[ WP ] You are a career thief who have just recently stolen a backpack in a crowded train station . You are about to board the train when you notice that it is ticking ...

“ You know, I really do feel sorry for these people sometimes ”, thought Sal, as he stepped from behind a rather large woman, using her as a screen to ensure a further precaution should his next victim glance his face. 
 
 “ Honestly though, they could be having a terrible day, and I just come to make it worse for them. Then again, my day would be worse if weren ’ t for them…so there is that at least to make them feel better ” 
 
 Chuckling inwardly, Sal deftly made his final approach to his target, a mother of three. Struggling to keep her three children under control, she was an unfortunately easy victim. 
 
 “ Rather pretty, I must say ”, thought Sal inwardly about the woman before simply bending over slightly, grasping the leather saddle bag thoughtlessly discarded during the mothers attempt to corral her youngsters onto the bench. 
 
 Expertly slipping the bag over his shoulder, giving a small faux cough, and checking his watch, Sal was on his way after another successful attempt at pilferage continuing on into the sea of people never looking back to see the reaction of the undoubtedly frustrated mother. 
 
 Normally Sal would never look in a stolen bag to examine its contents until he was back at home, but today was different. Picking up an incessant ticking not 15 seconds from where he had stolen the bag, Sal opened it as he walked along the edge of the subway line curious to what the noise was, looked in, and froze. 
 
 Promptly, he was greeted by a rough shove in the back and a friendly, “ Hey, watch it asshole! ”. 
 
 All Sal could muster was a blank stare back as irritated people flowed around him like a rock in a stream. 
 
 “ A fucking bomb?! ”, Sal thought bewilderedly. Not that he had seen any in person; of course, Sal didn ’ t dabble in that type of crime. However, looking back at him from the mother ’ s stolen shoulder bag was an honest to god bomb. It had to be, a mess of wires and explosives topped by a red LED countdown that calmly stated that there was roughly 6 seconds until something very bad happened. 
 
 Sal wasn ’ t careful that day, in his swipe of the bag; one of the children noticed the unassuming Sal walking away and promptly tattled like a good brat will do. Unbeknownst to Sal, who had been too comfortable to notice the ensuing commotion behind him, the mother promptly elicited a cliché, “ Help! That guy took my bag! ”, and thus a hard-ass in a suit gave chase to the unfortunate Sal. 
 
 Sal managed to collect himself, if only for a moment after his shocking revelation concerning the contents of the bag came to roost. He was abruptly grabbed by the collar and suddenly face to face with the suited hard-ass who yelled some incoherent garble about giving the bag back. Sal immediately pushed away, but as he stepped back he realized there was no step behind him and reasoned that he was closer to the edge of the subway tracks than he thought. 
 
 The fall hurt, but the situation he found himself in afterwards would hurt for much longer. Laying on the tracks staring back at the crowd looking down at him, Sal glanced back at the contents of the bag now strewn across the area behind him just quickly enough to capture the clock move from one to zero. 
 
 ____________________________________________________________ 
 
 Sitting at the bar after work that night, Jim looked up at the TV screen to take in the scene playing out in front of him. Apparently a guy saved a lot of lives by grabbing a bag he saw to have a bomb in it and jumped onto the tracks thus preventing a larger loss of life, turning the death of potentially hundreds into only 4, and as the name and pictured flashed before the audience, Jim realized he went to high school with this guy! 
 
 “ Hey Mikey! Turn this up! ” Jim bellowed to the bartender, “ The guy that saved those people in the tunnel, I went to high school with him! ” 
 
 “ No shit?! ”, said Mikey. 
 
 “ Yeah, wow, ya just think ya know a guy, ya know? A real hero, man, he definitely made someone else ’ s day a lot better though, huh? Woulda never known he had it in him in High School ”, Jim mused inwardly. 
 
 With that, Jim downed the rest of his glass, put a ten on the bar, and left to his unfulfilling life, forgetting almost immediately the content of the previous 30 seconds of mental stimuli as his attention turned to the flashing neon sign reading, “ 2 for 1 Burgers ”. 

