The Heist (APWC)

Berry silently waits by the tree for his friends to show up. They should have been here by now, must have run into some trouble. Finally, after waiting for what seemed a life time, he sees them running across the street.

“You were supposed to be here an hour ago. WTF were you doing?” Berry looks straight at Baum, as he is the one who messes up all the time. Baum couldn’t get anything right, and Berry was tired of carrying his dead weight.

“We got caught up at the road, one of the cars almost took Nook out when he tried to cross, there were so many, we had to go the long way around.”

“Well, I’ve been here for hours; you should have sent someone ahead to let me know, someone who can handle crossing a street.” Berry looks straight at Baum as he says this, knowing that Nook wasn’t the one who had the issue. Baum stares down at his feet, confirming what Berry thought. After tonight, he’s gone. I’m done with this screw up.

"They should be putting the food can out in a few minutes. I’ve been casing this joint for weeks and it’s the same every Wednesday. They open up the garage an hour before dawn and pull the food can to the curb. After that, we will have approximately two hours to complete our work before the garbage truck gets here. So, we gotta get in and out as soon as possible. Did you bring the supplies I asked for?”

“Yessir, we have them all right here.” Nook opens the bag he is carrying and lets Berry look inside. The bag was full of stuff; everything they might need to get the food can open. Berry pulls out the black masks and gloves, putting his on first, then handing each of his friends a set to do the same.

“O.k. From what I have seen, they take the dog out right before they leave for the day. Dog out, car leaves, we are good to go. They don’t come back until evening. Anything goes wrong, run and we’ll meet up at the old log by the creek. Everyone understand?”

Everyone nods in agreement and then they all sit silently, waiting for the food can to be brought out to the curb. Ten minutes later, it happens, and the food can is over flowing. The lid won’t even close properly.

“Oh, and don’t forget what we’ve come for. Don’t take anything that is rotten or doesn’t smell like food. And I don’t want to see any of you eating before we get back home. This is not a midnight buffet and I definitely am not coming back for you if you get caught eating on the job.”

Baum starts to stare at his feet again. Last time, he almost got caught because he stopped to eat a twinkie. The guy had a broom for a weapon and had landed some pretty lethal shots before Baum was able to squeeze under the fence and get away. But he would not let that happen again, twinkie or no twinkie, he was going to wait until they got home to eat.

Finally, they hear the dog being let out and see the car leave. They wait about five minutes before they approach the curb where the food can was and start to rock it back in forth to get it to fall over.

Berry crawls up onto the fence and jumps over onto the top of the can, throwing it off balance and getting it to fall over. The lid falls off and everyone rushes forward to see what kind of food is in it. They start to tear open the bags and pull and push their way through all the garbage, filling their bags with produce as they go. They had hit pay dirt. Berry was even thinking that he would be able to retire after this, that maybe he had gotten enough here that he could give up the life of crime. Berry gives the signal that time was up, and turns to leave.

“Drop the bags and put your hands on your head, all of you.” It was the wild dog packs leader, Chase. He was standing right in front of the only exit available to them, with his dog pack spread out behind him. The road was blocked.

Berry was in such shock, he couldn’t move for a moment. His friends were just standing there too. He didn’t understand, he had cased this joint for weeks and never saw the wild dog pack, had been so cautious when he came and left each time. No one could have known. How did they find out?

“We got a tip that you were gonna rob this house today. Didn’t think much of it cuz we have been trying to catch you for months. But I thought I would check it out anyways, you never know, right? And look who we have here, the infamous raccoon gang, caught in the act with the goods in their hands. The boss is gonna be quite happy, I might even get a promotion for this. What you think, boys, think I’ll make chief now?”Chase looks back at his pack and they all nod in agreement.

Berry drops the loot and puts his hands up. He knew not to mess with the wild dog pack; they only allowed two things to happen. You came peacefully, or you died. And Berry wasn’t ready to die just yet. He looked back at his friends to see what they were thinking, and by the looks on their faces, they were gonna go peacefully too. Each one of them had put their bags down, all except for one.

One of his friends was missing. One of them had fled the scene before the wild dog pack arrived. Who would have ever thought in a million years he had it in him. Who would have thought that he would have had the balls to cross Berry and the gang.

As Chase started to take him away, Berry yelled at the top of his lungs. He knew that his friend would still be around to see the show, would be watching and laughing as the rest of the gang got taken.

“I’ll get you Baum! I will get out and find you and make sure you suffer! You won’t get away with this! You’ll pay for this, I promise you will pay!”

Baum was sitting under a bush watching. He had a huge grin from ear to ear as he opened his twinkie and took a bite. The cream from the twinkie had smeared on his face and made him look like a rabid dog. He leaves one of the two bags he had at the bush, just like he had promised Rat he would do, takes the other one and starts to head home.

Maybe next time, Berry won’t be so mean to his friends. Maybe next time, he will show people some respect. No matter, Berry will have plenty of time to think about how he treats his friend while he’s locked up in the joint.

Thanks,
Blend57