A Nice Criminal Gesture

An established man pulls his expensive car into a gas station to fill up. He proceeds to pump gas, finishes and goes inside to pay. He walks past another man standing outside the gas station entrance reading the day’s paper, but does not notice him. The man reading the paper slowly brings the paper down to see a very expensive car parked directly in front of him. He throws the paper away, walk over to the car, and gets in. He finds to his surprise that the keys are on the driver side floor. He picks them up and fires up the car. The car owner meanwhile is inside the gas station completely oblivious to what’s going on with his car. The paper reader slowly turns the car around, exits the gas station, and speeds off. The car owner walks out to find his car missing, but he doesn’t know that the loud engine sounds quickly departing from the gas station are his own. He rushes back into the gas station and demands a phone.

The paper reader swiftly weaves in and out of traffic with a “drive it like your stole it” attitude. Driving like a race car driver, he turns down a vacant street to escape busy traffic. Rolling down the windows, the paper reader cracks a smile. He makes several turns, and finally pulls into a car wash station. He pays $15 to the man collecting money, and drives the stolen car into the wash garage. After being dried, he tips the washer $5 and pulls the car back out into the street. He heads back towards the gas station but takes the back road in getting there. He slowly pulls up to the rear entrance of the station and parks the car within plain view from the station’s entrance. He shuts off the car, puts the key back on the floor and gets out. He walks up to the newspaper machine in front of the station, puts $0.50 in, and buys the same paper he was reading when the car drove up. He sees a police car pull into the gas station and the car owner rushes out to meet him. In all his emotional fury, the car owner doesn’t see his car parked slightly down from the station’s entrance past the paper reader. He angrily talks to the officer describing the car, facing him with his back to his car. The officer looks over the car owner’s shoulder and sees the car. He calmly motions to the car and the owner turns to see his car parked and intact. He runs over to it to see that it is indeed his car and that nothing at all is wrong with it. The paper reader, having quietly watches this whole ordeal, slowly brings the paper back up to his face covering it up.

END