"Come on Sammy!"
It was Holly calling me 'cause we were just leaving Maynard's Market and right as we were walking out the door, I decided I needed a pack of gum 'cause I needed to replace the gum that was in the door jam at the Senior Highrise.
So I called after her, "I'll meet you at the crosswalk!" and rushed back inside. The gum was toward the back of the store, so I passed by T.J., who didn't even seem to notice me, and found the gum. I got one pack of sugarless for Grams and one with sugar for the door jam.
I was just about to go up and pay for it, when the little bell over the door jingled. For some reason, I hung back. Then I heard, "Open the cash register!" and I heard the cocking of a gun.
I was terrified, but the guy (it was a male voice) seemed to notice me about as much as T.J.. I slowly and quietly crept up to see what was happening.
The guy had the gun pointed at T.J., who was emptying the contents of the cash register into a brown sack. I snuck back to the back of the store where a payphone was recently installed and dialed 911. When nothing happened, I put a quarter in, thinking it might work better that way.
Instead of getting the usual, "Please hold," I got someone who identified himself as Sgt. Michaels. He answered the phone saying, "This is 911, Sgt. Michaels speaking, what is your emergency?"
Now, I knew I couldn't say anything 'cause the guy up front would hear me, so I held the phone up so he could hear what was going on. Then, to my horror, I saw Holly coming to see why I was taking so long.
The windows were covered in advertisements except for a few holes where you could see through, which is why I could see Holly but she couldn't see me.
Then, to even more horror, she walked in! The guy turned his gun on Holly, at which point, T.J. lunged at the guy with all he had.
As it turned out, the only real advantage the guy had was his gun, which went off as soon as T.J. hit him and nailed Holly in the foot! The guy, who was big, bulky and clumsy, was pinned down with ease.
I told Sgt. Michaels where we were and hung up when I saw T.J. handcuffing Big Bandit and locking him in a closet.
I came up front and asked T.J. where he got the handcuffs. He told me he always kept some behind the counter.
Then I remembered Holly! She was slumped over on the floor and I saw a small pool of blood. Her foot was in the middle of it.
T.J. went and called an ambulance, which got here pretty fast. Then I wondered why the police hadn't gotten here yet…