The men make their way to Washington Square, a park about two blocks away from Independence Hall. They enter the empty park that was poorly lit by the few lights that were inside. The men sit on a bench and begin rummaging through the stolen wallet and purse. The wallet contained various credit cards while the purse held make-up and a change purse with at least 300 dollars inside of it. The second man with the red baseball cap and brown jacket was looking around slightly nervous. “What’s with you?” the first man in the leather jacket asked as he lit a cigarette. “What if, you know…what if that ‘Guardian’ guy shows up,” the man in the red cap said.
The leather jacket man takes a puff of his cigarette and asks, “Who?”
“You know that ‘Guardian’ guy everyone’s been talkin’ about.”
“Oh please, don’t tell me you believe that crap,” the leather jacket man said.
“I’m just sayin’, you know. What if?” says the man in the red cap.
“What?! That the ‘Guardian’ is gonna come get us,” the leather jacket man smokes more of his cigarette, “Please.”
“Well, you know, Rocco said he saw him. He also said that lightning or something came out of his hands,” the red capped man was growing even more uneasy. “Rocco said that he moved like a ghost. Twenty guys, good fighters. Not one of them could lay a hand on him.”
“Rocco? Since when did you start listenin’ to Rocco?” the leather jacket man said starting to get annoyed by his partner’s cowardice.
“Look, man, he said he saw him.”
The leather jacket man smokes more of his cigarette and exhales, “Yeah and he also said that he saw naked leprechauns dancin’ the Irish jig when he got himself drunk and kicked out of that bar that one night.” He takes another puff and continues, “Look, first of all you’re listenin’ to a guy who’s got more stories than a library. Second, there ain’t no Guardian. It’s just some crazy nut whose mommy didn’t love him enough so he’s now runnin’ around playin’ hero, ok. So knock it off with that Guardian crap.”
“I’m just sayin’ that everybody seems to believe that…” the red capped man started to say.
“Would you shut up? I can personally give a damn what everyone else believes, all right. So knock it off!” the leather jacket man said raising his voice.
“But…”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear no more garbage about this so-called Guardian. So just shut up,” said the leather jacket man firmly. Calming himself down, the leather jacket man tries to relax his worried friend. “Look, think about it, Joe. A guy shooting lightning out of his hands and moving so fast he’s like a ghost. C’mon there’s nobody like that now is there. Huh?” He coaxed him like a playful brother.
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, Charlie. I don’t know what I was thinking, man,” said Joe, the red capped man, sounding a little more relaxed.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s just me and you in this park, ok. So relax, buddy, ok,” the leather jacket man Charlie reassured his friend. Joe nodded in agreement. “All right, now let’s finish checking tonight’s earnings,” said Charlie.
Then the men resume rummaging through the wallet and purse. “Hey check it out,” Joe said as he pulled out a diamond necklace from the purse, “Diamonds are forever.” They chuckle at his joke and continue picking through the stolen items.
Charlie pulls out a credit card. “Capital One, what’s in your wallet?” he said mockingly. Again they laugh at their own snide remarks.
“I can’t believe that guy; he was so gullible,” said Joe.
“Yep, a grade-A sucker,” Charlie said eyeing the watch he stole from the father. “This was too easy.”
“You don’t say!” a voice said loudly breaking the silence of the city night.
The voice startled the men who quickly stopped what they were doing and begin to slowly look around. “Hey, it is just you and me in here, right?” said Joe.
“Right,” said Charlie sounding half frightened.
“And me!” the voice spoke again.
