The Scam

I step out into the street, leaving Rei's hotel behind, and continue to make my way towards Flora's, Sue's sister's, agency. I take a couple of turns and arrive at the main street. While I am walking, I pull out the list that Rei gave to me with what he needs for this week. I start to look around to see if there are any of my usual prey; Drunkards, old folk, recently independent people, other children, or just anybody who looks stupid or gullible. I'm not seeing too much here, but I keep looking anyway.

I am about to cross the street, to get to Flora's agency, when I stop myself. Today must be my lucky day! There is an old man wearing a wrist watch, gold stud earrings, one ring loosely on each of his fingers except for his thumbs, he has a fat wallet sticking halfway out of his back pocket, and a silver chain necklace with a pendant wrapped around his opposite wrist than the watch. My God! That is practically half of my list right there! Plus more!

Without any hesitation in my mind, I put some dirt on my face, adopt a limp, and slowly make my way up behind the man. I tap him on his left shoulder easily because he is so short, or should I say hunched over. When I tap him, I make sure to do it so lightly that he would not feel it. When my hand went down onto his shoulder I took the back off of his golden stud, when my hand raised itself from his shoulder, as if to retreat, I swipe the actual earring. After pocketing it, with the man none the wiser, I repeat it on his other side, but this time after pocketing this one, he turns around and notices me just as I had planned.

I'm looking straight at an at least seventy year old man, who, other than what I originally saw he had on him, was wearing a silk shirt with a diamond pendant attached to the breast pocket, steam pressed black pants, and shining leather shoes. He even had an old pocket watch in his pants pocket. I mean, he might as well paint a big red target on his back, because he is surrounded by the Mafia criminals that live and walk these streets.

"Oh! Hello there little boy! Am I in your way or did you need something?" He asks as a genuine smile appears on his face. Once, he notices my limp, his eyes fill with a kind of sadness.

This is going to be a lot easier than I thought. He is already thinking me to be a broken little boy, as he sees me with pity in his eyes.

I cough, and then say, "No I am sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had seen my sister around?" I sound so weak, that even I am thinking that the voice is not mine.

"Oh dear, No I am sorry to say I haven't... Would you like me to help you look?"

"Ah, thank you so much! You are the first person I have met to be so kind!" I sob, making fake tears roll from my eyes, leaving trails in the dirt that covered my face.

"It's okay." He says to me, practically radiating kindness. "These streets are known for having rough going people and criminals, so I can not say that it surprises me that you could not find help..."

I can't help but inwardly roll my eyes at him thinking, 'I could be telling you the same thing, ya walking target!'. Although that was what I was thinking, I just continued to cry, and even went in for a hug. He immediately hugged me back, shushing me, trying to calm me down. Little did he know that while I was in his embrace, which felt so unnatural to me, I stole his wallet and slid it up my sleeve after opening it to flatten it out. Then I nuzzled his chest while pretending to start to get a grip on myself again, stealing his pendant with my teeth and dropping it into my own breast pocket.

Separating, we held each other's hands as I sniffled and wiped the remaining tears of my face with my shoulder. He continued to tell me that everything would be all right, there is still kindness in the world, and crap like that, while I unhooked the chain around his wrist and slid that into my other sleeve. Right before we pulled our hands apart, I tapped a pressure point in each of his hands which made their touch sensory go slightly numb. As our hands slid apart, I coined all eight of his rings in one go. That made me proud of myself, and slightly more aware on how dumb this man was, since that was a daring move even if his hands were partially unfeeling. I kept my head down and patted the sides of my thighs, as if embarrassed, when I was actually pocketing the rings, wallet, and chain necklace. Great, now I only have to grab the two watches!

At this moment, Flora decides to interrupt my flawless scam job, by coming over and saying,

"There you are brother! I was so worried!"

Screw off! You are not needed here. Away with you! I'm not done with this old man yet!

"Oh, do you know the man?" She asks coming up to me and the man.

"Not really, but I am guessing you are the missing sister that he was looking for, no?" The old man responded, still smiling that sickeningly sweet smile.

"Ah, yes. That would be me." She returns the man's smile in kind, both of them now ignoring me. I use her as a distraction to swipe the pocket watch that must have fallen out of his pocket during the hug, for it was hanging at his side. Hmmm, I wonder how it could have fallen out of his pocket? Heh. It was an easy grab while Flora and the man were conversing. After placing the watch in my pocket, careful not to draw unwanted attention to myself, I am brought back into the conversation when Flora says,

"Alright now, we really must get going. We have an appointment we must keep."

"Oh, alright! Sorry to have kept you, and I hope you two have a nice day."

"We will and the same for you!" Flora says leading me away from the man and towards her agency.

"Why does his smile make me want to hurt him?" She whispers down to me.

"No clue. I like to use that as a reason to not feel guilty about..." I trail off.

"What? Robbing him blind?" She says with a chuckle.

"You saw?" I ask even though I already know the answer.

"Yes, and I will inform you why I stopped you from doing more damage."

"Why? Who is he?" I ask slightly out of curiosity and slightly out of boredom.

"Butch's father..." She says barely loud enough for me to hear.

I shiver slightly and my eyes go wide. No wonder no one else had mugged him, no one wanted to mess with Butch.