Although I couldn’t see anybody inside there, I decided to check up the back door of the shop. The way to that door was easy to find. It was on the first alley down on the street. There was wild bushes and trash cans beside it. For my surprise the door was open. The smell of vegetables, candies and bread filled my nose.
It was dark behind the door, but I could still see Stephen knocked down on the floor. Seeing him there like that made me very careful. Nevertheless, somebody was moving in the shop. My heart started to beat faster. It was partly of fear and partly of excitement. I knelt down to see how Stephen was. It appeared that he was alive; there were no blood stains and he was breathing. That was relieving.
Next I needed to find something, a cane or a broom stick, to protect myself from any possible attacks. I sneaked through Stephen’s storage and found a book of accounts on a bookshelf close to the doorway to the shop. The book was heavy enough to act as a weapon, so I took it and went in.
A man about my size stood in front of the cash register. He had dark clothes and a hood lifted over his head. Clearly this guy wasn’t there for good. I skulked behind him and hit him with the book. He collapsed instantly and all the money he had collected into his hand fell around him on the floor.
When I tried to see who he was, I realized my punch may have been too hard. The thief’s nose was bleeding. He must have stroked it to the corner of the cash register while he had fallen. The blood began to make a puddle on the floor. My hands were shaking. I turned the guy on his side. Thief or not, I didn’t want to kill him by letting him to inhale too much of his own blood.
“It looks like you got him”, Stephen’s voice said behind me. He was still too dizzy to stand without leaning onto the wall.
“I… It’s good to see you on your feet”, I said and tried to hide from him that my hands were still shaking. Stephen gave me a grin. “You’re quite a hero, you know. This fellow has been here earlier – he’s tough”, he told me. His fingers ran on the keyboard of his cell phone. “I’ll call to police”, he murmured into his beard.
From Stephen’s request we sat on the food boxes to wait the law. My thoughts were a mess. He didn’t seem too talkative either. It was perfectly understandable. We were too baffled from what had happened. But a little by little a good feeling started to reach me, while we sat there. At first it was just a distant group of notes, and then it grew as a song in my mind. I gave a pat on Stephen’s shoulder and we smiled.
*****
