The Strutter

She has been circling our block over and over again for the past couple of weeks.  Sometimes she is accompanied by two young children....perhaps younger siblings.  I have also seen her with another girl about her age and with a couple of boys close to her age.  She is probably about 13.


It's a free country, and she can walk around the block on the sidewalk as much as she pleases.  But, she concerns me, because she isn't just walking.  She is strutting her stuff..."her stuff" being those newly acquired curves that a girl her age often has.


I have seen this type of activity in a girl her age before, and I know it can lead to trouble.  Although we live on a lovely street with good neighbors, I have over the years been aware of unsavory characters on both cross streets for our block.  I don't know if she is trying to attract the attention of someone specific and would be smart enough to run from the advances of men of inappropriate age, or not.


Additionally, she has not confined herself to the sidewalks.  Our neighbor caught her in his yard taking apples off the trees.  I saw her in our back yard by the tomato plants.  It appeared that she was picking green tomatoes.  I banged on the window, and she ran away.  Yesterday my husband, who was sitting in the living room with the front door open, heard her outside our house bragging to some companions that she had messed around in our tomatoes.


So...what to do?  
Ignore her?  But then I would feel guilty of something happened to her.
Speak to her?  She will just think I am a foolish and clueless old woman.  Girls her age know everything, or at least, think they do.
Talk to her mother?  I have no idea who her mother is.  If she allows her daughter to "strut" maybe she doesn't care...or maybe she isn't home and the girl is supposed to be babysitting the young children who circle the block with her.


So I am pondering:  if I see her in the tomatoes again, what if I follow her home....don't speak to her...just walk around the block about 20 feet behind her, until she goes into a house or apartment?  Then I follow her in, knock on the door, and see if an adult is there and willing to talk to me.  Too confrontational?   Might just end in trouble?


Sigh....I know I can pray for her, but sometimes action is required.  What to do?