"Meet Me at the Mall"
Two guys storm into a pizza store carrying guns and wearing ski masks. "Give it up," the tall robber with the shotgun says to the woman cashier. Her hands are shaking so badly she has trouble opening the register. "Do it now, girlie," yells the gunman.
As ordered, she puts the money in a delivery bag, then lies face down on the floor. Nobody notices how they got away because all employees are staring at the white tile floor.
The girl calls 911 and locks the doors. She’s been told to do that to preserve any evidence the robbers may have left behind. Police find little during a canvas of the store. A detective leaves his business card with the girl in case she thinks of something that may be helpful.
Two days later, the phone rings at the pizza store. The girl answers. The guy apologizes for his partner, "the tall guy with the shotgun that yelled at you," the caller says.
The girl is stunned, but she quickly pulls herself together. "That’s okay, at least you didn’t say anything nasty to me," she says.
A brief conversation follows while the caller asks the pizza girl for a date. She’s startled but doesn’t loose her cool. "Sure," she says, "I can meet you at the food court at the mall." The caller describes what he’ll be wearing, then hangs up.
The girl digs into her purse until she finds the detective’s business card. She makes a call. Cops arrange for plainclothes backup at the food court the next afternoon.
As promised, the robber, minus his ski mask and pistol, shows up for his expected "date." He’s quickly captured and cuffed. The robber seems a bit surprised the girl turned him in. In an effort to cut himself some slack, the guy rolls over on his shotgun wielding partner. Now both men are doing 10 years in the state pen for armed robbery.
Copyright-Bob Ford 2005
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