The Thief

Hey ppl....i was kinda feeling bored in my Applied Physics class....so i set my imagination free and wrote a story about a thief...check it out....

It was around half past ten in the night. It was almost time to close the shop, thought Hariram. He owned a small grocery store. His store was going through a rough patch due to the advent of many supermarket chains into the neighbourhood. People had a wider choice and range to choose from, so they preferred to go there. There were se customers who were accustomed to coming to his store, so he was getting customers, but his store had seen better days. It had been a hectic day. Since his assistant had been unable to report to work as he was down with malaria, Hariram had to do most of the work himself. He was thinking about closing the shop when a person came up to the counter and said,

“Can I have a box of Kellog’s corn flakes?” he asked.

He seemed like he was in his mid-twenties. Hariram was accustomed to seeing different people, with different mannerisms who came to his store. This person seemed to e a bit tense, he was constantly looking over his shoulder, Hariram thought.

“ Could you wait here while I get it for you sir?” Hariram asked him.

“Of course” was the reply.

Hariram usually kept all his stock in a store room behind his shop. His assistant usually did work like this,but as he did not report to work today, Hariram had to do all the work himself. He went to get the box of corn flakes.

While Hariram was gone, the customer took a glance around him. He made sure that Hariram was in the store room. Assured that that coast was clear, he reached for the draw in which the money made by the store was kept. There was a lot of change stored in glasses, but it was not the change that he was interested in. Underneath the glasses, the real money was kept. He saw that there were three fat wads of money. Not bad for a small store like this one, he thought as he nimbly picked up two of them. He replaced the draw coolly just as Hariram came back.

“Here it is sir. That would be ninety seven” said Hariram.

The customer took a fat wad of notes from his pocket and gave him a hundred rupee note. Hariram was curious to see a person walking around with so much money on him, but it was not his money, so he kept his thought to himself. As Hariram was giving him the change, another customer came up to him. He waited until the first customer left before he made his purchase.

Prabhakar was having a really bad day. His father had had a heart attack recently and was now hospitalized. Prabhakar insisted on a good hospital even thought the costs were very high. After his father was admitted, he realized that the costs were not very high, they were skyrocketing. There were expenses for almost everything under the sun and money was just flowing out of his pockets. It was as if the doctor was coming to feel his purse rather that his father’s pulse. He was asked to get some milk powder so he came to a store nearby to get it. He used to his motorcycle to get there. He always felt happy in any circumstance when he drove his bike. It gave his a heavenly, soothing feeling. He came to the store and parked is bike in front of it. He left the keys in the ignition and came up to the store. As he came, he noticed a man paying the shop-keeper. The man gave the shop-keeper a single note from a large wad of notes. He was curious and looked at the man. He didn’t look like a person who has so much money, but he was not here to judge others he thought. He waited till the first customer left before asking the shop-keeper for the milk powder that he needed.

The first customer, jubiliant that his plan had worked perfectly wanted to quickly made a silent escape before the shop-keeper noticed the theft of his hard earned money. He saw a bike with a key in it. Two birds with one shot he thought. He silently and casually got on to the bike and pushed it for a few metres till he was away from the shop, then he started it and then he was off!!!

The first thing he did was to go sell that bike. He got a cool twenty thousand for it. It was a very good day for him. Ten thousand rupees from the shop and twenty thousand for the bike were plentiful. That sort of money could last him a month, he thought.

The next day, he was walking and he came to where bank was situated. It was a very hot day, and most people were avoiding the streets. Just then he saw a man emerge from the bank carrying a pouch with his. It didn’t take him long to guess what the contents of the pouch were, in fact, it even gave him some ideas.

Sandeep had to go to the bank to withdraw some money from his account. He needed the money to pay for his son’s operation. His son was getting his leg operated that day. His son had a nasty fall and injured his leg.

After he had withdrawn the money, he got into his car and rolled down both the front windows. It was quite a hot day, he thought. He put the pouch with all the money in the passenger seat. Just as he was about to start the engine, a man popped his head through the passenger window and asked for the the time. Sandeep looked at his watch and when he looked at the person again, the person was missing. So was his pouch full of money. Instinctively, Sandeep got out of his car and he could see the man running away with his pouch. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was his money and he had every right to it and he was not going to let to get away so easily.

He ran after the thief, shouting “ thief! Thief! Stop!!”

The thief, who noticed this, immediately came to the conclusion that running in the main road was not at all safe, so he quickly darted into the slums nearby. He knew his way through them, and he could easily lose his pursuer.

Sandeep had been a sportsman during his college years. He had set record for the 100 meter dash that was still holding in his college. He ran after the thief swiftly and the separation between them kept constantly decreasing. He ran into the slums after his. He had to dodge little children, dogs, women carrying buckets of water on their heads, and women doing their laundry but he was still catching up on the thief. The thief was not a dumb one. He saw that his pursuer was catching up with him, so he started turning this way and that in order to shake off his pursuer, but he just couldn’t. Every turn he made just seemed to bring both of them closer. They came to a place where many washed clothes were hanging to be dried. The thief grabbed some clothes and hurled them at his pursuer. This caught Sandeep off guard and the wet floor made him loose his footing and he fell. By the time he got back on his feet, he could see the thief jumping over a low wall. He was quite far away, but Sandeep still had some hope left in him, and he started off in pursuit with renewed vigour. He reached the wall and as he was jumping over it, he could see the thief in the distance. He was very far away. It was futile to go after him now. The Thief’s victory was now imminent and Sandeep was feeling a sting inside of him. Just then, the thief bumped into to a man and both of them fell. That acted as the stimulant and the adrenaline rush returned to Sandeep. He knew that he could easily catch up now….

The thief thanked the heavens after he had seen his pursuer fall. He nimbly climbed over the wall and victory was almost imminent. He glanced back briefly to see that his pursuer was just climbing the wall. He could getaway easily he thought. Just as he was turning around the corner, someone bumped into him. Both of them fell to the ground. It took him a moment to realize that the person who bumped into him was the person whose bike he had stolen yesterday! That person, being no fool immediately recognized him and a struggle ensured.

Prabhakar was very depressed. First his father feeling unwell and on top of that the loss of his bike he previous day had taken a toll on him. He kept cursing at his irresponsibility. He had just returned from work by the bus and was walking to the hospital, cursing his fate. Just as he turned round the corner, someone who was running bumped into him. Both of them fell down. Prabhakar’s head smarted. Rubbing his head, he looked up to see who it was. Both of them lay staring at each other for a moment. Then it hit him!!!This was the same person who he had seen yesterday at the store. It was the same person who had stolen his bike! Without a moment to lose, he got on top of the thief and got into a struggle with him.

Sandeep, who saw that the two were in a struggle, immediately joined in. the two of them tried to restrain the thief, but it was not easy. After about two minutes, they finally restrained him. Both of them had a brief recap in which they told their side of the story.

Tears started rolling down the thief’s cheek.

“Sir, please forgive me sir. Here is your pouch” he said handing it over to Sandeep.

“ here is the money I got for selling your bike sir” he said, taking out some wads of money from his pockets.

“I was forced to do this sir. My mother is admitted in the hospital. She is suffering from cancer. I need a lot of money for her treatment. This is the only way I could get quick money. I was so foolish, If I were arrested, it would devastate my mother. There will be no one to look after her. Please sir….i promise never to repeat this again. I have learnt my lesson” he pleaded.

Both Sandeep and Prabahkar had family members hospitalized, so they knew the pain that he was going thorough. They consulted each other and decided to let him go. They gave him a decent enough warning and they completely brainwashed him before letting him go.

Sandeep and Prabhakar were both quite happy that they had counselled a man into becoming a good human being. They were both very tired and went to a shop to have a cool drink. Prabhakar offered to pay and reached for his wallet, but he couldn’t find it in his pocket.

“Maybe you left it at home. Don’t worry, I’ll pay” said Sandeep.

Sandeep reached into his pocket and to his dismay even his wallet was missing!!!!

Not quite far from where the two men were worrying about their misplaced wallets, a person was walking away. He rubbed the tears off his cheeks and reached into his pocket and pulled out two wallets. He had nicked them both during the struggle. He took out the money from wallets and threw them away. It was not an entirely unfruitful day, he thought as he went in search of better things to steal………..