TALES FROM THE EDGE OF THE EARTH: ADVENTURE AT A BANK

By Grant McGee              

     

                Down the coast in Panama City, three guys are in the county jail there. 

                They tried to rob a credit union.

                One can imagine them sitting around in one of the guy’s super-cool bachelor pad and plotting out “the job,” how the three of them would “live like kings” after “the heist.”  One can imagine that anyway.

                But apparently they were so inept they were busted at the scene.  Now some suits will be looking to tack the inept ones collective asses to a tree or bury them under the jailhouse, whichever works best for the lawyers involved.

                Reading about this I remembered a conversation I had with a fellow who came into my bicycle shop a few years ago.

                When folks came in to the bicycle shop I got to talking to them about other stuff besides bicycles.  I might ask what was their hometown, a question that seemed to unnerve a few folks from Mexico, by the way.  I just wanted to know where they were from, like if I had been there or what it was like.  It’s not like I wanted to turn them in to someone.  I saw my curiosity as part of being conversational but it also took my brain on a trip out of town for a bit.

                I also got to hear some great stories.  Like the story “Roy” told me about his dad being detained by the police in New Orleans.

                “Roy” is not his real name, I have this thing about lawyers and lawsuits.  Maybe you do too.

                “Why was your dad detained by the cops?” I asked.

                “Well, he was going into the bank to make a deposit and on his way in he saw this man coming through the door so he held it open for him.”

                “So my dad’s the friendly type and he says, ‘How you doing today, workin’ hard?’ to the man leaving the bank, and the man says to dad, ‘Sure am, gotta make that money you know.’  And dad smiles at him and says, ‘Have a nice day.’  And the man leaving says, ‘You too.’”

                “So dad walks into the bank and everyone is looking at him and the place just felt weird,” Roy says.  “Turns out the man who just left, the man dad talked to, had just robbed the bank.  The cops arrived on the scene and spent some time talking to dad.  Why did he hold the door, did he know the guy, stuff like that.”

                I saw all of this in my head as Roy told the tale.

                Soon Roy was headed out the door and I went back to the shop to work on more bicycles.

                And I chuckled to myself.

                I could see me doing the same thing as Roy’s dad.

                Holding that door.

                With a smile and a “Have a nice day.”

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