The Hold Up

​During the late 1980s my father would frequent a small grocery store in our area late at night. He liked going at this time because there were fewer people which meant shorter lineups. But one night when my father entered the store, it was just before midnight and the store was about to close. He walked around the aisles and scooped up some basic necessities and went to go stand in line to pay for them. There were two tills open and there were approximately three customers at each till. My father stood in line and waited. 

As he waited he glanced around at the other customers who were at the till in front of him. There was no one that particularly caught his eye, so he turned to look out the window and in the reflection he saw a man put his hand into his jacket and pull something out. My father was not sure what it was but the man put it on his head. It looked like a toque but my father wasn't sure. A second later the man at the other till turned around and made direct eye contact with my father. The man was wearing a black balaclava. My father was terrified. None of the other customers seemed to know what was going on or didn't think much of it because it was cold outside and people were wearing all kinds of things on their faces. But there was something about the way the man looked at my father that frightened him. My father's gut instincts were verified when the man in the balaclava pulled out a gun and hollered, "This is a hold up. Nobody move and you won't get hurt."

The robber then pointed the gun at the teller and handed her a bag and growled, "You. Fill this up with all the money in the till."

The cashier complied and handed him a bag full of cash. He then repeated the process at the till I was standing at. Again he looked at my father and who quickly fixed his eyes on the floor. Twenty seconds later he was gone. The police were then called and they arrived in a matter of minutes. Two cops questioned everyone but of course nobody was willing to say anything.

My father stayed away from the store for about a month before he went back but he no longer went in the evenings as they closed earlier. Two months later everything seemed to be getting back to normal in the store as they resumed staying open until midnight. 

Then one summer evening me and my father were playing catch in the yard when a man walked into the backyard and asked my father if one of the old cars he had out back was for sale. They chatted for about half an hour and agreed on a price of 3000 dollars. The man said he would return the next day to pay, but he never did. 

That's when my dad realized that the man that wanted to buy the car was the same man that he had seen rob the grocery store months earlier.

A shiver went down his spine.