Robbed!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Tuesday evening had been absolutely terrible. The afternoon had been alright, aside from being very sore. Mom had dropped off Francis and Linnea while she and the rest of the graduation ceremony committee listened to Justus Orange give his speech for the graduation. And so Collette broiled some crispy French fries in the oven and poured some root beer for the bunch for the kids.
As they left two hours later, OLeif pulled up. He had just returned from work, ready to go out for a date together. It would be their third or fourth date since they had first started dating, three years earlier. Collette was not entirely sure she was interested in leaving, as the evening was quite warm and she didn’t relish the idea of eating at a crowded restaurant. However, OLeif convinced her, and within the hour, they had arrived at the Galaxy Theater in Chesterfield.
Collette left her dark red corduroy bag in the car, and brought in her purse. As usual, they left the car doors unlocked, although Collette never like to do so.
OLeif bought two tickets for “Kingdom of Heaven”, and for two and a half hours, they enjoyed the beauty of an ancient France and Jerusalem and crusaders.
Upon returning to the car, OLeif ordered Outback while Collette reached for her bag. It was gone. She quickly searched the floors and back seat. But, no, it was nowhere to be found. Her bag was gone. Her blood boiled.
She reviewed the contents of her bag: a notebook partly filled with lists and projects, a new journal (her favorite so far) with two weeks of thoughts, a new story she had typed up (but had fortunately saved on the computer back at the apartment). She grimaced when she recalled that her forty-dollar voice recorder and Dad’s microphone were also listed among the contents. Her anger rose on the way out to St. Charles. At Outback, while OLeif went inside to grab the food, Collette recalled a second important journal with all her many book revisions for one of her favorite books. She fumed. OLeif returned with the paper bag of food.
“It was pretty cheap,” he said. “Only twenty-five dollars.”
Collette rolled her eyes.
“It should have been thirty-three or thirty-four,” she said.
She looked inside the bag. Sure enough, OLeif’s steaks and salad were tucked inside with a piece of chocolate cake. But no Alice Spring’s Chicken was to be seen. Collette would have no dinner that night.
“That’s just the icing on the cake,” Collette said angrily.
Wednesday morning came, and Collette discovered that the bag had also contained another full notebook of lists and notes, hopefully none of which contained any confidential numbers or names. She was completely incensed. And her lovely arrow pen was also among the stolen items. Wehrenberg Theaters reportedly kept no surveillance cameras in their parking lot. All of Collette’s writings were gone for good. It was a bitter disappointment. Of all things to steal… they didn’t even take OLeif’s cellphone lying on the seat next to it.
There were severe storms on the way in, finally. Although Collette wondered if they would actually make it all the way there. Carrie was at work, and would likely already be calming down the boys. Serbians, Croats, and Bulgarians weren’t exactly used to tornado weather, and every time the dark clouds rolled in, there would be a bit of a panic.