The guy blends in with the crowd, mostly. He’s wearing shorts and a tank-top, beach shoes, and carrying a gym bag. What makes him stand out from the crowd is when he opens the gym bag and removes a ski-mask and a Mac-10 machine pistol.

"Everybody face down on the floor!" the masked man yells. The beachside bar is filled mostly with college kids on spring break. They do as they are ordered as they become aware of the gunman.

"You, behind the bar, put the money in here," the gunman says, tossing the gym bag over beside the register. He tells the customers to put their money on the floor beside them. "Stay down," he yells.

Within three minutes he’s out the door. Putting the ski-mask and the Mac-10 into the money bag, he takes off running toward the beach.

It’s twilight, with maybe 15 minutes of daylight left. The holdup guy’s plan is working perfectly, so far. He spent several hours across the street beforehand, playing miniature golf and checking how often the police come by. He’s thought of everything. Almost everything.

As the robber races along the beach toward his car, what he sees next sickens him. Surf from the incoming tide is splashing up against the grill of his Cherokee. The wheels are sunk deep in the wet sand. His getaway car is hopelessly stuck!

The holdup guy’s plans quickly collapse. In panic, he takes off running – and he’s fast. Patrons from the bar are about a hundred yards behind him. Police had been alerted. Three lifeguards join in the chase. Somebody should have warned this guy: No matter what kind of shape you think you’re in — never try to outrun a lifeguard.

Desperate, the holdup guy drops his gym bag and leaps into the surf. About thirty yards from the beach the water is getting deep. He starts swimming.

Twenty minutes later, after spitting up a couple pints of ocean water, the guy looks up at the police. "My car—how did it get in the water?"

Standing in the background, the lifeguard who saved the guy’s life comments: "Dorothy here must be from Kansas — he’s never heard about ocean tides."

What ever happened to the gym bag with the ski-mask, the Mac-10, and all that money? Somebody picked it up at the water’s edge, but absentmindedly forgot to hand it over to the cops.