「故事·听力」I Thought This Hobo Was A Thief But Then He Saved Me
I Thought This Hobo Was A Thief But Then He Saved Me
Hello, this is Jess, and this is the story of how she almost caught the wrong thief by mistake.
Her sister works at a small convenience store that's open 24/7, right below the apartment they live in. Their parents work a lot, so she spends most of her free time there, especially during the summer break. The owner, Mr. Garrison, doesn't mind her hanging out there; he probably sees her almost like another employee because of how much she helps her sister.
So, one time Jess was alone in the store - her sister and Mr. Garrison had gone to the storeroom and left her in charge. She was minding her own business when she noticed a very suspicious-looking man walk in. He was dressed poorly and looked like a typical hobo, with a messy beard and old ragged clothes.
He was wandering around, looking at stuff but not picking anything up. He was acting really weird, so she decided to follow him and find out what he was up to. He tried to avoid her and hide between the aisles, but she kept onto him. When he headed toward the exit, she saw her chance to catch him red-handed. But she needed to find her sister or Mr. Garrison first.
So she rushed to the storeroom, but instead just ran straight into another customer – a rich-looking lady wearing a fur coat in the middle of March. She knew instantly that she was one of those “demanding” customers who could cause a scene out of thin air. She didn't even have time to say a word before she grabbed her arm and started yelling at her for “not doing my job” and “running around like a madman.”
Jess told her that she didn't even work there and that the real cashier would be back soon. But that made her even angrier. “You're a lazy brat! You're lying to me so you can get away with it!”
She was so loud that Jess was afraid that Mr. Garrison would hear it, and she didn't want to cause problems for her sister, so she did her best to calm her down.
She tried to be professional and asked her what she could help her with, but the woman was relentless. She was going on and on about what an irresponsible and useless worker Jess was.
And just when she was on the verge of crying, the suspicious guy suddenly intervened. “Leave the girl alone. She's clearly too young to work here,” he said. That didn't work and now she was yelling at both of us, saying that he was just covering for her to get her out of trouble. So now they were arguing about whether she worked there or not. Meanwhile, she was extremely confused about why a thief would stand up for her. She was sure he had stolen something, she just didn't know what exactly. She started having doubts. Maybe she was wrong about him? Or was he doing it so she'd let him go with stolen goods?
Finally, Mr. Garrison and her sister walked in and asked what was going on. She tried to answer, but the guy and the lady started shouting again. Mr. Garrison tried to make them be quiet, but without any success. Out of everything that was said, she understood only that the suspicious guy accused the crazy lady of stealing something and then yelling at her to cover it up.
Woah, Jess hadn't seen that coming. He was trying to shift the blame! Like, she was grateful that he was standing up for her, but accusing the lady was pretty low.
Mr. Garrison told her sister to check the surveillance cameras to see if what the guy said was true. Jess couldn't understand why he believed the guy. Obviously, this respectable and dignified woman would never do such a thing. She was crazy, yes, but surely not a thief. Although, on second thought, there was something fishy about her. She was trying to close her purse and leave when Mr. Garrison showed up, when just a minute ago she had demanded to see him.
It turned out that she had stolen some expensive cheese, and also a bottle of wine. And when Jess ran into her, she was putting it into her bag. Why she did it was beyond her understanding. She certainly looked rich enough to pay for all the things she tried to steal.
Then Mr. Garrison called the police, and conveniently they were just around the corner. At first, the crazy lady tried to deny everything and said that they had put the things in her purse on purpose. When her sister showed everyone the recording from the surveillance cameras, she demanded that they arrest the other guy because he had definitely stolen something too. Finally, she started crying and yelling again, and for some reason demanded a lawyer. The police officers weren't impressed by her acting skills and just escorted her out.