Growing up a Thief

Chapter 5: Partners in Crime

     It's game time, Richie and I are now going head to head. Testing each other's skills as we walk down the sidewalk. He points out a man with dark black hair, which given his apparent old age is obviously dyed. "Let's see what you got," he tells me with another tip of the bill on his fancy hat. I'm starting to think that's his signature or something. 

     After a few moments of stalking I see he is making his way up to his car. I need to do it now before it's too late. He starts jingling his keys, trying not to spill his coffee as he looks for the right one. Luck strikes and he drops his keys; it's time to make my move.

     "Sir, please allow me to get that for you," I say, pretending to reach for the keys. The man quickly leans over to snatch his keys off the pavement and I slip a long black pocket book out from his jacket pocket. 

     "I don't need your help, boy." The word 'boy' came out of his mouth like it tasted awful to him. "You get on now, pest," He says, finishing the statement under his breath. 

     I walk backwards, hiding the man's pocket book behind my back. Which from the muffled giggling, I can tell Richie is amused by. What I don't realize until the man drives off is that he isn't laughing at my poor ability to hide it, he is laughing at what it actually is. The object that I took out of the man's pocket wasn't a wallet, it was a planner. Figures a rich old Scrooge like him would have a special leather calendar, it looks like it cost a fortune. It looked to be made of real leather, with gold tipped edges and personal engraving. 

     "Ha, you call yourself a proper thief and you steal a calendar?" Richie says playfully. "I'll give you one thing, it sure was smooth. You my friend have skills. But, watch the master." He gives his signature and walks across the street, towards a couple sitting outside a restaurant. He begins talking to the couple, but the voices are muffled so I can't tell what he is saying. I run across the road, nearly getting run over by a cab; I swear I have the worst luck with those things. 

     When I'm finally close enough to hear him, I see that he is doing a magic trick for the couple, something involving the woman's hand and a napkin. As he goes on with his act I notice something; he has a knack for drawing a crowd. It started with just the couple, but now the waitress and the two other tables are getting involved. Not only are they focused on him, but they seem oblivious to what is going on around them and this sparks an idea. 

     Following an applause, I call him over to me. He gives a bow to his little audience before walking back in my direction. We make our way around the corner and down the block, then he stops at a fountain to shows me the loot he got from the table. He throws a few pennies over his shoulder for good luck and shows me a shiny ring. The ring looks really nice; it's silver with one big blue stone surrounded by little crystals. "Take a look at that; nice huh? Probably fetch forty bucks easy," he brags, while testing to see if it fits on all his fingers. 

     "Do you always get a crowd like that?" I ask with genuine curiosity.

     "Usually, people go nuts over magic. You show them one trick and you've got their full attention," he explains while making the ring disappear and reappear with a wave of the hand. It's quite impressive actually, given how young he is.

     "You got me thinking. What if, while you were doing your tricks I work the crowd? I could easily snatch wallets from people if you get their attention like that. We just have to work out the timing, is all." Saying this obviously strikes Richie's curiosity and he spends a few seconds pondering the possibility. 

     "Do you think the people who are standing around are really distracted enough? I mean, I never really think about them when I'm doing the tricks, I usually just focus on the chump." He takes his hat off and runs his thumb across the stitching, contemplating the idea. 

     "If you could change your routine up a little to get the crowd involved, I think it would be like taking candy from a baby," I say, trying to fuel his creativity. "Do you think you could keep their attention?"

     He simply smiles and says, "I think this could work." 

**********

     We start going over the details as we walk to where he lives. I'm not sure if he's like me or not and there's no easy way to ask if someone is homeless.

     After a few more blocks I finally ask, because it's getting dark, "Hey man, where do you live, are we close?"

     "Just a few more blocks, I found this great spot a few months ago. My own little bachelor pad." I guess there's my answer.

     When we finally make our way to his place, like mine, you would never guess someone lives there. We crawl under a bent fence and walk up to what looks like an old air conditioning unit. At first I thought that he somehow squeezed into the box, but I was grateful to see footprints on top of it, right under a rusty fire escape hanging off the side of the building. Richie jumps up a few times to reach the ladder and then pulls it down just far enough for us to be able to pull ourselves up it. 

     By the time we make it all the way up the side of the building, I'm exhausted. Now on the roof, I see nothing other than a tarp strapped down with frayed bungie cord. When he pulls back the tarp, in a very 'magiciany' way, I instantly become jealous. Under the tarp is a domed window with a smaller window cut out of it. Richie unclasps the smaller window and has me follow him inside.

     The room we are in seems to be a storage room of some sort. There are tarps hanging from floor to ceiling, separating the space into four sections. Everything other than the area he sleeps in is covered in dust and there is furniture with white sheets over them filling the bulk of the space. But his area feels downright cozy. In the corner he inhabits he has a grey couch that looks relatively comfortable, and I'm guessing that's where I'll be sleeping tonight. Next to the couch he has a huge bed; he even has sheets, blankets and a pillow that match the bed set that I'm assuming he found in one of the boxes laying around. Next to his bed there stands a large black entertainment center that he uses for shelving. On the shelves are a bunch of random trinkets, wallets and jewelry. 

     We didn't say much that night, I'm not really sure why, but we both stayed very quiet. For me the reason was the domed window was directly above the couch where I was laying. Richie was able to find me an extra blanket and even a small pillow that I didn't use. I gotta say, I could really get used to falling asleep looking at the stars.