The Hold Up
I was the one who was supposed to hold the shotgun on them while my friend got the money from the teller. Then this lady, schoolteacher type, had come all the sudden out of the bathroom and was there between me and the rest. They were lying down and she was just looking at me.
"Get down or I'll shoot"! I says.
She says, "That's fine." and doesn’t move.
“Get down” I says again, louder, because maybe she was hard of hearing.
"Do it in the chest, not the face, that's too ugly. I want to look like I’m asleep." she says.
I looked at her like she was crazy.
“Don’t look right at me, it might humanize me. You need to see me as a thing so it will be easier.”
“What?” I looked down at her chest. She had a cat face pin on her sweater.
"It wont be suicide if you do it, my insurance will pay." She whispers like I’m a child and should have known this.
"WHAT?" I says low so people won't hear. She isn’t moving away. I’m still looking at the cat.
"You can hear me just fine. Now shoot." she says quiet, but yeah I heard her.
I got dizzy, my eyes felt like they were going to roll up into my head. She suddenly moves at me, I try to back up but she was quick and her chest pushed up on the shotgun end.
"Now! Like I ran at you!" she says quiet but loud, if you can imagine that.
“Back off crazy bitch!” I say. Why I was whispering too, I don’t know.
“Don’t be rude,” she says, “this could be self defense on your part if you stop wasting time. I’ll hold my purse up like I have a weapon. If you’re not macho about it you can say you were given no choice in the matter. This is all very simple.”
Then it all just blurred. I remember some things. I started to shake, I was sweating, I told her I wished I could help her, but I got no shells. So crazy cause I felt embarrassed.
She screamed, loud for real, she yelled WHAT? or something like it. She grabbed my gun right out of my hands and cracked it like she used them every damn day of her life and saw it really wasn’t loaded. I almost said sorry, but then she got psycho, started to beat me with the barrel. Then I got my arms over my head, I was yelling, protecting myself, fighting her off. Then it was the cops over me, and I grabbed one like in thanks or something. I must have fallen to my knees because that's where they dragged me back up from. I got cuffed and looked around, scared she was going to get me helpless like this. I saw crowds surrounding her. She was staring at me, cold, disappointed, like those teacher types do when they think you are an idiot with no hope.
The people were acting like she was some kinda hero. I had never been so scared in my all life.
(c) C Merry 2011