Austin - Capitol Grounds, Twisty Tree / The Day I Stole a Phone

This and the picture below show our twisted friend in a fuller perspective.  Had to do a bit of cloning in the bottom pic to remove cars and trucks that were a distraction, which is the reason the foliage appears to extend all the way to the ground:

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We live in Houston, and in Houston you have to be careful.  Unlike most small towns, where you don't have to think about pickpockets or even ever lock your car, you have to be cognizant and aware of your surroundings and who's nearby or approaching.  On the other end of the spectrum, Houston is unlike large cities in Europe, where your awareness can easily blend into paranoia because of the ubiquity of Gypsies and pickpockets that can spot naive American tourists from a mile away. (see this post about an attempt on me in Paris)  No, Houston is squarely in the middle of those extremes.

As you may have seen in previous posts, my wife Chenjean grew up in a very small town in Taiwan.  But no matter...even in big cities in Taiwan you don't have to think about pickpockets, as the country generally is a very safe place.  Thus, she is not programmed to thinking that the people around her sometimes have harmful intentions.  And because of this, I was constantly having to admonish her to hold her purse in a way that does not expose its contents to the public at large.  She had trouble taking this seriously.

One day I saw an opportunity to teach her a lesson and finally put the issue at rest.  We were in the Galleria mall with my daughter.  As Chenjean and Allison wanted to shop for clothes, I separated from them to do my electronics thing.  We agreed to meet at a designated location in about an hour.

It so happened that about fifteen minutes into our time apart we crossed paths; they were about to board a crowded escalator down to a lower level, and I slipped in unnoticed behind them.  And sure enough, as we started our descent I observed Chenjean's purse, tucked not under but behind her arm with iPhone fully in sight.  Wow...here's my chance!  As deftly and carefully as possible, I reached down, took her phone out of her purse, and slipped it into my own pocket.  On the entire ride down neither she nor my daughter were aware of my presence behind them, and at the bottom we again went our separate ways.

Aha!  When we met up again later I made sure she saw me glance at her purse, then asked where her phone was.  Oh my - no phone!  Where is my phone?!?  Tee-hee-hee...in clear and abundant victory I dramatically pulled her phone out of my pocket and gloated at a point well made.

But then something dawned on me and I turned FURIOUS!  Why?  Remember that this was a crowded escalator and - not being an experienced pickpocket - I only attempted to hide the theft from my wife and daughter, NOT the many people behind me, who DIDN'T SAY A THING!!  Surely it was observed, but NOT A SOUL SAID A WORD or reported it to security, as I was not approached later by a guard or police afterwards.  Hey, what kind of city is this??  In a way I became a victim of my own crime, as it led to disappointment in Houston as a city and in my fellow man generally.

Thus it was that I stole a phone, albeit with altruistic motives.  HOWEVER, the point made was successful, as from then on Chenjean has been much more careful in the way she holds her purse in public...