The Fashion Towne Chronicles

Caught After Closing - Busted, With Consequences <pt2>

Just as I snapped the first picture, a quick burst of bright light, made many times brighter by all the mirrors, caused me to realize that in my state of excitement, I foolishly hadn't checked to make sure the flash was turned off first.

I quickly shut it off before taking the next shot, but it was already too late. The flash had caught the attention of two mall security guards who happened to be making their rounds past the store, precisely at that moment.

No sooner than I turned it off and raised my phone for a second photo, I heard one of the officers call out, "hey who's there?"

I froze in fear and stood completely still, hoping that in the low light, they'd mistake me for a mannequin and move on, but I knew in my heart, I was busted.

Not even three seconds later I heard keys rattle and the mechanical hum of the front security gate being lifted.

What happened next was bad, but it could have been worse. The older security officer was training a new, young, female. She was the other officer with him.

He was about the age of my dad, maybe a little older and he didn't laugh or make fun of me in any way as he moved towards me.

The female looked to be twenty-one to twenty-three years old. She giggled when she first saw me and was about to erupt in a much larger fit of laughter when the other officer gave her a nasty look, causing her to stop.

At that moment I believed everything just might be okay, but little did I know what was about to come.

Hoping he was just going to embarrass me a little, ask for an explanation, and let me go, I began to relax a little.

As soon as he began to speak, I realized what I thought was wrong, he was about to handcuff me and drag me away to await being picked up by the cops, but that didn't happen either.

He told me to sit down and then began asking me my name, my parents names, their phone numbers and so on. I answered him honestly and he jotted the info down on a pocket note pad.

He never asked me why I was there in the middle of the night, that much was obvious.

While the male security guard questioned me, the young female trainee eyed me up and down with a smirk on her face. I can't be totally sure, but I'm pretty positive she discreetly snapped a couple photos of me. Probably for proof to back up the story she couldn't wait to tell her girlfriends after shift.

While the girl continued to intently look me up and down, the security sergeant made a couple calls, one to the owner of the shop, and at the owners insistence, my parents.

While the sergeant had a brief discussion with the shop owner, the girl looked up from my feet, placed her gaze squarely in my eyes, pointed at the shoes I had on and gave me an exaggerated thumbs up gesture while giving me an approving nod with an ear-to-ear grin across her hace.

When the sergeant sat his phone down and spoke, he gave me a glimmer of hope.

"It's going to be okay, son," he told me. "You can relax a little. She's asked us not to call the police."

Mostly sitting in silence waiting for the owner to arrive, the next twenty-eight minutes was excruciatingly awkward.

After the first few minutes the sergeant walked out to go smoke a cigarette and left me alone with the young female trainee.

It didn't take but a few moments of silence between us before she started to ask questions, embarrassing questions.

With that big shit-eating grin on her face again, the first thing she asked was, "Why?"