from
 ROBBERY
James Boice

The young man made a large and tedious bowel movement in the office bathroom before he left for the day, stinking it up sufficiently but leaving the fan on, grabbed his briefcase from his desk and put on his jacket, which could have been one worn by a GQ model and which he kept on a wood hanger on the wall, licked his finger and rubbed off any scuffs on his square-toed shoes, straightened his tasteful tie, leaned onto his desk and shut down his computer by manipulating the mouse, left without saying goodbye to anyone. The sun was setting, turning everything previously cold and ugly into these gorgeous watermelon colors, angel sighs, stroking a new life into the city block as he emerged from the front door and down the steps out onto the street, frowning fit young women walking by in sunglasses and skirts, men identical to him, well-off older women with dye jobs and shopping bags, middle-aged tourists in t-shirts and jeans and cameras, his hair parted perfectly (shaping gel still holding up), closely-shaven, custom-tailored pants creased with neat, fresh pressing, a well-to-do man in his mid- to late-20s who was going places, a rising star in his field, a big tipper, who met his friends for drinks after work and put it on his card, a put-‘er-there kind of back-slapper, a taxi-taker, a young prosecutor fresh out of a local well-respected law school known for its Supreme Court and presidential alumnae, and already on the way to being DA, somebody with a healthy positive self-image and routine gym schedule who followed professional football, a blindingly bright future, whose Jewish mother bragged about him to the other women at the salon, and probably now heading to a dimly lit restaurant with a one-word name and jacket required, an impossible waiting list and celebrity sightings, for a date with a girl in her last year at medical school whose parents let him address them by first name, a beautiful girl with perky breasts and shimmering straight hair who got up before daylight to run, when a guy stepped out from nowhere with a gun and said, —Don’t move. Don’t run. Don’t say anything. Just give me everything.