Stupid Scoundrels
NEWS : Wits in the Nick of Time!
I almost had it with public transportation this morning! On my way to work, I crossed paths with the criminal mind once AGAIN. The first time was a bit traumatic because I got held-up and my cellphone was taken. This time, luck (or should I say WITS) was on my side…
While my first ride was cruising along Taft Avenue – Manila City, 4 men boarded the ‘jeepney’ and one of them sat at my left side while another on the other side of the seating row facing towards me. Minutes later, while I was glimpsing at my Omega De Ville gold watch, the one beside me asked politely what time is it. I told him “It’s 8:50 in the morning”. This could have been a typical stranger’s request but a few seconds still, the man in front of me suddenly panicked and started patting the lower right end of my jeans. He told me “A centipede crept up to your jeans!” and so I looked down and started wiggling my right leg. FYI: I am SO afraid of legged-wormlike insects because I witnessed one chasing me down the garage from a fallen mango tree. It was so scary I run like hell!
Anyway, I patted and patted and then I noticed the other passengers were looking at me and the man facing me. I did not feel anything creeping up my legs so I doubted for a second and uttered “I don’t feel a thing down there. I don’t think anything is down there at all.” The man insisted SOMETHING creepy went up my jeans. Suddenly the other man beside me started patting the left end of my jeans too! And now there are three of us and I got this nasty feeling that something is quite not right.
I peeked at the other passengers but they were just staring at us (and my jeans) silently. I took my head up stopped moving my leg and I looked around still. I noticed that the man beside me has his backpack covering a part of my upper left torso and suddenly I heard my watch SNAP and saw my watch dangling precariously at my left wrist. I stared at him ANGRILY and everything around me stopped moving (even the jeepney halted). He dashed instantaneously outside the vehicle then the man on the opposite seating row also did the same thing seconds after. This is when everybody else started talking and asked me if I lost something like a wallet or my mobile phone. I checked my bag and it was intact, no slashes and no opened zippers. I secured my watch (which is undamaged by the way) and just listened at how the passengers made those nasty comments about these filthy street criminals – cursing their kind and wishing their souls burn in hell (HEY, why not make them suffer while they are still here on earth!). I grin and nod at their every comment but deep inside, I felt a huge sign of relief on my part because they did not have their way with me. I’ve learned from my previous experience last year to always be on red alert no matter where I am. I know it’s bad to be very distrustful of strangers around me but this is REALITY and there will always be crooks out there. I didn’t bother passing by the Police Station on my way to work because I don’t want to be late. Besides, the last time I reported an incident similar to this, nothing happened.
"Where the hell could that ‘centipede’ come from? We are in a freaking moving vehicle and not in the open fields for God’s sake!" (an agitated passenger)
