And I thought Saturday night was going to be dull

I worked hard on Saturday. Santa came to our mall on Saturday, so we were busy!!  Yahoo!   No time to even sit down for a few minutes, never mind getting something to eat.  Such is life in the restaurant biz, and I'd much rather be too busy to eat than have time to sit down and enjoy a meal.  Being able to sit down to eat means I'm not making money.  So I made good money on Saturday.  Lucky for me, I'm in the habit of taking my tip money out each night and putting it in a jar until I take it to the bank.


I was really looking forward to going home, taking off my shoes, putting my feet up and having something delivered for dinner.  Tim (my son) had ordered Ironman 2 on Netflix and it was sitting there, on my TV, waiting for John and me to watch it.  It was going to be a nice, lazy Saturday night.


Then I remembered I had a prescription for Metformin waiting for me to pick up at Walmart, and I was out of Metformin.  So we decided a little road trip was in order and a stop at Boston Market for dinner. 


We weren't in Walmart very long.  No line at the Pharmacy counter.  Got my Rx and a few other things and headed out.  I saw a couple I wait on at Fridays all the time and was chatting with them on the way out the door, so I was distracted.


A woman with a little girl asked me if I dropped my wallet (it was in my hoodie pocket that wasn't very deep).  I check.  Oh shit!  I did!!  She says well, that man (and she's pointing to a man and woman, pushing a stroller and the man is wearing a yellow sweatshirt) picked it up and put it in his pocket. 


"Excuse me, sir, did you pick up a wallet?"  


"No, ma'am, I didn't."


"Well, I dropped my wallet and that lady said you picked it up and put it in your pocket."


He shows me his wallet and says, "I have no other pockets."


John says,  "get his license number and call the police."  I asked John to get the license while I call the police.


A few minutes later, a very nice (and cute) policeman arrived.  I tell him what happened and let him know that John (aka My Hero)  went after them to get their license number.  But they didn't go to a car.  They were walking.  So I called John to find out where he is.  He says he's still following them, all the way  across the shopping center, they went into a Wendy's, stayed for a minute and then left.  Now he's following them across the road and they are heading into town.


The policeman called for another car to stop these folks and as luck would have it, there's a car right by the park and they are walking right by the park!!  Policeman #2 stops them and questions them.   They don't know what he's talking about!!  My policeman says, "They are black, right?"  "No", I say, "they're white."  He says, "Well, Police #2 is talking to a black couple."  (huh??)  Turns out, they have their hoods up and it's dark outside and they look dark-skinned in the night, but they're definitely white.  AND John's had eyes on them the entire time!


So, Police #1 goes to where they are (I'm waiting at Walmart) and tells them he's going to retrieve security footage from outside of Walmart and if he's lying, he's going to be arrested.  He says he never picked up a wallet.  He picked up what looked like a cell phone case but he threw it away.   Police get their info and sends them on their way, telling them they'll be in touch.


In the meantime, John (still carrying our Walmart bags!) is heading back to me.  He stopped in at Wendy's and, lo and behold, there is my wallet, on the counter!!  Someone (gee!  I wonder who??) turned it in, said she found it in the parking lot!  So the Police #1 and #2 (this is starting to sound like Dr. Seuss!) and me all drive over to Wendy's.  


Police #1 asked me if I want to press charges.  I'm  happy to get my wallet back, with my license and my check card and my one credit card.  I was going to let it go.  Police man says, "Well, this isn't the first time this guy is in trouble.  He's on probation."  and John says, "If you don't press charges, the next time, it might be a little old lady who just cashed her social security check."   That did it for me.


Ok, let's press charges!  So, nice cute Policeman #1 is going to contact Walmart today, get a copy of their surveillance tape, review it and arrest this creep who saw me drop my wallet, pick it up, deny to me that he had it, lie to the police that he had it and in a month or so, we're going to court.


And I thought I'd have nothing to write about on Sunday morning!