The bank robber turns back to the red headed teller, and shows her the gun again. "Now, where were we?" he asks, "Before we were so RUDELY interrupted."
"I've got to stop him," Brain-Dead Boy thinks. "There's no one else to stop him, so I've got to do it... And stop him without getting shot."
At moments like this, time seems to stop, and everything jumps into sharp focus. Brain-Dead Boy can see the patterns in the round blue eyes of the teller, and the cracked lines in the silk-screened "CROOK" on the back of the bank robber's jacket. He hears the birds outside the bank fighting over a dead worm, and the ringing of a telephone in the front office. He even hears the click as the phone placed back on the receiver a moment later. It's amazing how alive you can be just before you do something that will probably get you killed.
He hears the click in the latch of the door to the front office, and the footsteps as a lady with grey hair pulled back in tight bun storms out of the office. He can almost count the hairs in her bun, and the creases in her forehead. His senses are so acutely tuned, that it almost deafens him when she starts to talk.
"Jonathan James Bancjarobski", she says slowly and carefully, "If you're mother were alive today she'd be rolling in her grave. Just WHAT do you think you're doing down here. Now, you get back into that car, and you put that silly gun and ski mask back in the dresser drawer, and then you get the car washed like you were supposed to, and take it back to Crook's Mountain Get-A-Way right now. You tell Mr. Crook you're sorry it took so long, and you'll make up the time by taking a short lunch. You heard me now. I swear I don't know what I'm going to do with you!"
The robber stops waving his gun, and seems to shrink a few inches. "Auntie June! I didn't think you..."
"You just didn't think! You never do." The woman yanks the gun from his fingers and waves it under his nose. "I don't know how you ever expect to get that raise Mr. Crook promised you if you keep pulling these silly pranks."
The bank robber's shoulders slump under Aunt June's onslaught. He slinks out the door as Aunt June continues; "And you be sure to tell Mr. Crook that you're sorry!"
Brain-Dead Boy shakes his head as the woman marches past him back to her office, with the gun waving in her hand. She turns at looks at the tellers and waves the gun again. "What are you all staring at! Get back to work!"
The red-haired teller goes back to sorting checks, and Brain-Dead boy takes his nickel to the window with the tall brunette.
Just another day in the big city.
FINI