Spring Clearance

It was early in the morning and the crowds were gathering outside the large super store, for their annual spring sale . Buskers performed on the sidewalk opposite and now and then , fast food vans paraded past , with the aromatic smell of hot coffee and donuts wafting through the still morning air .

On the sidewalk a well groomed young lady held tightly to her shopping bag ,s she made her way through the queue , towards the front of the store .
Luckily enough she got away with it . I guess she was the pushy type , but so innocent of face and very pretty . Every now and then she stopped to check her shopping list that she had previously written .There were a number of specific things that she had written down which included the colour , size and name of the designer label she wanted .

The wonder of it all was that she came with no money .
But that wasn’t an issue because she was slowly acquiring the funds she needed for shopping . In seconds she dipped their pocket and handbags dropping items into her shopping bag .
She always worked in tight crowds , unseen , unsuspected and unbelievably sleight of hand . The amount of cash she drew in , often depended upon what part of town she was in , or in which queue she stood . As far as pick pockets went she was one of the best . She had style , beauty and courage .
She loved to dip the larger pockets of middle aged men who didn’t mind her getting in close . She choose her victims at random .

Looks were deceiving .

Within an hour she knew she had more than enough for her shopping spree .
The doors were about to open and as they did the stampede almost knocked the store manager off his feet . The pick pocket made her way to the toilets where she quickly emptied the cash out of all the wallets and purses in her shopping bag . After putting the loot into her bag she dumped all the evidence into a rubbish container in the ladies toilet and then made her way out into the store to begin shopping .

A few minutes passed when a very upset man screamed .

“Somebody’s stolen my wallet ! “

Customers nearby were getting uncomfortable with hin as he continued to scream and shout .

Two security men approached and had a word with him .
He wasn’t making it any easier for himself by becoming aggressive towards them . Eventually the had to escort him outside .

The lady pickpocket was slowly making her way through her shopping list , ticking off each of the items after she purchased them .

Suddenly when another customer discovered she had been robbed she let out a piercing scream and shouted aloud .
.

“Call the police . I’ve been robbed !”

The pick pocket watched from a distance and even enjoyed the pleas of her victims who were in great distress . As her other victims were finding out that they too had been robbed she gloated and proudly reflected back on her mornings handiwork .

Her twisted feelings of elation came to a close when a masked man appeared brandishing a handgun . Holding it to the young lady’s head he ordered everyone to get on the floor ..
As security arrived the bandit fired three shots taking out some of the stores video surveillance cameras .

The store e manager approached with his hands in the air pleading for him to let the young lady go .
The bandit tossed an empty shopping bag to the managers feet and said ,

“Fill the bag with cash now . I want big notes only . Don’t try to be smart or she gets a bullet . Don’t call the police , she’s coming with me as my hostage and don’t think I won’t shoot any other person in the store .”

The manager nodded his head in agreement and took up the bag .
As he made way from till to till putting cash into the bag , the bandit continued to shout demands .

“Security men , throw your weapons on the floor and kick them over to me now .”

In a minute of desperation the bag was filled and handed to the bandit who made his way from the store with his gun at the head of the lady pick pocket .

A busker who tried to become a hero was shot on the spot and fell to the ground . People on the sidewalk ran for cover .

“Please let me go .”
The lady said to the bandit .

“No way .You’re staying right here with me and my gun until I think I’m in the clear . Ok .”

“Help me .”

She screamed out to people but they weren’t interested to get involved .
The bandit opened the door of a car on the sidewalk and pushed her into the drivers seat .

“Drive .“
He said .

She replied .
“I’ve never driven a car before .”

“Well move over into the passenger seat and if you try anything I will use this gun and I’d hate to see your blood all over my windscreen .“
The young lady did as she was asked and the bandit got behind the wheel and drove away from the kerb with one hand on the wheel and the other hand pointed the gun at the young lady’s head ..

On the way to another incident a police car came speeding up from behind with lights flashing and siren sounding . The bandit assumed that the police were after him and began to drive at speed in and out of the traffic .

The police car took up pursuit and radioed headquarters for back up .
The bandits car continued to evade the police and at times almost collided with pedestrians ,. The police were forced to give up the chase as it was becoming too dangerous to continue the pursuit in the city traffic .

The bandit though he was in the clear but once his car was out on the freeway a number of police cars again took up the pursuit . A copper in a chopper hovered overhead and the bandit became extremely agitated .
As his car thundered along the police had placed a roadblock and spikes across the freeway . The bandit panicked and tried to turn around to face the opposite direction but in doing so flipped the car that landed in the path of an on coming semi trailer . The impact of the collision was so bad that both people in the car were killed instantly . The car had exploded into flames and everything inside the vehicle was destroyed .
As no bank notes were found and the car had been a stolen vehicle the police were at a loss to explain why the driver of the car acted the way he did .

Both the lady pick pocket and the bandit were of an unknown identity .
The cases behind their deaths still remain a mystery .

The End

By Paul McCann