30 August 2007

Harammi! Harammi! (Thief! Thief!)

The other night, there were a few of us waiting in the car on the main street of town as a friend waited for some cushions to be brought out to take home. Mike was in the front seat chatting with our 3 year old friend. I was sitting right behind him in the backseat with another friend and her baby. The windows were open cause it was stinking hot, and all of a sudden there was a guy with his arm and half his upper body in Mike's front window reaching for something in the car. (Mike was turned to the side chatting with the little girl).

Mike didn't see it happening behind his back, but this guy was right in front of my face! I tried to grab his arm, but failed and then he took off. I figured he had taken Mike's cell phone and I leaned out the window and yelled "Harammi! Harammi!" at the top of my lungs. (This is common practice if you see a thief). Our other friend was luckily standing outside the car when this all happened, so the thief didn't get much of a head start on him. Mike jumped out of the car lickety-split and also chased this guy.

They ran around the corner, and our friend tackled him to the ground as the thief threw the phone out in to the darkness, and then as soon as the thief got up Mike had just reached him and Mike also tackled him and had him pinned to the ground. And... my yelling had drawn lots of attention (that's the point) and a dozen locals had gathered around to see the white guys tackle this young thief.

Our friend collected the phone, and his watch and shoes (that had flown off during the tackle), and they came back to the car laughing. Mike even had mud smeared on his face!

The funniest part is that neither Mike or our friend knew what the thief had taken (neither of them saw it happen). They just reacted to my yelling and went chasing the guy not knowing what they were trying to retrieve.

Anyway, it shook me up for a minute, but before long we were all laughing. I think we'll laugh about it for a long time to come. But I still remain surprised at the nerve of that young man to reach in a car with 5 people inside in hopes of getting away with a cell phone.

This is our life, folks.

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