Life in the Big City

I was at work the other day and noticed that a package that I had been waiting quite a while for, had finally been delivered to my house.

My route home actually makes me circle the front of my house to access the alley to my detached garage. I circled the house and saw the large package sitting on the front steps.

After I parked my car I walked to my house and saw a van parked out front. It is somewhat unusual for a car to park in front of my house when there are plenty of spaces further down the street where a couple businesses are located. I turned the corner to the front steps and saw a woman with my delivery in her arms. My trusting instinct led me to believe there was a perfectly logical explanation for why a stranger would have my package in her hands (so to speak).  Then I saw the look of pure terror in her eyes as she froze in her tracks. I finally yelled, "What the f%$* are you doing?" With that she dropped the package and ran toward the van.

I ran after her but admittedly not full speed. Part of me was in shock, the other part was thinking, "What do I do if I catch her?" I slowed down and stepped in front of the van as she scrambled in. I saw a man sitting in the back seat. I thought about staying where I was because it would block her from driving off but it occurred to me she could just run me over... I looked for a license plate and there wasn't one in front so I ran to the back of the van as she pulled off. I tried memorizing the license plate number. A car that was driving up the street stopped and the woman inside asked if I was OK.  I told her I was, thanked her, (thank goodness for the kindness of strangers) and ran into the house to call the police.

I gave the police the license number I thought I remembered. An officer called me back later in the evening to say the number didn't match anything in their database.

Theo was just glad he wasn't in the box the woman tried to steal.