The Robbery
By, Ashton Macaulay
5:20PM Friday
“Put the goods in the bag! We’re running
out of time.” I yelled to my partners. The vault hung open, perfectly exposed.
The riches inside were ripe for the taking. “We’ve got fifteen seconds until we’re
all going back to the kennel.” We had all been there before; the big house was
a scary place, not one I wanted to go back to. Hundreds of us crammed in like
animals, I could still here the screaming. I
knew I should’ve recruited better than these two. Never could stick to a
timetable.
The
two of them were certainly not the best for the job. Jimmy, the peg leg, so
aptly named as one of his legs was missing, may have looked slow, but could run
just as well without it. Problem was he had a bit of a problem with ‘The Stuff’.
Didn’t really have a street name for it, but one sniff was enough to take him
off his ass for hours at a time. He had to be carefully watched during these
delicate operations or his habit threatened to blow the whole thing.
Snuffles was a strange one. It was a name
that he had picked up somewhere right out of the orphanage. It fit him well.
The guy constantly sounded like he had a cold, couldn’t stop sniffing. His
problem wasn’t so much drugs, as it was attention to detail. He would get hung
up on the tiny pieces of a bigger operation and it tended to slow him down.
Unfortunately
for me they were my only options. Most of the others in the neighborhood had
gone legit, obeying orders, working for a broken system. They were content to
shuck and jive for the occasional pat on the head. Not me, I wasn’t going to be
a part of that hierarchy. The heist was going to take me above all of that.
“We just have a few more bags in here!”
“There’s no time! Get what you have now and
let’s go!” It had never been about the endgame for me. One or two bags would
have been enough to make it worth it. Breaking into the biggest vault of them
all and stealing what they didn’t want me to have would have been enough. Of
course, when it comes to splitting shares, it’s never that easy. People get greedy,
and the heist just keeps getting bigger.
“Alright, alright, get the last bag Jimmy,
we’re out of here.” It was too late. We had spent too much time at the vault
and now from far away I could hear the authorities coming. They were coming
fast too. It was not in their nature to show mercy to common criminals like us.
We had to move, and we had to move fast.
“Oh no man, we’re done for. Game over!”
Snuffles was both a coward, and had watched one too many movies. He didn’t do
well under pressure. Each minute that passed I regretted my choice in
accomplices even more.
“Shut up and get the bags. We’re out of
here.” I could see them rounding the corner, charging toward us. Their guns
were out, there was no time left. We had an out, but it required time. Stashed
just on the other side of the vault was a toxic gas, nothing deadly, but enough
to distract The Authorities while we made our escape.
“We’ve got five seconds, get the gas! Move
it!” Jimmy and Snuffles were running now, both had two bags each, clenched
tight in their grip. I picked up a bag and ran after them. Shots rang out. I
continued running, nothing was going to keep me from the prize. Too long had I
labored on this plan for it to go south now, there was no way out other than
the gas. It was either that, or back to the kennel.
To my right there was a thump as Snuffles
hit the ground hard. He screamed, writhing in pain. Just the sound of it made
my hairs stand on end. I might have been able to save him, but nothing else
mattered in that moment. There was no choice but to keep running. If I stopped
moving then I would fall as well. I picked up one of his bags and continued
forward.
“Wait! You can’t just leave me here! We
were partners remember?” Jimmy looked at him for a second, looked at me, and
followed suit. He may have mouthed the word ‘sorry’, but I can’t be sure. The
whole thing is so blurry. “You can’t do this! You’ll never take me alive!” His
last sentence is cut short as another shot rings out. There was silence,
followed by the pounding of boots running after us.
“Come on Jimmy, forget him! He’s gone.”
Jimmy picked up the pace. In no time we were behind the vault and I was
scrambling to pull out the escape plan. My arms were trembling. Unable to move
them I turned around and pulled the package out with my legs. My kicking was
frantic. I may not have liked Jimmy, but I didn’t wish any harm on him either. Death
always takes its toll, whether we want it to or not.
“Boss?”
“Open the package and let’s get the hell
out of here.” Jimmy slices open the package. The smell makes my hair ruffle. “Let’s
go!” The side of the vault rings as a shot hits it inches from my head. The
guard had rounded the corner. There was a moment where I stared at him and he
stared right back. In our eyes there was mutual hatred. The strength was
overpowering, moving almost, but it did not last long.
He leveled his gun again. His blonde hair
moved slightly in the breeze revealing cold, blue eyes. That man was a killer,
we both knew it. In that instant I took a chance, dodged left, and ran as fast
as I could away from him. The ping came to my right, barely missing me. Jimmy
and I were around the corner, bags gripped tight. From behind I could hear the
guard reeling at the smell, and shortly after, vomiting.
We ran until our legs grew sore and we
could carry the bags no more. When we stopped we were in back of an apartment
complex, hidden in the alleyway. The authorities had long since stopped their
pursuit. We were free. “Did we do it boss? Are they gone?”
“Yes, I think so. Let us see what our hard
work has bought us.” I reached down and tore open one of the bags. From inside
spilled the sweetest thing I have ever smelled. Apples, old takeout boxes,
empty coffee cups, and cans of aged tuna fell onto the ground before us. The
score was great, it was everything I had ever dreamed of. “A moment of silence
for our fallen companion before we feast on this bounty.”
Jimmy bowed his head and lowers his tail in
a sign of somber solidarity. I did the same and we sat for a moment. Emotions ran
wild within me. The greatest score I could have ever dreamed of was over. There
was nothing to do but enjoy, and yet, I felt empty. I still feel it to this
day. Late at night I howl with the memory, but in the end there was nothing to
do about it. “Dig in Jimmy. 9 lives don’t last like they used to…”
5:20PM Friday (The
Perspective of The Authorities)
“God Damnit! Your cats are in the dumpster
again! They’re spilling trash all over the sidewalk. Take care of it Rick!” The
woman was old, crotchety, and waving a broom in front of her.
“Alright Mrs. Kenway I’ll get them out.
Sorry.” Rick walked back into his house and grabbed a spray bottle filled with
water and lemon juice. They said cats
would be easier than having a dog…
Rick stepped out into the street and saw
the dumpster at the end of the cul de sac. Inside, three cats were rolling
around in garbage, trying to pull the bags out. “Hey! Get away from there!” He
ran toward them, shooting water furiously. He was fast, but the cats were
faster. They were grabbing the bags in their mouths and making a break for it.
“Oh no you don’t.” Rick had experience with
these particular cats. They were always tipping over garbage cans and causing general
unrest. For a while the other cats had followed suit, but for the most part
they had grown out of the bad behavior. There were only three that continued to
misbehave. Rick was ten feet from the dumpster. Two of the cats were his: Jimmy
and Snuffles. Jimmy was a wild card, but could usually be reined in with
catnip. Snuffles was slow, and wouldn’t be too hard to take down.
Snuffles slowed down as he ran out of the
dumpster, recognizing Rick and the spray bottle in his hand. Rick leveled the
bottle and fired. He hit him on the first try. Wretched meowing erupted from
the street, and he sprayed him again to stop it. The other two rounded the
dumpster, trying to escape. “Get back here!”
Rick came around the dumpster and saw the
two cats, bags in mouths pawing at a cardboard box behind the dumpster. He shot
haphazardly and missed. Once again he leveled the spray bottle, but for a
moment locked eyes with the unknown tabby. They were intense, giving him pause
about his actions. Come on man. For
Christ’s sake, it’s a cat… He squeezed to fire and the box before him
tore open. Inside was a five week old halibut that had been decomposing,
forgotten beneath the dumpster. The smell was unbelievably horrid.
“Oh God.” He squeezed the bottle but missed
and hit the dumpster. Rick fell to his knees and vomited all across the warm
pavement. Shame was all around him, swirling. By the time his eyes had stopped
watering the cats were long gone, and so was the garbage. Morose at his lack of
cat parenting ability Rick grabbed Snuffles and tromped back to his house.
End
Afterword:
I would like to state that I wrote this
purely because Asimov magazine said they would not accept any stories about
talking cats. Well I wrote it anyway!!
No comments:
Post a Comment