My First Stick-Up

I've told you that the school I am currently teaching in isn't in the best of neighborhoods.  Earlier I wrote about how at the beginning of the day one car came racing up the main avenue chasing another car and firing a gun at it, then the two of them veered onto school property and finally left.  Meanwhile my class and I spent about 45 minutes on the floor of our classroom, away from windows and behind a two locked doors.

Yesterday morning I drove to school as I usually do, but I made a stop at a convenience store/gas station about four blocks from the school.  I got some breath mints (these days unless I have something like breath mints my breath would curdle a cup of coffee -- and yes, I do go to the dentist), some tortilla chips and a sandwich.  I went up to the cash register counter and found standing in front of me a fellow with his back towards me.  He was in the process of reaching over the counter and snatching money that Mr. Singh, a Sikh who always wears a dark blue turban and who customarily takes that shift, had placed there, evidently on his orders.  This customer turned around and looked at me from about four feet away, and pointed a gun at me.  He snatched up the money, shoved it in his pocket, and then dashed out the door.  He jumped on a bike and pedaled up the street as fast as he could.  I ran outside, quite a ways behind him, to see him turning a corner onto a side street a block away.

This was my first real-life stickup.  All the others I had seen were on CSI or the like.  This was also Mr. Singh's first stick-up, too.  This morning I stopped back at the same store.  As I walked in, Mr. Singh and I greeted each other, and I said, "Do I dare come in here again at this time ?"  We both laughed.