Listen Carefully
As a reporter for the local newspaper, I’m told to always keep my ears open and listen to all that is happening around me. It’s rare when I’m not listening. I always carry a pad with me so that I can jot down interesting tidbits of information gleaned from others’ conversations. This has caused a number of issues in relationships that I’ve had. The person I’m with might be telling me something important or sharing good things that they have accomplished, but I’m listening to the conversation of the people sitting behind me. The person that I’m with usually gets pretty upset that I’m not paying attention to what they are saying. When they ask me who am I listening to, I can’t tell them. I play dumb. In theory, eavesdropping is a crime in this state and I’m reticent to admit that that is what I was doing. That might be why I’m still single.
But sometimes, I am by myself. It can be on a subway, or a restaurant, or just walking on a crowded street. That’s the time I try to really focus on the interactions around me.
As it happened that was the case yesterday morning when I decided to stop for a cup of coffee and a buttered roll at the local diner before depositing $300 in cash at the bank on my way to work. I found an empty table, made my order, and stared at the television monitor that they had on over the lunch counter, while I waited for my coffee to come. The TV was tuned to the local news station. As is usually the case, there was enough noise from customers, that I couldn’t hear a word the field reporters were saying on the TV, and closed captioning was off. What I did notice was that the camera shot showed the outside of the diner I was in. I was curious about what was happening.
It was then, that I caught the conversation of the two people that were behind me.
“I’m telling you he knows,” said someone with a very gruff voice.
“He doesn’t, I tell you. If he did there would be cops all over the place.” a rather high pitched, anxious sounding voice replied.
“All I can say is that someone out there has a camera and a microphone. And if they recognize us and saw us coming in here, we’re sunk.” was the first speaker’s retort.
I was very tempted to turn around but didn’t want to give away that I was listening in on what they were saying.
“Why don’t we just pay up our check and then leave, separately. You’ve got the stuff. They can’t follow us both, and why should they anyway, as long as we don’t look suspicious.” This time I was sure it was a female voice. If I were to guess, she was in her early twenties.
“Sure,” responded her partner, “I get caught, and you get away scot-free. No dice. I’m not taking the fall for this alone.”
“Then let’s just do it. Slide it under your chair and then we’ll both get up and leave. Let the next person that sits here get caught with it. That was the plan.”
Now I was really curious.
“That’s a lot of potential cash we’re giving up,” said the gruff guy. “You know how much this is worth to the right people?”
“It’s only money, and besides it’s not like we can’t get more of them. We’ll find someone else and just set up a new drop.”
The next thing I heard was the people behind me getting up and leaving. I turned slowly to get a glimpse of what they looked like, but they were already gone. I looked carefully where they were sitting and noticed an envelope underneath one of their chairs. I went over and picked it up. That’s when it happened. Three undercover cops quickly grabbed me and the envelope and said I was under arrest. They read me my rights, searched me, and took me out of the diner to a waiting patrol car. It didn’t help that I was carrying $300.00 in cash. Things quieted down in the diner as we were leaving. I overheard the reporter on the TV talking about the horrible potholes in the street outside the diner.
I tried to explain to the cops who I was and what I was doing, but they refused to listen. I would have shown them my notes, except I never took any, as I had been so captivated by the conversation that was going on behind me that I forgot to.
Long story, short I was initially charged with criminal possession of counterfeit medical prescriptions. It took a while for my newspaper’s lawyers to come down to the police station and clear me.
It turns out that the whole thing had been a sting operation in which the two people I was listening to were supposed to be dealers of counterfeit prescriptions for drugs. They were to leave the prescriptions in an envelope under their chair and the suspect was to pick up the envelope and leave cash. As luck would have it, the payment was supposed to be $300.00. In theory one of the sellers sitting at the table was to come back claiming that had they forgot something and pick up the cash. I eventually found out that the real criminal was the waiter that had served me.
Sometimes it pays to listen to things happening around you. But you got to be careful and make sure that what you are hearing is actually real.
