I was in the Philippines, or maybe Thailand. I know it was southeast Asian, a Polynesian vibe present all around. It was warm and humid, and I was wearing flip-flops (which I hate in real life). I was at some outside bar/restaurant with a group of folk watching a Bollywood version of a western movie. In the movie, there were guys on horseback. There were other guys on horseback. There was dirt. There were pistols and angry language.
I got bored. Noticing I had a headache, I walked down the street to a nearby sundry store. The store was on the corner of a block, and was small and claustrophobic. Despite its' limited size, there were two cash registers active.
A crowd of people were in the store, barely in two lines. Others stood around along the walls, as if they had nowhere else to go. I grabbed a small tin of aspirin, and moved to a place where I thought I was at the back of a line. As customers paid for their products, I moved up fairly rapidly. Soon, I was at the register.
As I navigated the language barrier, I could notice off to my right there was a guy acting suspiciously. He wasn't in line, but standing near the register. Every so often, he would feint as if he was reaching for something on the counter. Soon, as I was paying for my aspirin, he grabbed it from the counter before I could pocket it. He was pretty brazen about it, looking at me as he took my product.
He made no effort to escape. He simply turned on his heels, and walked maybe 15 to 20 feet away from the register. He stood among a group of people who were standing along a wall. He knew I saw him, he didn't deny his petty theft, but he wouldn't give back my aspirin. The surrounding locals smirked and giggled, as if this guy acted this way on a regular basis. The more I reached for his shoulder to control him, the more he slipped my grasp. I never did get back the aspirin.
No comments:
Post a Comment