PSLE: A Pickpocket in a Mall

The gargantuan shopping mall was teeming with shoppers during the Great Singapore Sale. Countlesss varieties of merchandise were on sale and prices were slashed ridiculously low. The boisterous crowd was jostling and hustling one another for the best bargains.

 

In the midst of the bustling activities was a lanky man. His small beady eyes darted from side to side as he moved stealthily among the shoppers. He was not interested in the sales but the shoppers. Unknown to him, Rachel, a ten-year-old girl, was seated at a nearby bench, waiting for her mother. Clad in a jumpersuit, she sported two piggy-tails and her marble-ebony eyes were spying his every move. She was flabbergasted! What was this man doing? He seemed to be up to some baleful intent.

 

The man finally spotted his target and made his move. His thin figure glided beside a lady, dressed in branded apparel. Thinking that the coast was clear, he surreptitiously dug his fingers into her Prada handbag as swift as lightning and nicked away her fat leather wallet filled with thick wads of notes. A moment of jubilation swept over him and a smile splitted across his gaunt face.

 

Rachel gasped at the sight. Her eyes widened in alarm and it dawned upon her that he was a pickpocket. Her righteous instinct revved up within her. Immediately, she bellowed at the top of her lungs, “Pickpocket! That man with a cap!”

 

The pickpocket heard her cries and shuddered at the thought of being caught. With great agility, his legs took flight and he zigzagged away through the crowd. However, he bumped right into a muscular security guard who encased him with his pair of burly arms. The thief put on a fierce struggle and managed to break free like a slippery eel.

 

He continued his escape but realised that other security guards had arrived at the scene too and they were all running towards him like hounds after a fox. He was cornered. He made a dash for the escalator but it was crowded with shoppers. With the pursuers hot on their heels, he was at his wits' end. His palms turned clammy and beads of perspiration dotted his pimpled forehead. His heart palpitated rapidly against his ribs.

 

Just then, a brainwave hit him. Why not take his chance? Still better than getting caught! In his desperation, he leapt over the railing and jumped to the ground. However, he lost his footing and took a vicious tumble down and crashed onto the ceramic floor. His femur cracked and he was rolling on the floor, groaning in excruciating pain.

 

Finally, justice was served. The security guards notified the police who came with the ambulance that whisked him to the hospital for treatment. The rich lady got her wallet back and Rachel was glad that she was instrumental in the arrest of the pickpocket. Well, the pickpocket deserved it!