by Billy Miner
“Uhm… dad,” I stuttered. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to steal that apple? There’s something weird about it.”
“So?” he asked. “A little glow never killed anyone. Let’s go get it. Go, guys. Now!”
Everyone went to the apple to check it out. It was beautiful and shiny. There was a glass bowl around it. Without thinking, my dad pushed the others aside and lifted up the bowl.
THAT was a mistake.
It triggered the alarm.
Weeeeoooweeeoooh!
The alarm was louder than the highest volume of my portable music playing device, and even though my young ears had been damaged by endless rock and opera music, I still put my fingers in my ears to mute the loud noises.
Weeeeooooweeeooh!
Everybody panicked. They ran in all different directions but couldn’t go anywhere. Two of the men bumped into each other and fell on the floor. My dad grabbed the apple and put it in his pocket, after which his pocket started glowing.
“Weird,” he said.
I looked around us. There were four door that had led to this room, but now they were all shut by thick metal doors, which fell down immediately when the alarm started, preventing us to leave the room.
“What are we going to do?” I exclaimed. “We are trapped! How are we gonna get out of here?”
“Stay calm,” my dad said. “There is always a way.”
I was surprised by his self-confidence but I doubted his reasoning. What if there was no way out?
Note 2: Cover Your Tracks
We looked around and thought of a plan to escape before the cops would arrive. Everything was completely closed.
Everything…
Except for the air shafts.
“There!” my dad said as he pointed to one of them. “That’s our way out. See? I told you it would be all right. We can just climb through those.”
He ran towards the air shaft and pulled the lattice off. The others ran towards him, even the ones who had bonked heads. They followed him into the air shaft and crawled through the narrow spaces. I was last, and I regret to say that I didn’t even want to go. It was scary and I didn’t know where it was leading us, but I didn’t seem to have any other option, so I just did as they did.
After a few turns, we arrived in the hallway where we entered the building. I was glad when I noticed that the outside door had not been blocked by a similar steel door. There was nothing holding us back from running outside.
So we did.
We ran outside and looked around us to find the shortest route to the car. In the meantime, the alarm was still making noise.
Weeoooweeooweeooo!
“Let’s go!” my dad said. “We have no time to lose. Follow me.”
We ran through the storm. The noisy thunder was covering the loud sounds of the police cars that had just stopped in front of the museum. Luckily none of them were near our car, and they all ran in the wrong direction: Straight to the front entrance.
My dad, who was soaking wet by now, looked to the side and sad enthusiastically, “See boys? They went to the wrong door. Ha-ha!”
The other men weren’t too certain about whether or not to laugh. Was it a real joke or was he just laughing because he was relieved that he didn’t get caught? They showed an awkward smirk on their faces but kept running. None of those clumsy weirdoes slipped this time, but I had the feeling we forgot something.
“The machine!” I suddenly said as I came to a halt. “We left the machine! We have to go back!”
“No way,” my dad said. “If we go back, they’ll find us. They are probably near the side entrance already. There is no time!”
“But if we leave it, they’ll know that it was us who stole the golden apple,” I argued.
“How? How will they know? It’s not like it has our name on it or something.”
“Uhmm…” one of the guys said hesitantly.
“Wait a minute. Does it?” my dad asked.
“Well, technically…” our fellow criminal started, “… it only has your last name on it. I saw it.”
“WHAT?!!!!”
My dad yelled so loud that we saw one of the cops look our way. Despite the heavy rain, he still heard my dad’s frustrated exclamation. We all ducked. My dad got up a little to see if he was still watching us.
“Okay, the coast is clear,” he said. “Sorry I lost my temper, boys. But why does it have my last name on it? Which of you belugas put my name on that machine?”
They all looked up for a while. Then one of them said sheepishly, “You see, boss, when we gave it to you, we thought it would be nice to have your name engraved on it… you know… like a present.”
My dad came closer and grabbed him by the collar.
“You mean to say that you actually went to the store and had my name engraved on it?” he said between his teeth, holding back his rage.
“Well, yeah… a tattoo guy. He said he would fix it for 20 bucks. You know…”
“IDIOTS!”
Again, the cop looked our way, but we figured his vision was blurry because of the evaporating rain that was falling on the ground. We ducked again. My dad was furious.
“Fine,” he said after a minute. “You got get the machine, son. I am sure you will have a better chance of bringing it back than these four imbeciles. Let’s go. I will see you at home. Don’t mess this up, please.”
“I won’t let you down, dad,” I said, pretending to fully believe in myself.
Note 3: Be Precise
I was really edgy; I was nervous. The cops were all over the place and I was about to go back. Sure, they all went through the front door, but one of them might have ended up outside the side door, where the machine was.
I looked around and jumped over a hedge. I looked again and jumped over another one, and another one… every time ducking after I jumped.
Wow!
A cop just came outside and looked my way. Did he see me?
“Hey, what was that?” I heard him say.
O-oh. Not good. Not good!!!
The guard came closer and closer. I heard his footsteps and his cough as he approached me. He was only a few feet away.
“I think it came from over here!” he yells to three other police officers who came out of the building.
He was standing in front of me, towering over me when I was hiding underneath the bushes, when suddenly…
“Meeououw!”
A cat came out of nowhere; it had clearly been hiding because of the rain, and had found a comfortable spot near the hedge I was sitting. It jumped up and attacked the policeman’s face.
“Aah! Get out of my face, stupid cat!” the officer shouted.
He threw the scratching cat on the ground and looked around him.
“I guess it was just a cat!” he yelled to the other men.
That was close. The cat saved my life. I ought to go to it and shake its hand. However, there were more important matters: The machine was still there. I couldn’t let them find it. So I waited until the officer was gone and snuck towards the spot where we had left it. It was still there. Good. I lifted the machine up and hauled it out of there. Within minutes, I was able to get the machine away from the building without getting spotted. It was pretty heavy, so I needed to take a break.
I was panting heavily when I saw my dad drive by in his car, along with the men he had been so angry at.
“Glad you made it out alive, son. Now, let’s go before the police sees us.”
I don’t think I had ever been happier to see my dad than at that time. I lifted the machine and put it in the car, after which I sat down and my dad hit the gas pedal.
Vroooom!
Again, that was close… we almost got caught. I looked at the others. They had messed up and my dad knew it. They didn’t dare looking me in the eyes. One of them didn’t have to anyway, since he was wearing sunglasses.
“So where did you get the name printed?” I asked.
No response.
They looked at each other and probably thought they should respond, because a few seconds later, one of them said, “It’s on the other side. See?”
I turned the machine around. He was right. It was on the other side. But then I discovered something horrible.
“Hold on,” I said. “This is the bottom.”
“Yeah, so?” one of them asked.
“So?!!! Well, let me tell you why that is a problem, guys. The bottom was on the floor. See this inscription with our last name? Now there is a print in the sand with our last name. The police will look around and find our name printed in the sand.”
“But it will be backwards,” the guy with the sunglasses said. “So they won’t be able to read it.”
He smiled when he said it, as if he had just said something smart. I rolled my eyes and started seeing why my dad called them names all the time. They really were idiots.
“Stop the car,” I told my dad as I sighed.
“What’s wrong, son?”
I explained my dad why I had to go back to erase the print in the sand and he let me out. I didn’t take the machine, of course. I didn’t need that heavy weight wearing me down. My dad thought it would be best not to drive back. We were only a few blocks away, but we didn’t want the cops to recognize our license plate. So I walked. No problem.
Well, I didn’t walk. I ran.
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I watched out for cops, since they were everywhere. I hid behind trees, snuck behind bushes, and finally arrived at the spot where the machine had been standing, next to the side door.
There it was.
Our last name, printed backwards in the sand because of the machine that had been standing there. I quickly grabbed some mud and covered it up. No more traces, not even small ones.
At that moment, a policeman opened the side door from the inside. He didn’t see me, since the door swung open against me and left me behind it.
“Let’s see what’s on this side,” the cop said.
He looked at the ground. I was glad I erased our name just in time. Then he stepped outside and looked around him. There was no way to hide now.
I came from behind the door and punched him in the face.
“Ughh!” he said as he fell to the ground.
It didn’t knock him out, but I wasn’t going to take him out, since I hadn’t done anything like that before. So I ran away, which, when I thought about it afterwards, wasn’t a smart idea at all, because as soon as the policeman got up, he called his little helpers over.
“Get him!” he shouted. “He is trying to escape!”
Within minutes, the yard was crawling with cops. I ran into all different directions, hoping they wouldn’t pursue me. I hoped they would leave me alone.
They didn’t.
Half a dozen cops had already seen me and were following me, trying to run faster than I did. This was it. I was going to prison. There was no way to talk myself out of this one, and I was losing the race. I panted and ran as fast as I could, but they were gaining on me.
Suddenly, a car pulled over.
It was my dad’s car.
“Get it! Now!” he said. “Hurry!”
I got in the car and slammed the door, after which the tires screeched and my dad made one of the most dangerous moves in traffic I had seen him do.
Eeeeeeeaaa!
He turned around and drove off, breaking the law in another way by surpassing the speed limit and going 30 miles over. But it got me out of there. I was safe.
“Thanks, dad,” I said.
“I would never leave you behind, son. I just realized that, which is why I came back. You owe me one.”
“How about us?” the guy with the sunglasses asked.
My dad looked back. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
“We helped too, didn’t we?” another guy with said from underneath his hat.
“You…” he started and then breathed heavily. “… You idiots are going to cook spaghetti and pizzas for the next week AND DO ALL THE DISHES!!!”
“Sorry, boss.”
Note 4: Don’t Flirt with the Big Boss’ Daughter
Back at the house, my dad congratulated me for being so courageous. This was one of those moments: My dad was a good man, but he was just sucked into all of this. I think if he would see what this organization made him do, he would understand that it would be better to get out.
“Son, we’re going to see Fabiano. He is the leader in this town. But trust me, you don’t want to get in his way. If he doesn’t like someone, he will put you down.”
“Oh, I can take an insult or two,” I said. “That’s not a problem.”
“Ha! No, you don’t understand. When I say ‘put you down,’ I mean really put you down, like sleeping with the fishes.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” I said.
“You’re right it doesn’t. So you better keep your mouth shut.”
“Okay, dad.”
We got in the car and went to the big boss’ villa on the edge of the city. It was huge. The yard had Italian statues everywhere, flower beds, and columns from the Roman era. The house itself was probably three times as big as ours, if not more.
We walked up a few stairs and came to the front entrance. A bodyguard stood there in suit and tie, with sunglasses and a hat, just like everybody else. I don’t get why the police had such a hard time locating the mobsters, because we all looked a certain way. But then again, I guess they shouldn’t be suspicious of anyone with a hat and a suit, since many people walked around in those kind of clothes back then.
“Who are you and what do you want?” the bodyguard asked.
“We are here to see Fabiano. He called us here,” my dad answered.
“Hold on a sec,” the guard said.
We watched as he talked with someone over a little speaker device, with an earphone attached to his suit. He told the person on the other side (probably the big boss) that someone was here and asked for permission to let us in.
“The boss is okay with you coming up now,” he said after a while.
He opened the door for us and we went inside. The main hall was wide and luxurious. It looked like a palace. I had no idea how this guy made so much money, but it was most likely not ethical or legal. Either way, he seemed to be getting rich from it. That was obvious.
We walked up the red carpet on the stairs and came to the second floor, where we were let in and saw Fabiano. He had a white suit and a white hat. His cigar smoke filled the room, which made me a little nauseous before I got used to it a bit more.
“Welcome to the palacio,” he said in a thick Italian accent. “I heard you were at the museum last night. What happened there?”
“Well, we thought of stealing the golden apple,” my dad began.
But I didn’t hear the rest, because at that moment, the door opened and I saw the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life. She came in with a tray with some drinks on it and stared at me over her shoulder when she walked past me. This Italian beauty had black hair, a white top and a fading green skirt. I wasn’t sure if every girl in town would have said that these colors matched, but I was certain that to me, every color looked good on her.
“Oh, hi, Byanca,” the big boss said, interrupting my father. “Put the tray over there, please.”
“Hi, Byanca,” I said.
Fabiano didn’t look happy when I said that. Byanca looked a little nervous at the big boss. Then she gave me this look as to say, “You better not talk to me in his presence.” Then the controlling bulldog spoke up, protecting his offspring.
“Did you just speak to my daughter?” Fabiano asked. “’Cause if you are trying to hit on my daughter, then you can just get outta here. I don’t accept that.”
“Oh no, I just said ‘hi.’ That’s all. Nothing more,” I said.
“Good. Let’s ke
ep it that way,” he said. “Anyway, what were you saying about the golden apple?”
Note 5: Avoid Shady Characters
The big boss listened to our adventure at the museum and demanded to see the object. My dad promised him he would bring him the glowing golden apple next time. He didn’t mention that it might have secret powers, since I was the one who brought it up and it hadn’t even been proven yet. After some small talk, we stepped out of the room. My dad went to the bathroom and I remained in the great hall.
“Pssst…” a voice said from around the corner.
“Byanca?” I asked.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“I am Vincenzo,” I answered.
“Pleased to meet you. Thank you for saying ‘hello,’” she said.
I felt my heart beating faster, and I am pretty sure I was blushing.
“Well, it was ‘hi,’ not ‘hello,’” I said, correcting her. By the way, afterwards I thought that was the stupidest thing I could have said, but it just came out.
“Hee-hee!” she giggled. “You know what? You’re funny. I like you. But I am in trouble.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“My dad. He’s so uptight about everything. He controls me and doesn’t give me any freedom. I just feel trapped. But I know what to do about it.”
“Yeah, what?” I said a little love-drunk.
“We can sneak off. We can get to know each other a little and see where it goes from there. It’s not just that I want to get out of the house. I also just want to get to know someone… you know… like a relationship or something. Do you think it’s fate that we met?”
“Uh-huh,” I said as I nodded.
But then I came to my senses.
“Well, uhum…” I said in a lower voice. “Perhaps, but we won’t know until we actually hang out a little, will we?”
“Exactly. So let’s get out of here now,” she said hastily.
“Right now? Well…”
“Do you have anything better to do?”
“No, it’s not that,” I said.