guilt. I wasn't helping the
situation at all. I was only making it worse and I wasn't stupid; I knew it
affected the people around us.
We
didn't speak for the rest of the trip, treating each other to an icy silence
that spanned the next few days leading up until Brooks left for an assignment
with Ethan. The others took advantage of their absence to watch movies that
Ethan and Brooks apparently never wanted to watch. So we had a movie marathon
and ate a lot of popcorn that Ross openly disapproved of. That only made me
want to eat more of it.
The
day after they returned, Brooks was apparently happy to reunite with us because
he bellowed, "Field trip!" from the hall before waltzing into the
kitchen at lunch with Ethan on his heels.
"Yes!"
Spencer cried.
August
smiled and Ollie smacked his hand down on the table. "Hot damn!" he
yelled out.
That
move was so uncharacteristically energetic of Ollie that it made me laugh out
loud in astonishment. Guess he really liked field trips. Ethan was quiet but
not particularly moody so I figured he was wearing his excited face.
"What
kind?" August asked.
"Well,
it's a little soon for Alex to take a trip to the actual field, so I was
thinking a trip to town. Maybe go through a few scenarios with the people in
the stores. See who's on top of their game?" he goaded.
"What
do you mean, scenarios?" I asked.
"He
picks a random place filled with unsuspecting customers, and gives us objectives
to complete without their knowledge," Ollie said. "Like lifting an
item from their pocket or conning them out of whatever's in their hands."
"Last
time, the winner got to choose the next family outing," Spencer said.
My
brain stuttered on the word family but I powered through it and asked
who won.
"August,"
Brooks said proudly.
"I
picked a theme park," she volunteered.
"It
was beyond amazing," Spencer said. "There were rides
everywhere!"
"What
are the rules?" I asked.
"It's
simple, really," Brooks said. "We'll go into a town with stores
along the street, and pick a few to raid. Each team member must successfully
lift one, and only one, wallet off of a stranger and bring it back to the
group. Whoever's stolen wallet has the most money in it wins. No time limit,
but it has to be reasonable. Like, less than an hour. No marks that you know
in real life. And you cannot demand for the wallet or money outright. You can
pull a con or do a simple lift, but if you don't get a wallet within one hour,
you automatically lose.
"And,
of course, after we count the money in the wallet you steal, another one of us
will return it to the owner and say they found it somewhere and is just
returning it," Brooks added.
Oh,
good. I wasn't too sure about letting a twelve year old steal money and keep
it. Might not send the right message.
Yeah,
that's it.
"And
we can do any kind of con?" I asked.
"Within
reason. You can't sell anything, fictional or not. No one can use the same
con or target the same mark, either. This is more like an exercise in working
on the fly and testing your skills to see if you can actually pull it off
without tipping anyone off. That includes witnesses," Brooks said.
I
felt a smile tugging at my lips and said to the others, "I'm game if you
are."
We
all piled in the SUV and Brooks took us to a town two hours away to make sure
we really were going to meet strangers and not someone who recognized us from
the store we usually shopped at. He parked in a coffee shop parking lot. We
climbed out and stood in a huddle.
I
felt nervous, excited. I'd done my fair share of stealing, but it was never
recreational. This time, I wouldn't have the added guilt of keeping the
money. It was like fishing just to see if you could catch one and then
throwing it back into the water. Except with this, we weren't injuring a poor,
unsuspecting fish. We were just borrowing their wallets for ten minutes.
"Who's
up first?" Brooks asked,
situation at all. I was only making it worse and I wasn't stupid; I knew it
affected the people around us.
We
didn't speak for the rest of the trip, treating each other to an icy silence
that spanned the next few days leading up until Brooks left for an assignment
with Ethan. The others took advantage of their absence to watch movies that
Ethan and Brooks apparently never wanted to watch. So we had a movie marathon
and ate a lot of popcorn that Ross openly disapproved of. That only made me
want to eat more of it.
The
day after they returned, Brooks was apparently happy to reunite with us because
he bellowed, "Field trip!" from the hall before waltzing into the
kitchen at lunch with Ethan on his heels.
"Yes!"
Spencer cried.
August
smiled and Ollie smacked his hand down on the table. "Hot damn!" he
yelled out.
That
move was so uncharacteristically energetic of Ollie that it made me laugh out
loud in astonishment. Guess he really liked field trips. Ethan was quiet but
not particularly moody so I figured he was wearing his excited face.
"What
kind?" August asked.
"Well,
it's a little soon for Alex to take a trip to the actual field, so I was
thinking a trip to town. Maybe go through a few scenarios with the people in
the stores. See who's on top of their game?" he goaded.
"What
do you mean, scenarios?" I asked.
"He
picks a random place filled with unsuspecting customers, and gives us objectives
to complete without their knowledge," Ollie said. "Like lifting an
item from their pocket or conning them out of whatever's in their hands."
"Last
time, the winner got to choose the next family outing," Spencer said.
My
brain stuttered on the word family but I powered through it and asked
who won.
"August,"
Brooks said proudly.
"I
picked a theme park," she volunteered.
"It
was beyond amazing," Spencer said. "There were rides
everywhere!"
"What
are the rules?" I asked.
"It's
simple, really," Brooks said. "We'll go into a town with stores
along the street, and pick a few to raid. Each team member must successfully
lift one, and only one, wallet off of a stranger and bring it back to the
group. Whoever's stolen wallet has the most money in it wins. No time limit,
but it has to be reasonable. Like, less than an hour. No marks that you know
in real life. And you cannot demand for the wallet or money outright. You can
pull a con or do a simple lift, but if you don't get a wallet within one hour,
you automatically lose.
"And,
of course, after we count the money in the wallet you steal, another one of us
will return it to the owner and say they found it somewhere and is just
returning it," Brooks added.
Oh,
good. I wasn't too sure about letting a twelve year old steal money and keep
it. Might not send the right message.
Yeah,
that's it.
"And
we can do any kind of con?" I asked.
"Within
reason. You can't sell anything, fictional or not. No one can use the same
con or target the same mark, either. This is more like an exercise in working
on the fly and testing your skills to see if you can actually pull it off
without tipping anyone off. That includes witnesses," Brooks said.
I
felt a smile tugging at my lips and said to the others, "I'm game if you
are."
We
all piled in the SUV and Brooks took us to a town two hours away to make sure
we really were going to meet strangers and not someone who recognized us from
the store we usually shopped at. He parked in a coffee shop parking lot. We
climbed out and stood in a huddle.
I
felt nervous, excited. I'd done my fair share of stealing, but it was never
recreational. This time, I wouldn't have the added guilt of keeping the
money. It was like fishing just to see if you could catch one and then
throwing it back into the water. Except with this, we weren't injuring a poor,
unsuspecting fish. We were just borrowing their wallets for ten minutes.
"Who's
up first?" Brooks asked,
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