I swish the hangers along the rod one by one, pretending to be searching for a new garment while intermittently glancing up towards the cute boy across the aisle. I flash a nervous grin at him and whip my head back towards Grace who is finishing a story I’m not listening to. Lost in whispers and giggles, Grace and I do not notice the stranger who approaches us. He hovers closely, waiting quietly, unnoticed.
I glance up in his direction, startled by his presence. Assuming he is one of the store clerks playing a trick on us, I laugh at the bandana tightly wrapped around his face, just under his nose, and turn back to Grace to continue our conversation. He lifts something up towards our faces and mutters something I can’t quite make out. I turn my head and focus on the object. Thinking it’s a toy, I laugh again, flick it with my fingers, and comment that it must be a water gun. When I feel the cold metal press against my cheek, and make out the words he has been repeating, I realize it isn’t a joke at all.
“I said get the F*#@K on the floor, this is a hold up!” says the stranger nervously but with authority. Grace and I make eye contact and then divert our attention to the rest of the store. We had been so wrapped up in our conversation, we hadn’t noticed that the rest of the customers are lying facedown on the floor. We drop to our knees and begin to giggle nervously. “I said get DOWN” he yells, frustration surfacing in his tone.
Grace and I slowly bend down on the floor and shuffle so that our sides are touching and we are holding hands. Our faces are pressed firmly on the cold floor. My eyes are squeezed so tightly shut that they sting. Suddenly a burst of giggles pops through my sealed lips. Grace catches the giggles and we are suddenly giggling uncontrollably. I squeeze my grasp on Grace’s hand in an attempt to calm my nerves. We lay there for what feels like hours, face down, hands squeezed together, eyes tightly shut.
I feel something press against my back and slowly peel my eyelids open and crack my neck to see what is prompting me. It’s a police officer. “Ladies, you can stand up now, it’s over, they’re gone” he says, trying to hold back the tinge of laughter in his voice. I look at Grace and we slowly rise to our feet. People are wandering around, talking to cops, eyeing us mid-sentence.
We had been laying in the middle of the floor, holding hands, giggling quietly for quite some time. Unaware that the holdup had ended, that the cops had entered and the other customers has risen and begun talking and wandering around the store. We look like idiots. We leave in disbelief, completely stunned.
24 Comments
Oh my, that was scary! Though you did not seem scared 🙂
Yikes! That’s scary! :O So glad no one got hurt.
ohmyword!
What an incredible job you did! I love how you had us in that carefree, innocent moment with you and we were just as startled as you were at the gun.
And the giggles – I understand. Once, in one of the most horrible moments of my life, when I found my friend overdosed and unconscious, I had this crazy nervous laugh that I couldn’t suppress as her boyfriend and I tried to wake her. It was the strangest thing. It quickly passed as the harsh reality struck me sober. But I felt horrible that my initial panic came out in a nervous, manic giggle.
That story gave me the chills (and it did transport me directly to the moment – great job on that). We all laugh at the weirdest of times – my usually sensitive teenager walked out of a room where she had been on Facebook last night and announced that a family member’s beloved dog had died. She wasn’t being insensitive, she was just being …… 15. SO glad you survived this horrible incident!
Oh my gosh!! So scary! And a little funny too, the way you told it! I probably would have wet my pants 😉
That must have been scary! I think I would have peed my pants on top of everything else.
Holy CRAP. That’s terrifying. I can’t imagine how that affected you.
holy crap is right! brilliant writing of this memory!
Wow, WOW! Amazing story. Glad to hear that your innocence got you through.
Oh my! That is so scary!
Reading that made me so scared for you! I’m glad everything turned out okay!
OMG! Glad your nervous laughter distracted you from a really scary situation!
OMG! How scary. I can’t imagine being in your shoes and giggling. I think I would be crying. How old were you at the time this happened? Just curious.
Good retelling!
I would’ve died!!!
Why do we get the giggles at the most inappropriate times!?! Thank goodness you were okay, I can totally imagine my sister and I reacting in that same way!
Nervous laughter is probably my worst trait. Whenever I’m very uncomfortable, I cannot help but laugh. Sometimes it’s handy but other times… not so much. Glad it worked for you here!
That had to have been terrible…I can relate to nervous laughter…I’m plagued with it too…
hi from mk’s
Gah! When I started reading this I thought “A work of fiction” as I didn’t believe it! I’ve never actually met someone who has been held-up. (I clicked on your blog…that means we’re officially acquaintances, right?) Scary experience that made for a terrific post. Thanks for sharing!
Giggling? I wish I had a nervous giggle instead of a nervous horse bray!
But wow, how crazy.
I have had the urge to laugh at THE WORST times in life. So glad it ended up ok for you! Great post 🙂
Scary… but funny! The way you wrote it seemed like a fictional story. Very enjoyable to read.
That is so funny that you couldn’t stop giggling! Stopping by from Mama Kat’s
Oh my goodness for real!? That’s scary and hilarious!
Thank you for sharing this interesting flashback story. Thank goodness everything worked out OK. That seems to be a rare situation – that someone would get all the customers to lie on the floor during a hold up. At least I hope it is!