment about being on the move from the time the children wake up until Mom comes through the door and thanks me again. Then she is off.

I stand there confused and concerned. I'm no babe of the woods. But I don't know if or how to say something and I wonder if the child is going to be okay. It is not an ideal situation to have a nanny use cocaine. So, I did nothing. I've thought about this all evening.

Aside from the fact that the little girl obviously has a brother in to trains and her description, I can tell you that the nanny was white. She was unassuming in the way she looked. I think she had on a nude or tan colored sweater and it was a v neck and she had a white shirt underneath it. She had on jeans but I don't know what kind. They fit her well. She had an athletic figure, nice shape, small bosoms, thin hips and was medium height. She had light brown hair that was worn up in a loose bun and no jewelry. I don't remember shoes or bags. The magazines she was looking at before she went to the restroom were house and design magazines.