Last night Laura and I ate dinner with a couple of friends on the patio of a local restaurant. This restaurant, like many, is located on the edge of a retail center. At about 9:30 we heard police sirens in the distance. They were growing louder. Then Lindsey, one of our friends exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, there’s a nearly naked man running through the parking lot. He’s being chased by a mall cop. They’re headed this way!”
The sirens were growing louder. I arose up to see what she was describing. In my mind they were still a parking lot away, but as I stood up, a nearly naked man came sprinting by. He was topless, pantless, shoeless and most importantly weaponless. All he had on was a pair of navy blue boxer briefs. He was breathing heavily – he’d been running for a while – but, aptly motivated, his gait was determined and his mechanics admirable.
He ran through the parking lot, down the terrace, across a busy street and into an almost empty parking lot. Fully clothed, the mall cop rounded the corner of the building a moment later. He was clearly gassed and with every labored stride he fell further behind. Fortunately for him, the sirens were upon us as backup arrived and apprehended Mr. Nearly Naked across the street.
Laura: Well that was exciting!
Lindsey: Sure was! I wonder what he was running from.
Laura: I bet he got caught shoplifting.
Ryan: I’m no expert here, but I think the goal of shoplifting is to leave the store with more than you came in with. If he was a thief, he was the worst thief ever.
Laura: Good point. Maybe he was just out for a Friday night streak.
Me: Whatever he did, that was awesome! That’s the closest I’ve ever been to action like that. I thought we were going out for dinner, it’s kind of nice to catch the show for free!