The Great Pencil Robbery

by Tommy Williams '11

On July 2, 2009 my Zebra mechanical pencil was forcibly taken from me by a ladrón (robber). Here is the epic tale of this occurrence.

At about 1:30 PM, I left Colegio Inmaculada with Pedro and his friend José. It was a new experience walking the streets of Santa Fe for the first time. We went down to the bus office to procure a ten peso ticket for el colectivo (the bus). This went off without a hitch, and we went down to the bus stop. There we waited for about ten minutes all the while talking about our day and our teachers. Our light blue bus, Line 4, pulled up and we got on.

The buses in Santa Fe are a lot different than those in the US. Pedro jokes about them, saying they are extra buses left over from World War II. They are the behemoths of the road, massive Mercedes that don't stop for anything. Each one is a different color, ranging from bright yellow to the baby-blue one that we took. The bus drivers are very intent on doing their job, which means their stops to drop off or pick up new passengers rarely lasts longer than four seconds. You have to have lightning-fast reflexes to jump off in time, or risk getting stuck for another stop. For these reasons, the buses are very fast in reaching their destinations.

Pedro, José and I took the bus for about twenty blocks and then José got off a stops before us. With a customary "Chao", he stepped off and Pedro and I rode to our stop. There we disembarked, and while I was on the last step the bus started moving again, and I almost fell down. After regaining my balance Pedro and I started walking the seven blocks to his house.

We were walking back to Pedro's house at about 2 PM, telling jokes and having a good time when two men on a motorcycle pulled up alongside us. In the blink of an eye, the man on the back jumped off and put Pedro in a headlock. I thought that it was one of Pedro's friends who was a little too physical, but it quickly turned sour. The robber yelled at Pedro, "¡Dame tu teléfono!" (Give me your phone!). Pedro had no chance but to give the robber his cell phone in case he had a concealed weapon. The robber then turned his face towards me saying again, "¡Dame tu teléfono!" (Give me your phone!). His dark brown eyes leered at me, menacing under his bushy unibrow and leathery face. I quickly replied, "¡No lo tengo!" (I don't have it). Desperation and disappointment showed on his face, and he stole my mechanical pencil which was in my hand. They left as quickly as they came, the robber hopping on the back of the waiting motorcycle, and the driver gassed it and they rode off a cell phone and pencil richer.

Right after, a woman came out of the house we were in front of and told Pedro in Castellano that she was robbed as well, an hour before. Pedro and I slowly walked back in shock. At his house we talked to his two brothers, Tomás and Felipe, about the robbery. When Sr. Cabrero came home, he and Pedro talked to the police about what had happened, and that they would keep an eye out. The chances of catching the robbers are low because robbery is a fairly common crime, and there is no way to really catch them. The Great Pencil Robbery is an expericence that I will never forget.

Skylight in the Primary School