Tramps and Thieves

"I can get it cheaper."

                                                             
By the time I entered high school, I was putting in regular hours at our clothing store. I would come home from classes, have a snack, then  walk a few blocks north to 63rd street and  a mile to the store. When the weather turned ugly, I rode the bus from school and got off only a  few steps from work.

There were times at our store when a fairly large number of customers needed help at once. That's when I kept a sharp  eye out for shoplifters. Whether  on the sales floor or putting away merchandise, I tried to stay near front of the store. From there, I had a good view of everything that was going on. Most of the time, I was successful in preventing our stock from disappearing.

One day, while my mom was busy with a customer, a number of  scruffy looking boys came in to check out at the expensive full length Italian leather jackets on display near the front door.I recognized one of them who had come in an hour before to look around.
 He examined  at the price tags on the jackets  and sneered,"That's real sharp,but  I can get it  a whole lot cheaper,"
" I don't think so, " I said," these are imported. Can I show you something a little less expensive?"
 He didn't answer. Instead, he and his friends picked up the entire rack, and ran out the door,leather jackets and all.  I was dumbstruck.

. Mom immediately  dropped what she was doing and called the police. Without a second thought, I ran out the door and started chasing the thieves. As I started to gain on them , they dropped the jackets on the ground. For a split second, I thought I had won. Then, one of them shoved the jackets off the rack, pulling off a long, heavy metal section from its socket. He swung the pipe in two hands and came down hard on my shoulder .When he realized I wasn't giving up,  he aimed for my head. I jerked backwards and  beat a hasty retreat down the block.

Breathless, I ran back into the store. My mother was furious, both at the brazen shoplifters, and at me.
"Don't you EVER pull a stunt like that again," she said, her eyes blazing.
"The jackets are insured. Either the police will get them back, or we'll get money for them. But.. you aren't  replaceable." Then she began to cry.

We never recovered the jackets, but were reimbursed for them.  I kept looking for the kids who stole them, but they never came back.