Sometimes, God Lets Us Watch

Clutching their Dillard’s shopping bags, Ellen and Kay gazed down at a dead cat in the mall parking lot.  Obviously a recent hit--no flies, no smell.  What was that poor kitty doing at the mall, anyway?  “Come on, Ellen,” Kay said, “let’s just go.”  But Ellen opened her shopping bag.

“I’ll just put my things in your bag,” she explained, “and then we’ll put him in here.”  She used the tissue paper that came with a purchase to cradle and lower the former feline into her own Dillard’s bag and cover it.

They walked on to the car in silence.  As they stashed their goods in the trunk, it occurred to both of them that if they left the cat in there, warmed by the summer sunshine while they ate, Kay’s new Chevy would soon lose that new-car smell.

They decided to leave the bag on top of the trunk.  Then they adjourned to a nearby cafeteria.

They got their food and sat down at a window table.  They had a view of Kay’s Chevy with the Dillard’s bag sitting on the trunk.  But not for long.

A black-haired woman in a red gingham blouse strolled by their car, looked around quickly, and then took the Dillard’s bag without breaking stride.  She hurried out of their line of vision.  Kay and Ellen shot each other wide-eyed looks of amazement.  It all happened so fast that neither of them could think how to respond.  “Can you imagine?” sputtered Ellen.

“The nerve of that woman!”  Kay sympathized with Ellen, but inwardly a laugh was building as she thought about the surprise awaiting the black-haired thief.

Just when she thought she’d have to giggle into her napkin, Kay noticed Ellen’s eyes freeze in the direction of the serving line.

Following her gaze, Kay saw the black-haired woman, the Dillard’s bag hanging from her arm, brazenly pushing her tray toward the cashier.  After clearing the register, the woman sat at a nearby table, put the bag on an empty chair and began to eat.  Taking a big bite of baked whitefish, she lifted the bag into her lap to survey her treasure.

Looking from side to side but not noticing her rapt audience three tables away, she pulled out the tissue paper and peered into the bag.  Her eyes widened.  She made a gurgling, gasping noise.  The bag slid from her lap as she sank to the floor, wheezing and clutching her upper chest.

The beverage cart attendant quickly recognized a customer in trouble.  She sent the busboy to call 911 while she administered CPR.

A crowd quickly gathered, though Ellen and Kay stayed riveted to their chairs.  Then the ambulance arrived.

In a matter of minutes the black-haired woman emerged from the crowd, still gasping, strapped securely on a gurney so she couldn’t move.  Two EMS personnel steered her to the waiting ambulance.  A third scooped up her belongings and set the Dillard’s bag gently on her stomach as she disappeared behind the ambulance doors.