Morning all. Wednesday has arrived. On a week where Monday was a holiday the arrival of Wednesday always feels somewhat shocking. Today I am okay with it as I am attending a lecture on writing for children. I don’t usually write for children, but I have found I always learn something new and often get inspired by hearing people discuss the things they are thrilled to be writing. Spark ignites spark I suppose. Still there is much to do before then I suppose so let’s get to it by starting with the morning prompt. Ready, set and write until the timer makes you stop.
You know in the last few years I have had little prompts pop up here and there about a jewel thief. I am beginning to think they are all different bits of the same thief. At some point I need to gather them and see what i find.
Wednesday, February 22nd: You think I am the weakest link?
“You think I am the weakest link?” he asked. There was no response. Jon looked around the room. None of them would meet his eyes. It told him all he needed to know. “Right,” he said. “Then I am out. Your weakest link is gone, you can all be stronger without me.”
He walked over to his locker and pulled out his bag. He was careful to drop his shirt sleeve over his hand so his fingers never touched metal. It was an old habit, ingrained in him after a lifetime of not wanting to leave his fingerprints. There wasn’t much in it. The removal was more for show than anything else. He wondered if any of them would apologize or ask him to reconsider.
“Look Jon,” Fred said. “It isn’t that we don’t like you. You are a great guy. “There was a chorus of approval from the others. “It’s just that when it comes to the crunch, we just don’t think you have it in you.”
“Right,” Jon said. “Well you don’t have to worry about that any more. Have fun, boys. Don’t bother sending me a postcard.” With that as his parting shot, Jon left the room. As he walked he made certain not to actually touch anything that would leave prints, bumping the final door open with his hip and letting it swing shut behind him.
Truthfully he was glad that he was being given the heave ho. He didn’t like the job. There were too many things that could go wrong with it and as they started working through the details he realized that there were things being left out. Information he expected to have, wasn’t there. He doubted no one checked it because he knew they were good enough to check. But when he asked he was told that was something for someone else to worry about. Gradually he stopped asking, but there seemed to be more things that weren’t his concern than there should be. He felt uneasy about the whole thing but couldn’t see a way out.
‘and with Fred saying it’s because of the clutch…’ Jon shook his head as he headed off down the sidewalk and away from the building they were using as home base. He never drove to the place and never let any of them see more of him than he was comfortable with, and what he was comfortable with was very little. A while ago he figured out that he had less of an interest in causing bodily harm than the others. His method was always to get in and get out without anyone noticing. His usual MO was to make sure no one realized he had even been there until months after he left.
He disliked hurting people. The fact that he often relieved the over privileged of trinkets they could easily afford to part with and that were insured to the hilt was just him helping to balance the hand that fate dealt him. He bore no one any ill will and had no desire to hurt them. A few of the others seemed to hope the job was interrupted so the could use it as an excuse to cause bodily harm. It was one of the things that caused a rift and for him to be considered the weakest like, his lack of innate violence.
It was for him the final nail in the coffin of this job. He suspected they were anticipating violence or would go out of their way to create it. Combined with the secrets and he had been looking for a way out of it for a while.
‘Luckily they handed it to me,’ he decided. Luck was a fickle lady and he flirted with her often. It would be nice to have her in his corner for this.
Ten til Midnight 