| Well tonight was a pretty hectic night. My truck was stolen. I was working and looked at the next pizza I had to take and saw that it was on the bad side of town. With that first look at the address I had a sense of forboding, but of course I had to go. So I did. It was my job what else could I do? Looking at the address I saw that it was an apartment, which didn't help matters any. When I got to the place there was a group of rough looking men standing in a group at the curb. Careful not to make eye contact or make any aggressive moves I picked up the pizza and started walking to the door. I could hear the guys on the curb whispering among themselves, I tried to ignore them. I got to the porch and reached through the frame of the screenless screen door to knock. The little girl that answered nonchalantly handed me the money while glancing past me at the men on the curb. The look that accompanied her glance was one of recognition. Quickly grabbing the pizza she hurredly shut the door, not even waiting for her fifty cents change. Little encouraged by the actions of the girl I stuck the money in my pocket and started the long twenty foot journey back to my truck. Right as I got to my truck and was pulling out my keys, a short but stocky Hispanic separted from the group and menacingly headed my way. "That's a nice truck you got there." was his greeting. "This thing?" I stammered. "Yeah man, give me the keys." The statement didn't surprise me. Somewhere deep inside of me either stupidity or true bravery revealed itself. "This piece of crap? I can't even get it past forty miles per hour." The lie quickened my heartbeat. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other men advancing, there were either four or five I can't remember. "It's on empty too." That part at least was true, I had been planning on filling it up after this run. I had hoped the lack of gasoline might deter them from pressing the matter further. "I don't give a fuck, hand 'em over!" He shoved me into the truck. Hard. Quickly handing the keys over, I started nursing my throbbing elbow. He opened the door, and I stepped away. My thoughts strayed to the cell phone that was in my pocket. I decided it was too risky to try anything with all of the other men now so close. One of the other men a tall lean Caucasian spoke up: "What's he got in there?" "Well he's got a shitload of CDs. They ought to be worth something. A CD player too." He picked something up off the floor. "A camera?" He had a incredulous look on his face. I kept it there for picture-taking opportunities. You see I'm a bit of an amateur photographer. He pointed the camera at his buddies as if to take a picture. This time I was the one with an incredulous look on my face. It looked like he was actually going to go through with it. "Say deez nuts." His friends facial expression matched mine now. After snapping the picture he turned it around and took a picture of himself. "Cheap piece of shit." He scowled and tossed it to me. I caught it and just looked at it as if it was some alien artifact from another world. He looked toward his friends again. "Everyone get in!" He got in the drivers seat and the Caucasian got in the front with him. The others jumped in the back. They drove off and I was still dumbly staring at the camera. To make a long story short I called the cops, and gave them the camera. They developed the film. Lucky for me the guy was a good photographer. The picture he had taken of himself was clear enough for the police to match with a convict who had just gotten out of the Corcoran prison on parole. I got my truck back. They hadn't been able to do anything major to it yet, just take out a few screws. The police had caught them at the guys house in the process of taking it apart. I was very fortunate that naught else but my elbow was hurt. God was definetely on my side. |