Bob woke up as usual with the sound of the seven o’clock train whooshing by. But this day won’t be like all the others, where he bravely goes to work at eight o’clock in the morning. No, he’s got a plan. Today he will drive to the next town and rob the bank. He could already anticipate the newspaper headlines for tomorrow: “Bank robbery”. “City Bank robbed.” No trace of thief. Police looking for witnesses.”
It will be so easy, Bob contemplates. He has already driven by his target so often and is sure that early in the morning when the bank opens, there aren’t any customers. Those who go to work are already busy doing their jobs and the others are still sleeping at home. He can start later at his job in the kitchen firm because they’ve got irregular hours. When he comes in later, he goes home later. But his job is so boring. The whole day he stands in line making kitchen cabinets. If all goes well today, he will be able to take a few weeks holiday with all that money. A new car is also on his wish list. And maybe with a super Porsche he will finally get a girlfriend. He is already 19 years old and has never had a relationship with girls. They are so complicated. They want to go out and prefer a guy with a lot of money. They’re not interested in a poor worker like him. He doesn’t earn very much money. He’s got a small apartment in a small town, where it is cheaper than living in a city.
After finishing school he got this job in the kitchen factory. You don’t need to be very intelligent to stand all day on the assembly line building kitchen cabinets. He also wasn’t too smart in school, either. But he didn’t want to live at home anymore and now has to make sure that the money he earns lasts until the end of the month. Life can be so hard and so unfair. Most of his friends went to college and are now far away. They don’t contact him anymore. He didn’t have enough money to go to the university but even if he did, his grades weren’t good enough. No college would have taken him, so he didn’t even try to get into one.
He’s a loser. But today things will change, and everything will get better. He’s sure that nothing can go wrong. He will go into the bank at eight o’clock, the moment the bank clerk opens the door. Then he will show him his gun. It’s not a real one, but you can’t tell the difference. The pistol looks very authentic. There have already been many bank robbers who have used fake guns and the people in the bank didn’t notice it. If they look real, no one wants to take a chance of being shot. And the banks are insured. Why should the bank clerk risk his life for the money that will be paid back by the insurance company?
He slowly drinks his coffee and reads the newspaper, as he does every morning. They write about everything that happens in the world. The earthquake in China was devastating. The floods in Thailand took many lives. The driver crashed into another car while recklessly passing careful drivers. Everyday there is so much bad news. And tomorrow, when the people get up and read their newspaper at breakfast, they will read about him. “Bank robber got away without a trace.” Naturally, they will not know it is him. No one will find out that he is the thief. He will also hold onto the money for awhile until the air is clear so that he doesn’t get exposed. It is so dumb when someone robs a bank and suddenly has a lot of money. He will play the lottery in the future and one day will be surprised with a big win. That is what he plans to tell all his friends. But he doesn’t actually have any good friends.