Ted's Adventures

There’s a long, boring tunnel between Westmount Square and the Alexis Nihon Plaza. I normally don’t take it, but today there were a lot of police cars and police tape on the street, so I thought this route would be shorter and faster. Probably safer as well, because for some strange reason the Police and I don’t seem to get along.

The tunnel is so long, you can almost fall asleep walking it; but not today, an alarm is blaring at the open emergency exit door, a quarter of the way along. I was tempted to take that exit when I passed; get out of the tunnel onto a quiet street, but there were signs about fines for improper use, so I kept on and walked faster.

I always like to walk fast anyway. I get bothered when slow people are ahead of me; like this decrepit old guy in the yellow jacket ahead; just hobbling along.

As I was closing in on him though, I heard the Westmount Square doors bang open behind me. I turned and saw a couple of cops barging through, they were in chase mode, yelling to each other. Their police radios were blaring something about a fugitive, and a Jewelry Store. The phrase, “armed and dangerous,” echoed through the tunnel.

 Hearing all that commotion, I began to have misgivings about taking the tunnel instead of the street.

As they ran towards me, they paused at the open emergency exit door. One officer went through and up the stairs; the second looked down the tunnel, directly at me.

I froze. My blood ran cold. I must have had a guilty look on my face because he started walking straight towards me.

I quickly turned and began to walk faster.

“Police,” he yelled, “You in the blue jacket, stop!”

I began to run. I could hear him running after me, his boots making a racket echoing through the tunnel. Then I heard a crash and the sound of something rattling down the passageway.

I stole a quick glance, then stopped in my tracks.

The cop had tackled the old guy in the yellow jacket, knocked him flat. A wicked looking sawed-off shotgun was rattling along the floor towards me.

They were wrestling on the ground, punching and kicking. The old guy’s hat had come off along with it a grey toupee. The old guy wasn’t old at all.

I was mesmerized by the fight. I realized I should have kick that scary sawed-off shotgun further away, just in case. But before I could do anything, his partner came running up and together they were able to subdue and handcuffed the guy.

I was shaken by the brawl, but it became clear to me what had just happened. The man in the yellow jacket was the jewelry store robber. His decrepit old man disguise, and the opened emergency exit door, were both part of a clever ruse to throw the police off his trail. But what hit me most though, the cop saw through his ruse. The cop pretended to go after me, then at the last second, tackled the robber. His bravery gave me the shivers. That shotgun would have been deadly in the confines of that tunnel.