“We are going to the park.”
“Why the park?”
“Let’s get there first,” Gloria responded.
Anna drove her car to Grove Park in South Orange. They both got out of the vehicle and walked across the street to the park. Gloria’s cane touched the pavement, and she stepped onto the lawn.
“Where in the park exactly?”
“Take me to the middle,” Gloria requested.
While they were walking inside the park, Gloria started to think about some of her sister’s comments yesterday. Even though she understood why Anna had such strong reservations, she couldn’t help feeling slightly hurt.
The morning sky turned to powder blue. The park was nearly empty; they encountered only four joggers and two people who walked inside and around the park.
“We are in the middle now,” Anna said and let go of her sister’s arm.
“Stand across from me. Keep a little distance between us,” Gloria instructed.
“Oh, okay,” Anna responded.
“Just enough so that I can still hear you,” Gloria added.
Anna did as she was being told.
“Now, close your eyes,” Gloria said.
“Oh, we are meditating!” Anna quickly sat down on the grass and kept her eyes closed.
Gloria heard her sister moving on the grass, and turned in the direction of the sound.
“Anna, get up,” she then said in a stern voice.
Anna got up again and brushed the remaining pieces of grass from her pants.
“Meditating is good, but are you going to sit down and close your eyes when the killer is near? Stop thinking ahead of me,” Gloria said.
“Okay. I’m ready,” Anna said.
Both women kept quiet for a few seconds.
“What do you hear?” Gloria asked.
Anna frowned as she kept her eyes closed and tried to focus. “What do I hear?” She repeated her sister’s statement to herself. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing that isn’t relevant! What am I suppose to be hearing?”
“Anything, Anna, don’t give up so easily.“
“I hear birds chirping. I don’t think birds are going to kill me,” Anna said sarcastically as she became slightly annoyed.
“Anna,” Gloria said in the same stern tone of voice, “just work with me here.”
Anna breathed in deeply and exhaled. “I’m sorry for being immature for a second. This practice is new to me. I will try again.” She listened in again. “I hear people jogging and walking.”
Gloria nodded her head. “Good. Focus on the people walking and jogging. The first one is coming near us,” she said.
Anna waited until the person had passed by. “That individual is not breathing rapidly, so I believe he or she just started walking around the park.”
Gloria nodded again. “Good! The next person should be coming our way.”
The morning wind was blowing steadily, and Anna put her hand in her sweater pocket.
“That person is breathing a little more. I believe the individual has been walking for a while.”
Gloria nodded. “Good! Ready?”
“Ready,” Anna answered.
“When the person comes near, figure out if the person is male or female.”
“How do I do that?” Anna inquired.
“I will tell you after you try to figure it out.”
“Oh, okay.”
A person walked by them, and Anna heard footsteps.
“I’m going to say a male,” she said.
“No,” Gloria answered.
“No?”
“Were the footsteps light or heavy?”
“Light,” Anna answered.
“You can open your eyes and see if you were correct,” Gloria insisted.
Anna opened her eyes and turned to the individual who walked past her. “You were right,” she said.
“I hear the next person coming up. Tell me if it’s a male or a female,” Gloria said.
Anna closed her eyes and focused on the footsteps until the person had passed her. She answered Gloria seconds later. “It’s a female.”
“And the next one?” Gloria asked.
Anna waited again for a few moments. “It’s a male.”
Gloria nodded and smiled. “Keep your eyes closed and your ears open.”
“I’m focused,” Anna said. She stood still and kept silent waiting for a jogger to pass by. Anna continued to focus, and they practiced for fifteen more minutes. She heard another sound. “I think I hear an ambulance, but I might be wrong. It’s too far away. I can’t hear it clearly. Is it an ambulance? No. I think it is something positive I am hearing. No. Wait. Oh, I don’t know,” Anna said with frustration.
“Stop,” Gloria interrupted.
Anna opened her eyes at the sudden intervention, whereas Gloria turned toward her.
“Trust your instincts and try again,” Gloria said calmly.
Anna closed her eyes again. “I still hear the ambulance or whatever it is,” Anna said.
“What else?” Gloria asked.
“I hear a person talking on his phone. He is complaining about losing his license because he was late to his interview.”
“You think he actually was?” Gloria asked.
Anna turned her head towards her sister. “I hear bits and pieces.”
Gloria did not say a word, and Anna also kept quiet and listened in.
“I lost my license because…. The alarm clock did not go off…It’s my fault,” the stranger said.
“He did lose his license,” Anna informed her sister and walked over to her.
“You did great! What time is it? Around eleven?”
Anna glanced at her watch. “It’s eleven, all right, time went by fast.”
“We’ll eat lunch at one,” Gloria announced.
Anna hesitated for a minute. “You think they’ll find me?”
Gloria shrugged. “If we continue practicing this morning, the appropriate question is: Will we find them?” she answered.
“Where to?” Anna asked.
“Now, let’s go further away to Edison, New Jersey. I am thinking Menlo Park Mall,” Gloria replied.
The women headed for Anna’s car. As they drove off and reached the end of the street, two blocks down, a car nearby started its engines. They were being followed. Anna turned a corner on South Orange Ave, stayed in the left lane, and stopped at a red light. The other car, which had kept some distance, accelerated at top speed. It turned the corner, entered the right lane, and managed to swing to the right and hit Anna’s car, and then sped off to Prospect Street. Anna’s head hit the side window, but she managed to hold on tightly to the wheel and regain control over the car. She slammed the breaks after her car struck down a mailbox. Anna looked around the road, but all traffic was moving in a linear way in the opposite direction. “Are you all right?” she quickly asked Gloria.
“Yes. And you?” Gloria asked as they both breathed in and out rapidly.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Anna grabbed the wheel tightly.
“Anna, you carried cash, right?” Gloria said, trying to gather composure.
“Yes. I always leave extra cash in my passport when I’m traveling out of the country. I took the money out and put it in my wallet.”
“Then how did they find you?” Gloria said nervously.
Looking ahead, Anna once again held on to the wheel tightly. In her mind, she was trying to trace her own steps. “How did they find me!” She continued to think deeply. “Crap! Oh God, stupid me!” She turned to Gloria while keeping both of her hands on the wheel. “When we were at the gas station, to fill up a full tank of gas, I made a mistake by giving the attendant my other bank card.”
Gloria was surprised.
“I only had hundred dollar bills in my wallet. I... I simply wasn’t thinking straight. I seldom use cash in everyday situations. My focus was to have a full tank if we ever decide to head all the way to Connecticut or Boston. I know it’s irrational,
I really don’t know what I was thinking. I...”
“All right. All right. The worse thing for either of us to do is panic. Give me your card. Put it inside my purse,” Gloria said.
Anna hurriedly took out her other bank card and placed it in Gloria’s handbag.
“I use this card for business purchases and flights. The stolen one was for everyday purchases,” Anna explained while zipping her sister’s bag.
Around the early morning hours, a police car and several people came to inspect the car and offer their help.
“Can you tell me what has happened?” an officer asked.
“Someone hit my car with theirs and left,” Anna replied.
“It sounds like a hit-and-run. Did you get a good glimpse of the person behind the wheel?”
Anna thought for a second, then shook her head. “It happened so fast.”
“Did you at least get a glimpse of the driver’s plates?”
Anna, who felt even more frustrated at herself, slowly shook her head.
“I’m going to ask the other person in your car if she saw anything,” the officer said, but Anna stopped him before he could turn to Gloria.
“There’s no need. My sister is blind.”
“I see.” The officer took a glimpse at Gloria and turned back to Anna. “Can you give me your address and telephone number to contact you for more information?”
“I won’t be home for two weeks, and am not really good with answering phone calls right away. Can I please call the police department to check up on the status?”
The officer nodded, and Anna climbed inside her car, where she turned to Gloria. “The car is fine. The driver made a good dent in it, but I can manage.”
“Let’s quickly brainstorm. The person has already watched us at the park...”
“It is better that we use the highway for the rest of the way to our destination. There’re so many cars on the road, no red lights, and police are on patrol. There’s no place to hide, no streets to turn,” Anna said.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Gloria said.
Anna started her car and drove to the mall.
***
Anna drove inside the mall’s parking lot. It was a large mall, with different stores extending its outer area. Barnes and Noble was on one end, the Cheesecake Factory on the other. Cars were coming and going here early in the afternoon. They both got out of the car, and Gloria held Anna’s arm as they went towards the main entrance. The two-story mall had shiny marble floors that mirrored the stores. Gloria heard the sound of Music, people talking, and feet moving near her in different directions.
“First, locate a bench near an entrance door,” Gloria said.
Then she took her sister’s arm and headed for the nearest bench. As they stood there, a stranger in her mid-sixties moved her shopping bags from the bench, which resulted in Anna sitting in the middle between Gloria and the woman.
“I want you to close your eyes again,” Gloria said.
Once more, Anna did as her sister instructed.
“At the park, the practice was about hearing. Now, this practice is about smell.”
“Okay,” Anna responded.
The stranger turned with a puzzled look on her face.
“Have you ever noticed someone who has a strong scent that comes from perfume or cologne?” Gloria asked.
Anna laughed slightly, and then became serious again. “Yes, my coworker has a nice smell, and I don’t know the name of her perfume because she won’t tell me.”
“Throughout the years, I’ve noticed that behind the strong or faint smell of perfume or cologne, there’s a hidden smell that is distinctive to the individual,” Gloria explained.
“Oh. I heard about that,” Anna said.
“Are your eyes open?”
Anna closed her eyes. “Not anymore. How will I differentiate between the smells of people walking back and forth at a rapid pace?”
“The person in question will only be in contact for a few seconds; we are starting from the surface first. Ready?”
“Yes,” Anna answered.
“First, describe the smell they have on them from external products.”
While Anna kept her eyes closed, they both heard people talking and laughing amongst themselves, as well as children crying and whining to their parents.
“This woman came in with a nice perfume. I know this one. It’s from the Senses Treasures store. I can’t believe I caught that particular smell. I should’ve brought that perfume,” Anna said to Gloria.
Another person walked past them.
“Oh!” Anna said as a foul smell entered her nose. “No deodorant, but the cologne smells fine. He just missed one step before he walked out of the house.”
“What else?” Gloria asked.
Anna heard another person near them drop a pen. The stranger bent down, picked it up, and resumed walking.
“The next person smells like baby powder underneath their perfume. I can smell it as if it was mixed in,” Anna responded.
“Great, next one!”
Anna waited after several people passed her by, and another smell caught her attention. “I can smell cherry,” she said.
Gloria started to get up from the bench, and Anna looked up at her with confusion. “We’re done already?”
“I wish we could continue here, but it’s not a good idea to stay any longer,” Gloria said.
Anna nodded her head. “Of course. To be honest with you, I was just getting a hang of this type of practice; using the sense of smell more intensely than usual.” She got up and followed her sister, who remained intensely focused on the sounds of people and music playing on the mall’s first floor.
“I’d wish I could buy something now,” Anna said, and then became quiet as she focused on some individual nearby. “A guy near the garbage can seems like he can’t wait to discard excess receipts and price tags. He also looks like he’s mistakenly throwing coins in the trash as well. He should look at what he’s throwing out before he gets rid of his old wallet,” she said and turned to Gloria. “Where to now?”
“We’re going.” Gloria fell abruptly silent and stuck out her index finger. “Hush for a second!” Unexpectedly, she became alerted by a conversation nearby.
“Someone took my wallet, someone took my wallet!” a stranger said.
“Please retrace your steps for me,” a mall cop said to the stranger.
Gloria turned to her sister for a quick second. “You said there was a man near a trash can, correct?”
“Yes, I only saw a glimpse of him. I was paying attention to what he was throwing out. Why? What about him?”
Remaining silent, Gloria stuck out her index finger once more. Anna was quiet again. Gloria returned to the conversation and continued to tune in.
“Someone picked my pocket. I went to the Horizon Travel Accessories store; and after my purchase, I put my wallet in my back pocket, but I guess I didn’t put it in deep enough. How could I do this?” the distressed stranger said.
“It’s alright, this happens almost every day. Just come with me to the office on the second floor, and I will get all the information that can help us,” the cop said.
“I know I won’t get my wallet back!” the stranger said.
Their voices faded away from Gloria’s ears.
“We need to go to the second floor,” she said.
“Now? We can’t afford to waste time,” Anna protested.
“Let’s go to the nearest escalator.”
“What’s going on?” Anna asked.
“As you’ve heard, someone’s wallet was stolen.” Gloria folded her cane and placed it in her handbag. “Let’s head to the nearest escalators.”
She put her hand over Anna’s arm, and they started to walk. “I’m only doing this because it’s practice. I’m not here to save someone else’s day.”
“You know, this would not have happened if the person’s wallet in their back pocket wasn’t visible for people to grab,” Anna
said. “Someone hacked into my computer. At least, this individual could have prevented his wallet from getting stolen.”
Gloria didn’t respond to her sister’s statement.
“I see the mall cop taking someone to their office at the far end of this floor. I doubt the victim’s wallet will be returned – too many people in this mall,” Anna said as they reached the second floor a few seconds later.
“We just need to continue this practice, now is definitely a good time,” Gloria responded.
“Whoever did it may have already walked or run to a different area, or out of the building, Gloria,” Anna said while pulling in her sister’s arm, so as to make her return to the escalators and then to the first floor.
“Let’s just continue before that happens,” Gloria eagerly said.
Anna became slightly frustrated. “I can’t close my eyes and walk.”
“You’re one step ahead of me again. You’re going to use your peripheral vision right now.” Gloria lifted her cane up and down several times, and heard the ball at the end of the stick touch the ground. “We need to be near garbage cans, not near stores.”
Gloria and Anna were pushed by a group of people coming out from a store.
“Don’t look directly at anyone by a garbage can, they will notice,” Gloria said.
“Why?” Anna answered.
“Just don’t!” Gloria replied.
The two women came near to the first garbage can, and Gloria heard no voices there.
“Let’s keep going,” she said.
They turned the wide corner on the second floor level. Across from the couch was another garbage can. Three teenage boys stood around it, just a little to the right. Anna continued to look straight ahead. Using her peripheral view, she could only see blurry figures, but she kept focused on their conversation.
“I hear several teenage boys. It must be them.”
“There’s something else that you need to take note of. Don’t always judge or assume,” Gloria said.
“Yes, right,” Anna said, moving at a quick and steady pace.
One of the teenage boys spoke to his two friends. “Keep the receipt.”
“No, I don’t need it, Mark!” another teenager said as he threw his receipt in the garbage along with a bag.
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